Different plans in space
These ideas exist in Beckenbauer’s honor
January 12, 2024, 7:28 a.m
There is great sadness for football emperor Franz Beckenbauer. Recently there have been many wishes to remember the former world champion. There are many ideas. There will be great emotions in the evening when his heart club FC Bayern plays against TSG Hoffenheim.
After the death of Franz Beckenbauer, there are many demands and wishes to properly honor the football icon and to continue to remember him. The ideas range from a new name for the Munich stadium to a monument in front of it to a dedicated street, a Bavarian state act and the renaming of the DFB Cup. But it is currently a time of mourning, said DFB President Bernd Neuendorf. He doesn’t want to comment on the proposals in an inflationary way, but there will be measures.
It will be emotional in the evening when Beckenbauer’s heart club FC Bayern meets TSG 1899 Hoffenheim in the first Bundesliga game of the year. After Beckenbauer’s death last Sunday at the age of 78, both teams are wearing mourning ribbons. There will be a minute’s silence for this. Memories of the emperor’s life’s work will provide emotional moments in the sold-out Allianz Arena with 75,000 spectators, which former Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld would soon be called the Franz-Beckenbauer-Arena.
Renaming of the cup met with approval
“He helped build FC Bayern’s charisma together with Gerd Müller, Uli Hoeneß, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and a few others. That’s why it would be a good fit if the Allianz Arena were renamed the Franz-Beckenbauer-Arena,” said he 74-year-old in an interview at t-online.de. Rummenigge reacted cautiously: “There is an agreement with our long-standing, loyal and very serious partner Allianz, and that must be respected,” the Munich supervisory board told the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. Now is the time of mourning, “and FC Bayern will host a worthy memorial service in Franz’s honor next Friday. We should take time for everything else,” explained the 68-year-old.
Goalkeeping legend Sepp Maier suggested building a monument to Beckenbauer in front of the stadium. Politicians proposed a national day of remembrance, a Beckenbauer Street or a Beckenbauer Square in Munich. Prime Minister Markus Söder also announced that the Bavarian state government would examine whether it was possible to hold a large act of mourning. The CSU boss said that he could imagine that Beckenbauer’s life would be honored again by the state. It was announced on Thursday that the large memorial ceremony organized by FC Bayern on January 19th from the Allianz Arena would be broadcast live on ARD.
The idea of Berti Vogts, Beckenbauer’s successor as national coach, to rename the DFB Cup to the Franz Beckenbauer Cup in the future has already received a lot of support. Former national player Ulf Kirsten came up with a new name for the DFB headquarters. That was a “great idea,” said Kirsten. And perhaps easier to achieve than changing a marketed stadium name.