FC Bayern honors its late club legend with a large gesture. Trainer Vincent Kompany remembers a curious anecdote – and becomes emotional.
On Monday afternoon it will be emotional in front of the Allianz Arena. FC Bayern invited to a very special appointment on the Esplanade: the inauguration of the Franz Beckenbauer-Platz. The official address of the stadium is from then on: Franz-Beckenbauer-Platz 5.
With this gesture, the record champion honors Franz Beckenbauer, who died in January 2024 at the age of 78. Which radiance had the former “light figure” of German football worldwide showed once again an anecdote about his personal connection to Beckenbauer, which Bavaria’s head coach Vincent Kompany told in advance of the inauguration.
“Maybe a good story for you: I was 17 years old at the time and we played against Bavaria in the Champions League,” Kompany began his story. In the 2003 season, the RSC Anderlecht met FC Bayern with the young company. The 39 -year -old Belgian remembered: “There were rumors – and there are sometimes rumors with Bavaria, as you know – that Franz Beckenbauer was very interested in my profile at the time. So it was the possibility that I would come to Bayern Munich as a player.”
Kompany continues: “I still know exactly: The first thing I had in my head was not that I could switch to Bayern Munich, but that I would like to go to Franz Beckenbauer.” Although there was never a concrete offer, he emphasized the importance of Beckenbauer for his ambitions: “Franz Beckenbauer was so important for me! I somehow wanted to come close to him so that he could help me with my career.” The former Libero Beckenbauer was a special role model, especially for him as a former world-class defender.
Finally, Kompany did not move to Munich, but went to Hamburger SV in 2006 and later to Manchester City, where he rose to the captain under Pep Guardiola. Kompany said with a grin: “It still worked without Franz Beckenbauer, but he was so important to me.”
Bavaria’s sports director Christoph Freund also commented on the renaming of the square: “As a athlete and man, Franz Beckenbauer was so outstanding for FC Bayern Munich, but also for all of football Germany. Everyone knows Franz Beckenbauer. Therefore, this is something very special and I think it is very, very nice that it is renamed.”
Company added that Beckenbauer was “an absolute legend” and therefore the new stadium address is a good decision. Every viewer who visits the Munich Arena will now come to Franz-Beckenbauer-Platz. “The next generation will also know who it was. Tradition is important,” said Kompany.