After over 20 years
Ex-professional reveals SMS from Franz Beckenbauer
October 29, 2025 – 7:25 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Francis Kioyo’s missed penalty ultimately contributed to 1860 Munich’s relegation from the Bundesliga in 2004. Now the ex-striker reveals that the “Kaiser” then contacted him – and also another great from his eternal rival.
The scene is one of the most dramatic in the history of the Bundesliga: May 15, 2004, the penultimate matchday of the season, 1860 Munich, in acute danger of relegation, meets Hertha BSC. The score was 1-1, Francis Kioyo, who had just been substituted, took the penalty in the 89th minute – and missed. Ultimately, the missed shot also contributed to the “Lions” being relegated from the top German league. Kioyo was already heartbroken immediately after his fateful scene.
In the now published ARD documentary “Rise & Fall” about 1860, the now 46-year-old speaks in detail about the situation in episode 4 – and reveals: As a result of the scene, the “Kaiser” contacted him. “In the evening I was all alone, no one came forward, no teammates, no one,” remembers Kioyo. He went through the penalty scene “over and over again, over and over” in his head.
Then Kioyo reveals the reports from two greats, of all people, from their city rivals: “Only two from FC Bayern got in touch: Franz Beckenbauer wrote me a text message: ‘At least you showed courage. That happens to everyone. Keep your head up, boy.’ That’s what motivated me to this day.”
Kioyo hesitates to give the second name, but then does so: “I don’t know if I’m allowed to say that, but that was Uli Hoeneß, who got in touch.”
Bayern’s honorary president also has his say in the documentary: “Franz and I, we were players ourselves, and I’ve missed penalties myself, as everyone knows,” the 73-year-old recalls of his legendary miss in the lost European Championship final in 1976. “And I was also happy when a Franz-Josef Strauss and a Helmut Kohl wrote me letters and cheered me up. And that’s also appropriate for the person who Suffering such a fate tells you how sorry you are.”
1860 had and continues to struggle with internal turbulence after relegation from the Bundesliga and is currently playing in the 3rd league. To this day, the club has never returned to the German upper house. After his time in Munich, Kioyo played for nine other clubs at home and abroad and only ended his career in 2018.