Beckenbauer Plans World Charm Offensive
July 21, 2005
The tour is to promote Germany and football's showpiece event which will take place from June 9 till July 9 next year. "I have noticed that people are very enthusiastic that they will get the chance to meet someone from the organization," Beckenbauer said at a press conference in Munich.
Some German newspapers have already baptised his visits as the "Kaiser's World Tour" in reference to the 59-year-old's nickname. The Tour is expected to start in Iran on October 2.
The world-spanning trip will see Beckenbauer - who won the World Cup both as a player and a coach in 1974 and 1990 respectively - visit Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Japan as the nations which have already qualified.
He will then return to Europe between October 24-31 to promote the finals for those nations that have qualified from the European zone before travelling across the Atlantic to the Americas. His completed journey of 120,000 kilometers will be the equivalent of three world tours in 50 days.
Though Beckenbauer's travels are meant to promote Germany's World Cup efforts, they certainly won't hurt his campaign to become the next head of UEFA, soccer's governing body in Europe.
Beckenbauer and Platini favorites
Current UEFA President Lennart Johansson is set to step down in 2007. Beckenbauer and France's Michel Platini are the favorites to succeed the 75-year-old Swede, who has headed UEFA since 1990. Johansson was giving a one-year extension in order to postpone the election to coincide with the vote for the next head of FIFA, the organization that governs the sport worldwide.
Brazil icon Pele, FIFA President Sepp Blatter and Johansson have already given their backing for Beckenbauer to become the next UEFA president. "Franz achieves whatever he sets his mind to," Pele said in a newspaper interview in April. "I think he is the right man for the UEFA presidency. Platini wants the job too, but Franz has more ambition."
Platini, who is 10 years younger than Beckenbauer, has come under fire for suggestions that could shake up European soccer. He has said he would endeavour to help clubs keep their younger players, whom they have invested in from youth level, and change the Champions League format.
As expected, the Kaiser also has the backing of his colleagues at Bayern Munich, where his is currently the club's president. "Michel Platini has a crazy revolution at the back of his mind," Bayern Vice-President Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said in May. "Beckenbauer values football traditions and will keep the game going in the right direction."