Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich's home stadium will be on Franz Beckenbauer Square after the city government decided to honour the German football great, who died in January aged 78, by renaming the area around the Allianz Arena.
The change of name will take effect from Jan. 7, 2025, the first anniversary of his death.
The naming of a street is the highest honour that the city of Munich can award posthumously and a sign of the deep respect and esteem that we have for Franz Beckenbauer, Mayor Dieter Reiter said.
He is one of the greatest athletes that our city has ever produced. With his sporting successes and his commitment to soccer, he shaped the sporting landscape of Germany in a lasting way."
It was the calmness on the ball and effortless distribution that marked his midfield performances to virtually invent the central defensive sweeper role where he found the most success. The Bayern Munich icon, who was undisputedly the world's best midfielder in the 1960s and 70s, had struggled with health problems towards his final years.
Beckenbauer captained what was then West Germany to the World Cup title in 1974 and was the coach when it won the tournament again in 1990. As a player for Bayern, he won three European Cup titles in a row from 1974 through 1976.
Nicknamed Der Kaiser ("The emperor"), Beckenbauer was one of three men to have won the World Cup as a player and coach and his death comes three days after the first to do it - Brazil's Mario Zagallo. France's Didier Deschamps is the other.
