Today, Monday (September 11th), footballer and coaching legend Franz Beckenbauer celebrates his 78th birthday. On his official Instagram account, ex-national player and 2014 world champion Bastian Schweinsteiger (39) sent some kind words to the “Kaiser”: “Happy birthday to a true icon of football!” writes “Schweini”. He also wishes Beckenbauer “good luck and, above all, health for the new year of his life.” The 39-year-old posted a picture of the two of them standing next to each other.
Recently there has been increasing speculation about the health of the two-time world champion (once as a player and again as a national coach). Beckenbauer himself gave information on the subject in an interview with the magazine “Bunte” at the end of last year and revealed that he could no longer see anything.
“Everyone asks me how I’m doing, and then I have to tell everyone the same thing,” said Beckenbauer at the time. “I had a so-called ocular infarction in one eye. Unfortunately, I can’t see anything in the right side anymore. I can deal with that. And I have to be careful with my heart.” At that time he “received a particularly large amount of autograph mail, which I would be happy to answer,” said the “Kaiser”. “People probably think he’ll never live long. But I’ll try to stay with you for a while.”
Beckenbauer was unable to travel to Brazil at the beginning of this year for health reasons for the memorial service in honor of his good friend Pelé, who died on December 19, 2022 at the age of 82. “I would like to do it, but unfortunately my health doesn’t allow such a long flight,” the DFB honorary captain explained his rejection to “Bild am Sonntag” at the time.
