Franz Beckenbauer Quotes

It is not the strong one that wins, the one that wins is strong.

Football is one of the world's best means of communication. It is impartial, apolitical and universal. Football unites people around the world every day. Young or old, players or fans, rich or poor, the game makes everyone equal, stirs the imagination, makes people happy and makes them sad

Since Sven Goran Eriksson took over, England have been fantastic.

Possession means nothing when the opponent takes its chances

We should not compare humans to God, but Messi is a godly player.

There's only one possibility: win, draw or loose.

Real Madrid is a legendary team that stands above all others and is the target of all players.

As someone who played a team sport, I feel a bit uncomfortable being ranked as an individual so high.

Penalty shooting is always an uncertain affair because there is a lot of luck involved.

The trouble for today's footballers is they have too many distractions. We used to get our old players coming to watch training with football magazines in their hands. Now, more often than not, they are checking the share prices.

Messi is a genius. He has everything. When I watch him, I see a player who is very, very skilful, very clever and his left foot is like Diego Maradona's.

The World Cup tournament overall and, naturally, the new stadiums at its heart, are the ideal platform to portray Germany as a positive and exceptional location, and above all of course, as a highly capable economic location.

George Best was one of the most talented players of all time and probably the best footballer who never made it to a major world final.

He has been named as the heir apparent of the great Argentine hero, Diego Maradona, by journalists, players, and Maradona himself, alike. I'd personally put him in a drawer of my bedside table.

No one wanted to fall back behind so both teams wated for a mistake from the other.

What FC Bayern has become is thanks to Gerd Mueller.

It would make me a lot happier if I could meet up again next year with as many friends as possible from all over the world who I've met during my career. That's where the great opportunity lies, for me personally, in our role as World Cup host.

It's quite possible that Beckham suffers from a mental block at big tournaments

At the World Cup and even now at the Confederations Cup, our security provisions will ensure the greatest level of protection possible for all those participating - both inside and outside the stadiums.

We are the last remaining country to allow ourselves two breaks in the season. You just have to look at England, Italy and Spain, they play right through the season. We on the other hand take six weeks off in the winter until the end of January, and that is a luxury.

You have to sometimes shoot from the second row, that's all football. So you have to be a bit more flexible.

The Netherlands have great strikers... but they are only playing one. They are depriving themselves of their best qualities and shooting themselves in the foot.

The most important thing however is the money. What use would it be to us, to have a a mighty stadium but a useless team, because we couldn't afford anything better?

He shouldn't have resigned over that game. It was not a bad performance; in fact it was quite a good one for England. I would not have resigned under those circumstances.

The one who’s really, really impressed me is Benedikt Höwedes because he’s playing out of position. He’s never played at left back before in his life but he’s having a first-rate World Cup. So, the most astonishing player for me is Höwedes.

The Olympic stadium may have been built only in the early 1970s but it was clear for a long time it had no future. For many reasons it is not good enough for modern football and today's fans.

If someone has the chance to be top scorer and you want to encourage him, then you give him the chance to be top scorer but it never happened. That's why I believe something is going on there.

For example, Michael Jordan earns $100million a year but continues to play basketball and remains a modest human being.

Sometimes, in the dressing room, I think I am in Hollywood.

Germany needs to have a handicap, like in golf. They ought to start each match with two goals in advance to their opposition.

You know the Dutch, they're always a bit funny... some of them.