… about individual players
“Yes, my, Dante. He just has to stop the ball. As a Brazilian. If he were an Icelander, or if he came from the North Pole, then I would say, good, he still has his ski boots on. But like that: terrible .”
“He blows like a bladder gel, but that’s normal.” (via former Bayern captain Stefan Effenberg)
“Imagine him actually putting on real football boots.” (about Franck Ribery when he wore pink football boots)
“Lothar and I also had differences of opinion. I always prevailed. Thank God, the successes speak for themselves.” (via Lothar Matthäus)
“This is thanks to the skill of the doctors. In my day an amputation would probably have been necessary.” (On the quick recovery of Jens Jeremies and Giovane Elber before a Champions League semi-final game against Real Madrid)
“The best thing about the first half was that Mario Basler didn’t freeze to death.”
… about trainers
“Rehhagel is a first-class coach – at least in the second league.” (About former Bayern coach Otto Rehhagel)
“Van Gaal is an expert, a teacher, a football coach, so completely different, exactly the opposite of Jürgen Klinsmann.”
…a bit politically incorrect
“There will still be a terrorist who will blow up the Olympic Stadium.” (During the discussion about a new stadium in Munich)
“You, Rodolfo, let it go, I’m from the other faculty.” (On the advances of the homosexual ballet star Rudolf Nureyev)
“They chose so many pretty girls from the volunteers that I went in and out of the stadiums a few times in a row.” (For the 2006 World Cup)
“I haven’t seen a single slave in Qatar. They’re running around freely there.” (On the human rights situation in the World Cup host country Qatar)
… about self-created natural laws
“In one year I played for 15 months.”
“Back then, half the nation was behind the television.” (about the 1990 World Cup final in Italy)
“I’m sorry for the rest of the world, but this team will be unbeatable for years to come.” (After the 1990 World Cup final against Argentina in Rome)
“Yes well, there is only one possibility: win, draw or lose.”
“They’re all good footballers. The only thing is: they can’t play football.”
… about FC Bayern
“You feel a bit proud because you contributed something to it. As a player, as a coach, as president and I don’t know what else.” (About the development of FC Bayern)
“I read that Uli Hoeneß wants to exercise the office of chairman of the supervisory board more actively than I do. The board of directors will not be envious of that in the future.”
“I regret that this attractive team is not in the Champions League. Well, they chose this path themselves.” (2007 about FC Bayern’s UEFA Cup participation)
“It feels like 200 years ago, but I can still remember it quite well.” (About his early days at FC Bayern)
“It was like Obergiesing versus Untergiesing.” (To a derby between FC Bayern and TSV 1860)
“That’s a different sport that we play. That’s not football, that’s Uwe Seeler’s traditional team, senior football. I’m sorry if I have to say it like that. If someone needs tutoring, then I’ll give them something completely different say. I’m still available today and for the next few days.” (From the banquet speech after a 0:3 defeat in the second round of the 2001 Champions League at Olympique Lyon)
… about Beckenbauer
“I’m a trained insurance salesman, imagine if I were still in insurance every day today – well, Allianz would then be by far the largest company in the world.”
“I would like to know which commission I’m not on. I think I wasn’t paying attention.”
“I’m too old for tennis, I’m doing something else now. I have my own ball, I hit it somewhere, then I go after it, and when I find it, I hit it away again.” (Beckenbauer about golf)
“I’ve never given a big speech. I’ve always just said whatever came to mind.”
“Johan was the better player, but I’m world champion.” (About Johan Cruyff)
“The crime isn’t that big. God rejoices over every child.” (About his initially illegitimate child)
“I once had a family tree made: The Beckenbauers’ roots are in Franconia. They were funny families, all illegitimate children. We stuck with it.”
“I would describe myself as a casual worker.” (When asked about his exact job title)
“I wouldn’t be suitable as a coach.” (Beckenbauer 1982)
“I had a great life back then in America. Until Günter Netzer came and destroyed everything.” (The manager Netzer brought the player Beckenbauer from Cosmos New York to Hamburger SV)
… about soccer
“Football is and remains a game, and that is often overlooked by most people.”
“You always hear that football is a drug. I say: football is a passion, a passion. I am not addicted to football. But: I love football.”
“If you are presented with the championship trophy, then you are champion.”
“The Swedes are not Dutch, you could see that very clearly.” (After a DFB international match against Sweden)
“Rarely has a sensible sentence come out of a goalkeeper’s mouth.”
“You know who I felt most sorry for? The ball.”
“Yes, well, the result won’t change much unless someone scores a goal.”
“There were a whole series of games that shouldn’t have taken place in the stadium, but on the clay pitch next door.” (About the level of the World Cup in France in 1998)
“The only thing that moved in the first half was the wind.”
… about philosophy and wisdom
“I’ve just read ‘Sofie’s World’, this thick philosophical ham. Socrates, Aristotle, Plato and these people thought about things 2000 years ago, when we were still sitting in the trees and afraid of the wild boars. Since then only a very few have been further developed.”
“The only reason I’ve been playing football for 33 years is because I can’t do anything else. When I read a Schopenhauer, for example – I don’t understand it.”
“Success is a shy deer. The wind has to be right, the weather, the stars and the moon.”
“The football business often gets on my nerves. I think of Confucius, who said: Condense the worries of the day into half an hour and take a nap during that time.”
“If you’re friendly, it won’t cost you anything. I have no enemies because I first treat everyone positively.”
“I’ll let him out the back.” (When asked how he deals with pressure as a coach)
“I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s game because the English can’t defend and the Portuguese can’t anyway.” (before the 2004 European Championship quarter-finals)
“Let’s go out and play football.” (Tactical instruction before the 1990 World Cup final)