Franz Beckenbauer quotes:

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.

If a Middle Eastern sheikh comes to buy Bayern Munich, he could buy 49 per cent. Fifty-one per cent must stay in Germany with the club. That law came about because of the developments of international football.

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

Rugby is a different game. There is an interruption every two minutes also in American football. Our soccer is a moving game: play, play, play, move, move - you don't interrupt.

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.

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.

German football is like English football. The Germans and the English do not play like a Brazilian side. They have to improve, bring up their young players, who have character.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

I kept my speeches short as captain. I focused on the key points of the opposition of the day. As coach, I was never afraid to give long speeches to the players throughout our preparations. It was important they had all the information possible.

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

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

The two designs are completely different. The first is totally futuristic, the second is more classical. You can of course get very excited about doing something completely out of the ordinary, just like the Olympic stadium in its time. But each to his or her own taste.

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

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

Possession means nothing when the opponent takes its chances

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

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.

We should not fool ourselves. We are not one of the world's top teams any more.

At least six Bayern players, who have won almost everything, are in the national squad.

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?

The strong one doesn't win, the one that wins is strong.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

What FC Bayern has become is thanks to Gerd Mueller.