Kroos calls for more respect for idols after Beckenbauer death

German World Cup winner Toni Kroos has called for more respect for sporting idols in the country during their lifetime in the wake of Franz Beckenbauer's death on Sunday at age 78.

Considered Germany's greatest footballer, Beckenbauer won many titles with Bayern Munich, where he later also was coach and president, and won the World Cup as a player and a coach.

But his image was tainted in later years in connection with dubious payments around Germany's hosting of the 2006 World Cup of which Beckenbauer was chief organizer. The case was eventually closed but Beckenbauer did little to shed light into the payments.

He effectively disappeared from the public eye since then, and former Bayern and Germany player Kroos said in his podcast Einfach mal Luppen that idols like Beckenbauer, who shone with his seeming effortless playing style, deserved better treatment.

"Nobody is perfect, everyone makes mistakes, and certainly he as well," the 2014 World Cup winner and Real Madrid player Kroos said.

"Let's accept that someone is so great and such a good person that they deserve to be celebrated. And, above all, to be celebrated throughout his lifetime."

Kroos said that Germany was a country were people are often being pulled down again after becoming famous, and he was backed in this assessment by retired Berlin university sports sociologist Gunter Gebauer.

"For a long time, he was in a space where he was untouchable because he wasn't treated as an ordinary person," Gebauer told dpa of Beckenbauer who was also known as Der Kaiser (The Emporer) and Lichtgestalt (shining light).

"Celebrities like to be pulled down from time to time, but that didn't happen to him for a long time because of his great visible achievements.

"With Beckenbauer, you could see in every game why he was a celebrity, he never ceased to amaze and amaze.

"With Franz Beckenbauer, we have experienced the transformation of a normal person into a kind of supernatural person, as was the case with Pelé, Diego Maradona or, most recently, Lionel Messi. Every now and then there are people who seem to perform supernatural feats. And the public is willing to believe it.

"Beckenbauer was a relatively simple person from his origins, who was catapulted into a mythical space and remained there for almost his entire life. He was later disenchanted, at least to some extent, if you think of the controversial awarding of the 2006 World Cup."

Beckenbauer was to be commemorated later Wednesday when state officials led by Prime Minister Markus Söder and Bayern representatives are to sign a condolence book in Munich, and interested members of the public can do the same afterwards.

The German Football Federation (DFB) and league DFL have announced a minute silence at weekend matches, starting with Bayern's home game Friday against Hoffenheim.

The Allianz Arena has been lit up with the words "Danke Franz" (Thank you Franz) and Bayern have announced a memorial service there for their legend Beckenbauer on January 19.

The memorial service was first suggested by Karl-Heinz Rummenigge who played alongside Beckenbauer at Bayern and later under him in the national team before becoming club CEO.

Rummenigge paid tribute again in a column in Wednesday's Bild paper, saying "life may end but friendship never dies.

"Now he is kicking the ball in heaven with [Diego] Maradona, Gerd Müller and Pelé," Rummenigge said.