Franz Beckenbauer not to travel to Qatar to watch World Cup due to health problems
"I will not be travelling to Qatar. I will keep my fingers crossed for our team in front of the television," Beckenbauer told Bunte magazine. "I have a so-called eye infarction [anterior ischemic optic neuropathy] in one eye. Unfortunately, I can't see anything on the right eye. I can cope with that. And I have to be careful with the heart," the 77-year-old said.
German football icon Franz Beckenbauer will not travel to Qatar to watch World Cup matches, citing health reasons.
"I will not be travelling to Qatar. I will keep my fingers crossed for our team in front of the television," Beckenbauer told Bunte magazine.
"I have a so-called eye infarction [anterior ischemic optic neuropathy] in one eye. Unfortunately, I can't see anything in the right eye. I can cope with that. And I have to be careful with the heart," the 77-year-old said.
Beckenbauer won the World Cup as a player in 1974 and as a coach in 1990. He was also the chief organizer of the 2006 World Cup in Germany but has disappeared from the public eye in the past years and rarely attends matches.
