Beckenbauer distances himself from challenging Blatter

Franz Beckenbauer, who leads the German World Cup organising committee, distanced himself from standing for FIFA president next year.
 
"There is no-one better for this job than (current president) Sepp Blatter," Beckenbauer said in an interview with Der Tagesspiegel newspaper. "He can talk with anyone. I can only speak German and a little English. Blatter can speak Italian, French, Spanish and Portuguese and that is a big advantage.
 
"FIFA is Blatter's life. That is his family. He doesn't have young children like me. He has no other family."
 
Beckenbauer, 60, who won World Cups with Germany as a player in 1974 and as coach in 1990, led the bid for Germany to take the World Cup rights this year.
 
Blatter, 70, a former Swiss lawyer, announced in March that he would stand for a third term in next year's election. He succeeded the Brazilian Joao Havelange in 1998, and won re-election in a landslide victory over the Cameroonian candidate Issa Hayatou on the eve of the 2002 World Cup.
 
Blatter has fought off wide-ranging accusations of financial irregularities and vote-buying to secure his second term in office.

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