- Record international Matthäus receives the 2024 Award of Honour
- For the first time, an award will also be presented posthumously – to Andreas Brehme
- Honouring a congenial football duo with great appeal for Germany
This year’s award of honour will be presented twice: to Lothar Matthäus and posthumously to Andreas Brehme.
Shortly before the final of the European Football Championship, former world footballer Lothar Matthäus received the German Football Ambassador 2024 Award of Honour in Berlin from Roland Bischof, President of the association of the same name. Matthäus is considered one of the world’s most famous German football legends. He was a world and European champion, two-time UEFA Cup winner and won a total of sixteen national titles with Bayern Munich and Inter Milan.
Lothar Matthäus thanked him with the words:“ I am very happy about this award and I am aware of the duty I have to represent the colours of Germany abroad – even when I am travelling privately!”
The two-time Footballer of the Year was the only German player to also be a FIFA World Player of the Year and also won the Ballon d’Or as Europe’s best player. He played in five World Cups and four European Championships and played the second most World Cup matches in the history of world football – behind Lionel Messi and followed by the 2017 German Football Ambassador Miroslav Klose.
After his active career, he coached the national teams of Hungary and Bulgaria as well as various clubs in Europe, Israel and Brazil. He has been a sought-after pundit on international television for many years. He has become a globally recognised face of German football, standing for success and thus contributing to Germany’s positive image around the world. His long-standing commitment to integration and diversity in sport is also important to him.
During the peak of his career, Matthäus played together with his congenial team-mate Andreas Brehme, who scored Germany’s decisive penalty in the 1990 World Cup final to win the title. The two also played successfully together at Inter Milan and won the UEFA Cup together, among other honours. Even today, the Italian still rave about this time, which was decisively characterised by Andreas Brehme. Matthäus and Brehme were also very good friends off the pitch and actively campaigned as ambassadors for the Franz Beckenbauer Foundation for decades, where the prize money will also be donated. Matthäus about Brehme:” he was like a brother to me.”
After his last stint abroad with Real Zaragoza in Spain, Andreas Brehme returned back to 1. FC Kaiserslautern, where he also ended his career. He died unexpectedly in early 2024 at the age of 63. President Roland Bischof: “We met at the end of last year at an award ceremony for Heidi Beckenbauer and agreed that he would be present at the 2024 award ceremony. It was out of the
question for the German Football Ambassador to make an exception for the great player and person Andreas Brehme and to present an honorary award posthumously for the first time in 2024.”