updated 9:21 p.m. ET June 15, 2006

MUNICH, Germany - Less than a month before the World Cup, Franz Beckenbauer is in an upbeat mood.

“As far as I am concerned, it could start tomorrow,” a suntanned, relaxed Beckenbauer said last week during the opening of the World Cup broadcast center in Munich. “I’ve had my World Cup haircut.”

Beckenbauer already has a piece of soccer history and a place among the game’s greats with two World Cup titles.

As a player, Beckenbauer won everything major there was to win. As a coach, he also captured the ultimate prize. He and Brazil’s Mario Zagalo are the only men to have captained and coached their nations to World Cup victories.

When Germany decided to bid for the 2006 World Cup, it turned to Beckenbauer. After being selected as host, it was a logical choice to put Beckenbauer in charge of organizing the tournament.

At 60, Beckenbauer is far from the twilight of his remarkable career.

He is president of Bayern Munich, Germany’s most successful club. He is a vice president of the German soccer federation. He is a columnist for the country’s biggest-selling newspaper. He will be a television commentator during the World Cup.

It was largely thanks to Beckenbauer’s intense lobbying and his international network of friends that Germany edged South Africa by one vote in the bid to stage this year’s World Cup.

Since then, Beckenbauer has been one of the country’s busiest men. On a recent April day, he flew from Frankfurt to Zurich, then to Munich and then to Cologne.

Once the tournament kicks off June 9, the schedule will not be any less hectic. Beckenbauer wants to attend as many of the 64 games as possible, and a helicopter has been made available for his travels.

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“It’s been nine years since I started this project, and when I look back it’s taken up a significant part of my life,” Beckenbauer said.

But the buildup to soccer’s greatest extravaganza has not been all smooth between Beckenbauer and FIFA, the world soccer governing body. There were arguments about the number of tickets available to the general public — Beckenbauer wanted more — and about the way they were personalized for security reasons, which FIFA thought was excessive.

Although he has been described as Germany’s top soccer diplomat, the outspoken Beckenbauer often sounds quite undiplomatic, once calling FIFA greedy.

“There was some disharmony with FIFA on this, and if we are self-critical maybe some of our words should not have been made public,” Beckenbauer said.

He said differences with FIFA had been reduced to “small problems.” Responding to reports he won’t be speaking at the opening ceremony June 9 in Munich, Beckenbauer said he “couldn’t care less.”

“The main thing is that somebody speaks and somebody opens the thing,” he said with typical nonchalance.

Beckenbauer remains one of Germany’s most visible personalities. Already an advertising icon, he’s featured in dozens of ads in the media frenzy before the tournament.

Former teammate Paul Breitner once said of Beckenbauer: “He did everything that a German is not supposed to do. He got divorced, he left his children, he eloped, he had tax debts, he left his girlfriend.”

Yet the “Kaiser” is always forgiven.

“I regret nothing,” said Beckenbauer, who became the father of the first of his five children at 17.

Beckenbauer defined the position of “libero” (free man) on the playing field and seemed to adopt the same philosophy in private life.

When he fathered a child with a Bayern Munich secretary during a Christmas party, Beckenbauer cheerfully acknowledged it later by saying it wasn’t such a “great crime.”

“The Dear Lord rejoices over every child,” he said.

The son of a postal worker, Beckenbauer was born in a Munich suburb and gained fame with Bayern Munich. He also played for the New York Cosmos when the North American Soccer League team was gathering some of the best international players, and with Hamburger SV.

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He won five Bundesliga championships, four with Bayern and one with Hamburg, and the Champions Cup three times with Bayern. He played in 424 Bundesliga games, and also won the Cup Winners’ Cup.

Beckenbauer played 103 games for West Germany, As captain, he sparked the team to the 1974 World Cup title by beating the favored Netherlands, which was led by Johan Cruyff. He also helped the team win the 1972 European Championship.

In 1990, he coached West Germany to the World Cup title in Italy.

He also won a Bundesliga championship and the UEFA Cup as coach of Bayern, was Germany’s Player of the Year four times and Europe’s player of the year in 1972 and 1976.

And now, he has helped bring the World Cup back to Germany.

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