Open-heart surgery for former soccer great Franz Beckenbauer

German newspaper Bild says 70-year-old – who is the target of a probe into suspected corruption around the 2006 World Cup – received at least one bypass in an operation

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Franz Beckenbauer pictured in May as honorary president of Bayern Munich at the German Cup final between Bayern and Borussia Dortmund in Berlin. Beckenbauer had heart surgery at the weekend. Photo: AFP

Published: 12:19am, 6 Sep 2016Updated: 12:19am, 6 Sep 2016

Former soccer great Franz Beckenbauer has had open-heart surgery and received at least one bypass, according to a report in a German newspaper.

Beckenbauer’s management team has not responded to a request for comment on his health following a report on Monday in the mass-circulation Bild newspaper.

Bild said the surgery took place on Saturday and had been planned for several weeks.

The 70-year-old Beckenbauer left for a clinic in southern Germany on Friday, one day after his home in Salzburg, Austria had been searched by authorities acting on a request by Swiss prosecutors. Beckenbauer is among several people under a Swiss criminal probe into suspected corruption around the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Franz Beckenbauer in a promotion next to the Brandenburg gate in Berlin in April 2006 for the World Cup that was held in Germany in June-July of that year. Beckenbauer was president of Germany's World Cup organising committee. Photo: Reuters

The Swiss criminal case has caused turmoil at the soccer federation of world champion Germany and tarnished the reputation of a World Cup that was a popular success. In Germany, the 2006 tournament has become known as its “Summer Fairy Tale”.