Beckenbauer interested in UEFA Presidency

FRANZ BECKENBAUER has confirmed his interest in standing for the 2006 UEFA presidency. "It's clear that I'm interested. It's a task and challenge that is attractive," Beckenbauer, head of the organising committee for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, told German television channel ZDF.

Germany's 1974 World Cup winner said however that he would not offer his candidacy if the current president, Swede Lennart Johansson went for a second mandate.

"Let's wait to see what Lennart will do and when the election will take place," he said. Johansson is set to announce during UEFA's next meeting in Estonia if he will stand again. The congress will also decide if the election of the president will take place in 2006 or 2007. If the vote were to be in 2006, 59-year-old Beckenbauer's candidacy would seem unlikely given his role in the World Cup in the same year. France's 1984 European championship hero Michel Platini, ten years younger is Beckenbauer's main rival for the UEFA presidency.