The proud arena where Franz Beckenbauer captained West Germany to a memorable 2-1 triumph over the Netherlands in the 1974 World Cup final will almost certainly play no part when the unified country hosts the tournament in five years time.

A project to modernise the ageing stadium built for the 1972 Olympics was unexpectedly withdrawn last September by the architects who had submitted it.

Beckenbauer, now the chairman of the 2006 World Cup organising committee, was furious and made it clear that Munich could miss out on the finals altogether if a solution was not found quickly.

The only option now seems to be to build an entirely new stadium on a different location.

And that is what is likely to happen. Bayern Munich and city rivals TSV 1860 have agreed to share the costs, estimated at 350 million marks, for a 66,000, all-seater facility.

'We are currently looking for a place to build a new stadium and I'm confident we will be successful,' said Beckenbauer.

The legendary libero, who met Munich officials over the stadium plans earlier this month, said five locations in an around Munich had been suggested.

A feasibility study will be ordered to determine where the stadium should be built and a final decision should be announced next month.

Munich remains a special place on the map of German soccer with two teams, Bayern and TSV 1860, playing in the top flight, as well as SpVgg Unterhaching -- a modest outfit from a Munich suburb promoted in 1999.

Three-times European champions Bayern, who have won 16 German titles and have fan clubs as far away as Japan.

TSV 1860, the 1966 Bundesliga champions and once the city's No.1 club, both play at the Olympic stadium while Unterhaching have their own, more modest, ground.

In Beckenbauer's mind, it was always obvious that his birthplace would play a role in the first World Cup to be staged in unified Germany.

As the Bavarian city's most illustrious son, who once graced Bayern and is now the club's president, was fighting to convince FIFA officials that Germany was a better place for the 2006 finals than South Africa, England or Morocco, he decided that waving the Munich symbol might help.

On the eve of the vote in Zurich in July last year, he entered the room for Germany's final presentation carrying a piece of turf with a football resting on it.

'This is a bit of the pitch of Munich's Olympic stadium and it's on this that the kick-off of the 2006 World Cup in Germany would be made,' he said.

The next day, courtesy of Beckenbauer's unique influence and charisma, the German bid beat South Africa by one vote.

But he famous piece of turf is unlikely to get trampled on by footballers when the tournament gets under way on June 9, 2006.

ROOF UNDER THREAT

After years of discussion, the local authorities and the two clubs which use the Olympic stadium had agreed in October 1999 on a plan to transform the stadium into a state of the art, football-only stadium for an estimated 400 million marks.

Not everybody liked the project, which included ripping out the spectator terraces and installing a canopy which was to conceal the stadium's distinctive, spider's web-like tensioned roof.

Indeed a dramatic piece of architecture, the stadium was included last month on a list of sites under threat of destruction published by the Paris-based International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), alongside Mayan pyramids in Guatemala and frescoes in Pompeii.

The stadium's lovers breathed a sigh of relief when the project to alter the masterpiece was abandoned but Beckenbauer reminded everybody how serious the situation was.

'If a solution regarding a stadium in Munich is not found quickly, then Berlin will stage not only the final but the opening game as well,' he threatened.

That should not happen now.

The new stadium should be completed before 2005, which means Munich will probably still stage a few games in 2006, among them the opening match. An international television centre should also be built in the Bavarian capital.

But the Olympic stadium plays no part in the plan.

DARK MEMORIES

The world discovered the stadium at the 1972 Games but attention soon switched to the nearby Olympic village where members of Black September, a splinter group of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, killed two members of the Israeli delegation and took nine hostage.

A few days later, the nine Israelis, five members of the Black September commando and one German were killed in a shoot-out as security forces attempted to break lose the hostages.

The Olympic stadium was back on television screens worldwide two years later, this time witnessing the joyful celebrations which followed Beckenbauer's men's hard-fought victory over a brilliant Dutch squad featuring Johan Cruyff in the 1974 World Cup final.

It was there, too, that Borussia Dortmund shocked a star-studded Juventus side with a 3-1 win in the 1997 European Cup final.

Not only will the Olympic stadium miss out on the 2006 World Cup, but it will also lose Bayern and TSV 1860 who are both expected to make the new stadium their home.

At least Bayern should have its own purpose-built stadium instead of having to pay an expensive rent to use an arena showing signs of wear which the fans and Beckenbauer himself, despite his memories of the place, do not regard as ideal.

Only a percentage of the ground is covered and the running track surrounding the pitch seriously harms the atmosphere.

While over 50,000 fans often turn up for the traditional Bundesliga games, the Olympic stadium has often been less than half full for Bayern's recent home Champions League fixtures.

Meanwhile Berlin, the capital and the symbol of unified Germany, is getting ready.