WHILE World Cup soccer fever sweeps the nation, one Brisbane man is recalling his own place in history at Munich in 1974 when Germany hosted their first World Cup and he met the future Pope.
A young Rudi Kaasinen captained his parish team to victory in a weekend parish football carnival organised by Freising diocese to celebrate the event.
What Rudi, now 43, didn’t realise was that the man who presented him with the winning cup would be the future Pope Benedict XVI.
Rudi said the tournament was organised to celebrate the World Cup coming to Germany.
The future Pope, then Fr Joseph Ratzinger, was asked to present the cup to the winning team.
Rudi, who emigrated to Australia in 2000, said to a young boy of about 11 or 12 Fr Ratzinger looked a bit frightening.
“That’s what stuck in my head,” he said.
“When he gave me the cup he was a bit upset because his team had lost in the grand final.
“My dad told me afterwards, ‘Remember this man as he makes his way (through the Church)’.”
