The FC Bayern Munich has just published a press release on their official site at fcbayern.de confirming that Uli Hoeness is set for a return as President of the FC Bayern. The press release dated August 8, 2016 doesn’t leave any questions open. It says:
“Uli Hoeneß is to stand as a candidate for the post of FC Bayern München eV president. Scheduled elections for the club president and committee will be held at the next FC Bayern München eV Annual General Meeting in November 2016 among members who are present and eligible to vote.
Karl Hopfner will no longer stand for election as president or for the committee. This has been mutually agreed by Karl Hopfner and Uli Hoeneß in very amicable talks.”
The move doesn't come as a complete surprise as there had been much speculation about a possible comeback after the 64-year-old Hoeness was released from prison back in Feburary, after having served 637 days - exactly half of his three-and-a-half-year sentence for tax evasion, dw.com reports today.
The 64-year-old former player for the FC Bayern and the country had resigned as president in February 2014 following a tax evasion sentencing to 3.5 years in prison. The video below is a German public TV film base on the events.
Immediately after retiring as a player, Hoeness was appointed general manager of the FC Bayern, overseeing a period in which the club enjoyed continued sporting success, winning the Intercontinental Cup, the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Cup, 15 German leagues and seven domestic cups (before his arrival, the club had won only seven major trophies in its history).
During his reign, the club also experienced strong growth: revenue increased approximately by twenty-fold and membership of the club increased more than twenty-fold to over nearly 230,000, the second largest membership a football club has in the world. Between 2000 and 2005 Bayern also built a state of the art stadium, the Allianz Arena, at a cost of €340m. It was also one of the venues during the 2006 World Cup.
Hoeness is a son of a butcher, and now co-owns a Nuremberg-based bratwurst factory which produces some really fantastic tasting original Nürnberger Rostbratwurst (the small ones).
