Uli Hoeneß

Forward Uli Hoeneß was a member of the West German football team beaten 3-2 by East Germany in their deciding second group stage game at the 1972 München home Olympics. He scored his side’s first goal to level the scores at 1-1,

Hoeneß won 22 West German amateur caps between 1969-72, and scored three goals, and between 1972-76 won 35 full international caps with the senior squad. He was a member of the 1972 European Championship-winning team and was also on the winning World Cup side in 1974. He was subsequently awarded the Silver Bay Leaf, the highest sports award in Germany. Sadly, in 1976, Hoeneß missed the deciding penalty in the shoot-out in the final of the European Championships against Czechoslovakia.

Domestically Hoeneß scored 86 goals in 239 matches for FC Bayern München in the Bundesliga between 1970-79. With München he won the West German national title from 1972-74, and the West German Cup in 1971. He also won the European Champions Cup 1974-76, and the Intercontinental Cup in 1976. Hoeneß went on loan to 1.FC Nürnberg in his last season,1978-79, and played 11 matches. He then retired due to an injury.

Immediately after his playing career Hoeneß took over the management of FC Bayern München and turned them into one of the leading club sides in Europe. He also played a key role in commercializing football in Europe, and all over the world. In 1999 Hoeneß was elected Manager of the Year in Germany, and from 2009-14 and again from 2016-19 he was president of FC Bayern München.

During his time as manager, FC Bayern München won the West German title in 1980-81, 1985-87, 1989-90, 1994, 1997, 1999-2001, 2003, 2005-06 and 2008, and during his time as president in 2010, 2013, 2017 and 2016. They won the West German Cup in 1982, 1984, 1986, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005-06 and 2008 under his management and in 2010 and 2013 during his time as president. He also won the European Champions League in 2001 and 2013, and the Intercontinental Cup and FIFA Club World Cup respectively in those same years.

Hoeneß’s brother Dieter also was a professional footballer, and later became a manager with several different clubs. In 1982 Uli was involved in an airplane crash when he was aboard a private plane, piloted by former West German Alpine skier Wolfgang Junginger. The plane crashed near Hannover and Hoeneß, on his way to watch Germany play Portugal, was the only survivor.

In 2013, there were rumors that Hoeneß had avoided tax amounting to millions of euros. He had an account in Switzerland with illegal money deposited, and invested on stock markets around the world. He was sentenced to three and a half years in prison and ordered to pay back 28.5 million euros Wolf. In 2016 he was released.

The son of a butcher, who also owned a sausage-making company, Uli Hoeneß was inducted into the German Sports Hall of Fame in 2009, but handed his membership back in 2014.