Bayern name ex-president Hoeness as sole candidate

Berlin (AFP) – Disgraced Uli Hoeness is set to be re-elected as Bayern Munich’s president after the Bundesliga giants announced Saturday he is the only candidate for the post in the November elections.

The 64-year-old was freed from jail in February after serving 21 months for tax evasion, but is set to resume the position he resigned from in May 2014 shortly after being sentenced.

Bayern’s advisory board has unanimously proposed Hoeness as the only candidate for the role of president with the election to take place during the club’s annual general meeting on November 25.

The club’s current president Karl Hopfner had previously said he would not seek re-election.

The moral question of whether a convicted criminal should resume as club president of Bayern has not been discussed publically, but from a legal point of view, there is nothing preventing Hoeness’s return to office.

He was convicted in March 2014 of evading at least 28.5 million euros ($31.5 million) in taxes.

Having spent 40 years as either a player, manager or president of the Bavarian giants, Hoeness has shown humility and remorse since his release.

He has been a huge driving force in propelling Bayern to the top of German and European football.

Hoeness succeeded Franz Beckenbauer as president in 2009 after a 30-year apprenticeship, but behind the scenes Hoeness was obsessively gambling millions on stocks and currencies via his Swiss bank accounts, which eventually landed him in jail.