Bayern Munich President Uli Hoeness: A reign ends

A relationship that began in 1970 when Bayern Munich signed an 18-year-old from TSG Ulm 1846 has come to an end, with Uli Hoeness announcing that he will not run for another term as club president. He shaped one of the most successful eras in German football history. Former Adidas boss Herbert Hainer, who already holds a position with the German champions, is his replacement.

Long before current events, Hoeness the player was a forward who was part of the Bayern team that won both the Bundesliga and the European Cup three times. Playing for West Germany, he won both the EuropeanChampionship and the World Cup. For a few years, Hoeness and Gerd Müller formed one of Europe's most potent strike forces. However, his playing career was cut short by a knee injury.

After an unsuccessful attempt to come back from the injury while on loan to Nuremberg, Hoeness hung up his boots and became the Bundesliga's youngest general manager at the tender age of 27 on May 1, 1979. Here he is pictured with then-Bayern President Willi Hoffmann (left) on this third day on the job – when he got his first victory as manager with Bayern winning 3-1 in Darmstadt.

Even before Hoeness became manager, he negotiated a deal with truck maker Magirus-Deutz as Bayern's jersey sponsor. The funds allowed Bayern to bring West Germany star Paul Breitner back to Munich from Braunschweig in 1978. Here, Breitner is seen holding up the trophy after Bayern won the 1981 Bundesliga title. The two but have recently fallen out over Breitner's criticism of Bayern's management.

On February 17, 1982, Uli Hoeness was the sole survivor of the crash of a private jet, while he was on his way to a West German national team friendly. The three other people on board the plane died. Hoeness, who was asleep on the back seat of the plane when it crashed, remembers nothing about it.

Hoeness, the son of a master butcher, started up the HoWe sausage-making company in Nuremberg in 1985, which now supplies major businesses such as Aldi and McDonalds. HoWe, which is where Hoeness made a lot of his money, has been taken over by his son Florian.

After 30 years as general manager, on November 27, 2009, Uli Hoeness moved up in the Bayern Munich hierarchy, winning election at the club's annual general meeting as its new president. More success would soon follow, with Bayern doing the double that same season and later, beginning in 2012-13, going on a run of six-straight Bundesliga titles.

Hoeness has had his share of personal animosity. A feud with former Cologne and Bayer Leverkusen coach Christoph Daum began when both appeared on a sports talk show. It reached its climax with the cocaine scandal surrounding Daum, who looked set to become Germany coach in 2000. Daum never took up the post after a test on his hair turned up positive for cocaine.

Uli Hoeness won his share of silverware as a player, but has won almost countless titles as an executive. In 2013, Bayern Munich won the treble; the Bundesliga title, the German Cup, and the Champions League. "An unbelieveable year," said the top club executive, who was still a free man, despite the fact that a warrant for his arrest on tax-evasion charges had already been issued.

March 13, 2014: Hoeness was convicted of evading €28.5 million ($32 million) in taxes and was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail. Hoeness began serving his sentence on June 2, 2014, making the fall from grace of a German soccer legend complete.

A day after his conviction, Uli Hoeness resigned as Bayern president, however he would return to the post two and a half years later, winning election at the club's annual general meeting on November 25, 2016. He was the only candidate after current President Karl Hopfner, who had stood in for him during his time in prison, agreed earlier in the year not to run for re-election.

Hoeness has always there with a helping hand for a friend in need. Clubs like St. Pauli and even rivals Borussia Dortmund have been known to profit from his generosity. He has also reached out to help former teammates like Gerd Müller, who struggled with alcohol, or players Sebastian Deisler who suffered from burnout and Dietmar Hamman, who was stricken with both alcohol and gambling addictions.

For the most part, Uli Hoeness keeps his private life to himself. He has been married to his wife Susanne for more than 40 years and his two children, Sabine and Florian are grown up. Hoeness enjoys a quiet life at home, and there have been no known scandals involving his family.