Uli Hoeness in the spotlight

The German football world is in shock after the news that Bayern Munich club president and former German international Uli Hoeness has admitted to holding a Swiss bank account and is now being investigated for tax evasion. The 61-year-old came forward to the tax authorities voluntarily in January of this year but the issue has only just come to light.

Bayern Munich's president is also a successful businessman - he founded a sausage-making company in Nuremberg in 1985. According to some media reports Hoeness has already paid back several million euros in back taxes. Whether this money is money earnt from his private business or from work with Bayern Munich is unknown.

On Monday, Angela Merkel's spokesman admitted the German leader is disappointed in Hoeness. He said her disappointment is "all the greater" because Hoeness, one of the most prominent figures in German football, "stands for so much that is positive" - for example, supporting an effort to improve the integration of immigrants that Merkel also backed.

Hoeness made his debut as an active footballer for Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga as an 18 year old in 1970. He played for eight years for the club, before succumbing to a knee injury. In that time he scored 86 goals for Germany's most successful team. Together with the legendary striker Gerd Müller, Hoeness was considered one of Europe's most dangerous strikers.

Hoeness also played for the German national team on 35 occasions, winning the European Championships in 1972 and the World Cup in 1974. After the knee injury which ended his active playing career at the age of just 27, he moved into club management at Bayern Munich.

Uli Hoeness narrowly escaped death in February 1982 when a small plane that he was travelling in crash-landed badly. All other occupants of the plane - two pilots and a passenger - were fatally injured. Hoeness was released from hospital after just two days before returning to his job as commercial manager at Bayern.

Hoeness' career as commercial manager of Bayern Munich from 1980 to 2008 was highly successful. Not only was the club one of the most dominant in Europe winning the national title countless times and all European trophies, Hoeness' commercial sense was second to none. He was regularly able to entice top coaches to the club, including Jürgen Klinsmann (pictured) and Louis van Gaal.

Hoeness has said that he may take legal action against some media for their reporting of the incident, which was meant to remain private between authorities and himself. Still, he admitted to Germany's "Sport Bild" that his behaviour was a "bad mistake." Hoeness has also told German media that he will not resign from his role as Bayern Munich president.