TriniTuner.com | Latest Event:
Moderator: 3ne2nr Mods
Prosecutors had hoped for a five-year sentence for the former West Germany international who handed himself in to the authorities earlier this month after confessing to evading 18.5 m Euros in taxes by using secret Swiss bank accounts to hide his income.
At the start of his trial on Monday, Hoeness declared he had provided all the evidence in his possession, and that he wanted all of the facts out in the open.
However, prosecutors claimed the sum was in excess of 27m euros and when confronted with the new figure Hoeness' legal team admitted:
"The defence considers the figures accurate; we do not challenge them."
Suspicions against Hoeness mounted last year as journalists and tax authorities began investigating his activities. He paid 10m Euros in back taxes in January 2013 to lessen his debt to the state.
Players and staff at Bayern Munich continued to express their support for Hoeness throughout the trial.
Bayern winger Franck Ribery said: "You can't envisage Bayern without Hoeness. We need him."
Hoeness, a World Cup winner in 1974, helped turn Bayern Munich into one of the world's most successful football teams, playing for and then managing the current European Champions.
The maximum punishment for major tax fraud under German law is ten years imprisonment.
And now, in an easy-on-the-eye arrangement ...
Barcelona v Atlético Madrid
Real Madrid v Borussia Dortmund
PSG v Chelsea
Manchester United v Bayern Munich
Ties to be played on 1/2 April and 8/9 April.
Mr Midas wrote:congrats, but bayern eh really have no competition in that league again.
Mr Midas wrote:congrats, but bayern eh really have no competition in that league again.
Bayern Munich demolished the Bundesliga in record time
Is this even fun for them?
AP Photo/Michael Sohn
Bayern Munich is probably the best soccer club team in the world right now, with the possible exception of Real Madrid and Barcelona. (Sorry, Chelsea fans.) They are certainly the best team in Germany’s top soccer division, the Bundesliga. They just won the league title in March, clinching it with a 3-1 win over Hertha BSC on Tuesday. This is a big deal because the season ends in the middle of May.
How did they clinch the league with almost a quarter of the season left to play? Well, for starters, they didn’t lose. Not once. Bayern won 25 of their first 27 games this season, and tied the other two. In those 27 games they scored 79 goals and allowed 13. They didn’t just win; they won easily.
They did this by compiling a roster so loaded it’s almost comical.
Reuters
For starters, take about every major member of the Germany team that’s a favorite in Brazil this summer, sprinkle in Brazil’s best central defender, and match them with Pep Guardiola, a brilliant soccer mind who managed Barcelona to incredible success before taking some time off. He’s back now, with Bayern, and they can’t stop winning.
(The funniest part? People were actually concerned Guardiola wouldn’t work with the group, and a lot of people fretted he wasn’t right for the job before the season began.)
It’s not like winning the Bundesliga is new to Bayern, either. They’ve done this before. A lot.
And yes, some of those league wins were the result of the club bandying together around the talent they had and fighting to win the league against tough competition. But too often, much like this year, Bayern just went out, bought all the best players, and won the thing.
Reuters
They won the league last year, too. After winning, they then added Mario Gotze, one of the best players from their main rival, Borussia Dortmund. Not content that Gotze was enough, however, they then went back and got Robert Lewandowski, the Polish striker who also played for Dortmund, who is one of the best goalscorers in the world and who will join the team starting next season.
Our own Nick Schwartz broke it down this way earlier this season:
Imagine if the Miami Heat, the best basketball team in the world and two-time defending champions, were somehow able to sign away one of the best players from a rival team, and money was no object. If the Heat nabbed Russell Westbrook from the Thunder, solidified itself as an unstoppable juggernaut, and then went back and lured away Kevin Durant, it would absolutely break the NBA. The Heat would never, ever lose, and instead the only real drama would exist within daytime television conversations about whether or not they were the best team in NBA history. This is more or less exactly what Bayern Munich has done in the last 18 months or so.
Granted, it’s not necessarily better or worse, it’s just different. I’m not arguing that financial equity makes sense in German soccer, and it is a unique American idea that leagues should have a salary cap and parity is a good thing.
That being said, at a certain point it can’t be good for the Bundesliga is every great player is on one team, and they just steamroll every other team in the process.
Another thing – can it be that fun for the players?
Do athletes really psyche themselves up to go out and smack everyone by three goals? To return to the LeBron James metaphor, aren’t guys like Paul George and Kevin Durant the people pushing him to keep improving, to keep working, to keep trying to make the Heat better? If every other opponent in the league was as good as the Bucks, wouldn’t we (potentially) see LeBron not reach his maximum potential as a player?
I’m asking a lot of questions and it’s because I don’t really know the answers. I want to respect the Bundesliga model, and I think Munich’s real challenge will come in the Champion’s League, where they will test themselves against the other best teams in the world.
For now, I just hope that with the league clinched, they can allow some of their younger players, like recently-added U.S. international Julian Green, get some shots with the first team.
Reuters
Bayern Munich: Bundesliga champions in numbers
European and German champions Bayern Munich have continued their dominance over everyone in their path this season.
The Bavarians, who could still defend their treble, won the Bundesliga table with a record seven games to spare by defeating Hertha Berlin 3-1 on Tuesday.
Pep Guardiola has yet to lose a league match since taking over in the summer - in fact, Bayern have not suffered a Bundesliga defeat in 18 months.
Here BBC Sport, with the help of Opta, takes a look at the records they have broken - and the ones they are still chasing.
Bayern's records:
7 - Bayern have won the Bundesliga title with a record seven games to spare. The previous record was the six games left that Bayern won the title with last year.
10 - Bayern have won their last 10 away matches in the league. The old record was nine - again, set by them last season.
19 - Bayern Munich have won their last 19 games - a Bundesliga record. The previous record was 15, set by Bayern in 2005.
Bayern's 2013-14 Bundesliga record
Played 27
Won 25
Drawn 2
Lost 0
For 79
Against 13
Points 77
19 - They have scored two goals or more in each of their last 19 wins - also a league record.
24 -This is Bayern Munich's 24th German (and West German) title, another record.
25 - Bayern have won 25 matches in the Bundesliga this season. The record is 29, set by them last year.
Bayern Munich defender Dante celebrates winning the Bundesliga title by talking to the fans - through a mega phone
25 March - Bayern Munich have clinched the earliest league title in Bundesliga history. They took until 6 April to do it last year - the previous record.
27 - Bayern's 27-game unbeaten run to start a Bundesliga season is also a record. Bayer Leverkusen's 24 at the start of 2009-10 was the old landmark. If they see the season out unbeaten, they will break AC Milan's record of 58 games (1991 to 1993) for Europe's top-five leagues.
27 - Bayern manager Pep Guardiola, appointed in the summer, has not lost in his first 27 matches in the Bundesliga. Kaiserslautern's Karl-Heinz Feldkamp (1978-79) had the old record with 14.
52 - Bayern Munich have not lost in 52 Bundesliga matches, a run going back to October 2012. Hamburg had the old record of 36 games unbeaten in 1982 and 1983.
77 - Bayern are on 77 points. The record for a Bundesliga season is 91 (set by Bayern last year). They can finish on 98 if they win their remaining seven games.
79 - Bayern have scored 79 goals in the league this season. They need another 23 to set a new goal-scoring record in the Bundesliga. Their 101-goal haul in 1971-72 is still the record.
Games that shaped Bayern's season:
19 October 2013: Bayern 4-1 Mainz Having been held at Bayer Leverkusen the previous league game, Pep Guardiola's side came roaring back to crush Mainz. Little did their title rivals know at the time that this would be the start of a 19-match winning run that would catapult them to the title.
Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich record (including Champions League, German Cup, Super Cup, Club World Cup)
Played 42
Won 38
Drawn 3
Lost 1
For 122
Against 22
Bayern Munich could end Pep Guardiola's first season in charge with five trophies
2 November 2013: Hoffenheim 1-2 Bayern: Bayern arrived at the Rhein-Neckar Arena trailing leaders Borussia Dortmund by two points in the table. They came from behind to win 2-1 to go one point clear. Bayern have stayed top ever since.
29 January 2014: Stuttgart 1-2 Bayern: It looked like two points dropped for Bayern as they entered stoppage time with the score 1-1. But Thiago Alcantara's last-gasp goal made it 10 straight league wins for the leaders.
They said what?
"There's never a good time to play this Bayern Munich team because - and I remember thinking this last year - they are truly a team without a weakness." - Former Benfica and Newcastle manager Graeme Souness.
"Pep Guardiola is another thing entirely; living football becomes contagious." - Barcelona's ex-Liverpool player Javier Mascherano.
"Joining Bayern was the best decision of my life. I'm certain this team can enjoy a lot more fun and success in the years to come." - Bayern's Brazilian defender Dante.
"It's still a bit cold outdoors in March, but everyone can see we're on fire and determined to win every match," Bayern's goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.
JoKeR1980 wrote:congrats to the club and fans, quite an accomplishment
rfari wrote:JoKeR1980 wrote:congrats to the club and fans, quite an accomplishment
OAAARRR!
