Willi O. Hoffmann

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Willi Otto Hoffmann (born June 30, 1930 in Munich ) is a former German football official . He served as President of FC Bayern Munich from April 24, 1979 to October 9, 1985 . Because of his jovial temperament and his joy of celebrating, he was nicknamed " Champagne Willi" by the media .

Life

Hoffmann, who was born in the Sendling district of Munich, was taken to a Bayern Munich game for the first time in 1938 by his father, a toolmaker. He himself played soccer for FC Hertha München , but had to give up active sport after a meniscus operation. In 1958, the qualified tax advisor joined FC Bayern and, following the election of Roland Endler , succeeded Alfred Reitlinger as club president and became the club's secretary . The club, which was in bankruptcy at the beginning of that period, was financially restructured during this period and returned to the top group of the league. After Wilhelm Neudecker was elected as Endler's successor in 1962, he became treasurer of the association which, over the next decade and a half, was elected in the era shaped by Franz Beckenbauer and Gerd Müller . After Neudecker's resignation in 1979 after a player revolt in which it was a question of whether the interim coach Pál Csernai should be replaced by Neudecker's favorite "friend of discipline and order" Max Merkel , he became his successor.

Hoffmann took over the Csernai, which was still under contract from Neudecker, hired Uli Hoeneß as the club manager in July and provided him with extensive powers from the start. Under Hoffmann's presidency, the club, which had won its last German championship in 1974 and had won no other titles since winning the World Cup in December 1976, returned to the road to success. With Paul Breitner and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge , the team became known as FC Breitnigge and in 1980 and 1981 German champions and 1982 and 1984 cup winners. In 1982 the team also moved into the final of the European Champions' Cup, but lost 1-0 against Aston Villa FC from Birmingham . After the end of the 1983/84 season, the sale of the three-time Bundesliga shooter king and two-time European Footballer of the Year Karl-Heinz Rummenigge for the world record transfer sum of almost 12 million marks to Inter Milan reduced the debts that arose in the unsuccessful years, which amounted to up to valued at 8 million DM.

Under Hoffmann, who himself was often seen in photographs wearing a traditional costume hat with a chamois beard, it was good practice at FC Bayern that the team often presented themselves in traditional Bavarian lederhosen. This was initially a humorous response to the slogan "Take off Bayern's lederhosen!", Often chanted by opposing fans at away games, and it was permanently retained as part of the club's culture.

Klaus Schulz, historically the first basketball star of FC Bayern and later department head of the club's third-class basketball players, received the order from President Hoffmann to bring the team into the first division, which he also achieved. Successor Fritz Scherer and manager Uli Hoeneß ended the project after Hoffmann's departure and the Bayern basketball players disappeared again into relative insignificance. See also FC Bayern Munich (basketball) .

From the beginning of 1985 onwards, Hoffmann's full-time business made it into the headlines. Therefore, Hoffmann resigned his presidency on October 9, 1985 due to "business problems". His successor was the treasurer, the professor of business administration Fritz Scherer .

In 1991 Hoffmann was sentenced to a fine of around 16,000 euros due to questionable business in connection with the sale of client models and investments in hotels. In 1993 he was convicted Beitragsvorenthaltung to probation and in January 2003 for tax evasion to one year's imprisonment suspended sentence. It was about 175,000 euros, which Hoffmann had earned in 1992 and 1993 with a complex network of hotels and real estate companies.

Hoffmann, married to his wife Ingeborg Regina, father of five children and grandfather of seven grandchildren, was a member of the administrative board of the association for a decade from November 2002 and was made an honorary member.

Trivia

In 1983 Hoffmann readily gave a journalist information about how he came up with the name “Champagner-Willi”: “When I became president in 1979, I said to the team: Come on, let's have a glass of champagne. Whereupon a journalist, who came for an interview, casually asked me if I was bothered if I was called Champagne Willi. No, that wouldn't really bother me and the next day a famous tabloid said in bold letters: Champagne Willi. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Karlheinz Mrazek, Matthias Greulich: 50 years of the Bundesliga: goals, dramas and scandals , Stiebner Verlag, 2012, p. 40; accessed on March 1, 2014.
  2. ↑ Bavaria: When things get tight, Der Spiegel , March 25, 1985, accessed on March 1, 2014.
  3. ↑ Bayernbaeda.de - Willi O. Hoffmann viewed on March 1, 2014.
  4. ^ Kick-off - Uncle Kurt and the Bavarians Die Zeit from May 28, 2008, viewed on March 1, 2014.
  5. ↑ Comment by the then managing director and manager Walter Fembeck : Neudecker "was always a little bit for discipline and order".
  6. ↑ Uli Hoeneß on the farewell to Bavaria - The Hate-Beloved TAZ of November 26, 2009, viewed on March 1, 2014.
  7. ↑ Spox.com - Faces accessed on March 1, 2014.
  8. ↑ Christoph Stadtler (Interview): FC Bayern: "Uli stopped us" , Abendzeitung Munich , December 2, 2011.
  9. ^ Suspended sentence for tax evader Hoffmann Merkur from January 14, 2003, accessed on March 1, 2014.
  10. ↑ Take me volley He was never in New York, Part VI Mercury from November 24, 2011, viewed on March 1, 2014.
personal data
SURNAME Hoffmann, Willi O.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hoffmann, Willi Otto (full name); Champagne Willi (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German football official
DATE OF BIRTH June 30, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich