Hoeness granted early release

The regional court in the Bavarian city of Augsburg confirmed on Monday that the former Bayern Munich boss would be released from jail on probation on February 29, when he will have served half of his sentence. The news had first been reported by the German sports website "Sport Bild."

The decision to grant Hoeness' request, which his lawyers filed last November, had been widely expected.

The 64-year-old Hoeness has been serving a three-and-a-half-year sentence after having been convicted in March 2014 of cheating the German authorities out of 28.5 million euros ($31 million) in unpaid taxes. He began serving his sentence in Landsberg prison in Bavaria at the start of June, 2014.

After spending the first few months of his sentence in the facility full time, for about the past year, Hoeness has been allowed out during weekdays, only returning to his cell at night. He has also been allowed to spend weekends at home with his family.

His application for early release is also thought to have been helped by the fact that he is a first-time offender and has secured employment working with one of Bayern Munich's youth teams.

pfd/ (dpa, AFP)