In the women’s Bundesliga, the game between SC Freiburg and Bayer 04 Leverkusen must be repeated. This was decided by the sports court of the German Football Association.
The DFB sports court rejected an objection from Bayer and thereby confirmed the judgment of September 19th. An appeal against this decision can be filed with the DFB Federal Court within one week of its announcement.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen’s appeal was unsuccessful
In the single-judge proceedings, the sports court had previously upheld the Freiburg women’s previous objection to the scoring of the match on August 31, which they lost 2-3, and ordered a rescheduling. Leverkusen lodged an appeal against this verdict, but this was unsuccessful.
Freiburg justified its protest with an alleged violation of the rules by the referee team. This resulted in the ultimately decisive penalty for Leverkusen being retaken in the 88th minute. The sports court now followed the SC’s opinion in the oral hearing.
DFB sports court finds “ignorance of a rule”.
“This is not a matter of a factual decision that cannot be verified in principle, but of ignorance of a rule and therefore a violation of the rules. This violation also had an impact on the rating of the game as lost or drawn – so the game had to be rescheduled,” said the presiding judge Heinz Müller in the reasons for the judgment.
In the first attempt, Bayer player Kristin Kögel shot the ball over the goal. Since Freiburg’s goalkeeper Rafaela Borggräfe had moved too early in the opinion of the referees, they had the penalty retaken. Kögel converted the final score in his second attempt.
Penalties can be retaken but…
According to the rules, referees can allow a penalty to be taken again, but only if the goalkeeper’s offense clearly affected the shooter. According to the Freiburg women, that was not the case. According to the sports court, the corresponding rule 14 paragraph 2 was disregarded in the present case.
