Europa League game in Nice
Curious situations: Referee angry because of bad balls
November 6th, 2025 – 8:30 p.mReading time: 1 min.
Unusual situations arose several times in the Europa League when the match balls had to be replaced. This also surprised the Freiburg sports boss.
SC Freiburg wanted to concentrate on winning at OGC Nice, but the game in the Europa League had to be briefly interrupted again and again. Because: The balls had too little air. The first time it happened after three minutes and the play equipment was replaced.
This was the case again in the eighth minute when Nice’s goalkeeper Yehvann Diouf again criticized the ball. But that’s not enough. Shortly after Freiburg equalized 1-1 through Johan Manzambi, referee Anastasios Sidiropoulos called for another rally in the 31st minute.
He ran towards the edge of the field and shouted: “Bring me other balls.” He also looked a bit incredulous. Freiburg’s sports director Jochen Saier was asked about the strange situation with the balls by RTL during the half-time break. He said that he had never experienced this “in large numbers”. “The first three were flat, that shouldn’t happen normally,” said the 47-year-old.