Excitement about the penalty scene
Handball? That’s what referee Zwayer says
November 8, 2025 – 8:54 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
VfL Wolfsburg lost a win against Bremen in a turbulent final phase. There was also a controversial scene that was discussed after the game.
Next defeat for VfL Wolfsburg: Despite a long 1-0 lead, Lower Saxony ultimately lost 1-2 against Werder Bremen in an exciting final phase on Friday evening. Wolfsburg had previously been lucky, as Bremen was denied a possible earlier equalizer in the 50th minute.
What had happened? Werder’s Amos Pieper shot from a distance towards the Wolfsburg goal, Vinícius Souza fended off the ball with his arm in the penalty area. Excitement – and the question: penalty? The VAR checked the scene, but did not send a signal to referee Felix Zwayer, so he did not look at the scene again. There was a corner instead of a penalty.
After the game, Zwayer appeared and explained to “Sky” why there was no penalty for Werder Bremen. Zwayer: “The VAR in Cologne checked in very detailed ways. At first glance it actually looks as if he was pulling his arm up when he turned away and fending off the ball with his elbow.” With a very close look, the video referee Patrick Hanslbauer was able to work out that the ball “didn’t touch the elbow, but the upper arm.” This means that no “unnatural enlargement” of the body would have taken place and therefore no criminal offense would have occurred.
Felix Zwayer continued: “We trust each other, we are a team, we coordinate with each other and know what is punishable and what is not. And if he (the video assistant, editor’s note) comes to the conclusion that the ball goes to the arm, but not to an area that is punishable, then I actually have a lot of trust in that. So that was great work in Cologne.”