It’s about the lighter scandal
Union manager also rails against the DFB decision
01/13/2025 – 06:47 amReading time: 2 minutes
The anger at Union Berlin over the court ruling on the lighter scandal continues. After President Dirk Zingler, the next official speaks out.
Managing director Horst Heldt of Union Berlin has followed up after the Bundesliga club’s objection to the DFB sports court’s ruling. The 55-year-old railed against the umbrella organization and its control committee on the “Sky90” program one day after club boss Dirk Zingler’s verbal attacks.
“What is the DFB control committee actually doing in this negotiation?” Heldt said on Sunday evening: “What does the DFB control committee have a say in this?” In addition, the chairman of the committee, Anton Nachreiner, had nothing else to do “other than to pick on this referee”.
The DFB sports court decided on Thursday after VfL Bochum’s protest to score the game on December 14th 2-0 for VfL. The game was interrupted for a long time after a lighter was thrown from the Union block. Guest goalkeeper Patrick Drewes, who was hit in the head by the lighter shortly before the end, was unable to continue playing. The encounter ended 1-1, with both teams just pushing the ball back and forth as the game continued.
In the justification for the verdict, 1. FC Union, which was already in the majority, was accused of “not having finished the game properly,” explained Heldt. “I would have liked to see everyone say, ‘We’re two more men, we’ll play for two or three more minutes and now we’ll attack the Bochum goal and try to score a goal,'” emphasized Heldt. “The DFB, which promotes and stands for fair play, accuses us of not attacking more.”
When asked whether he would have acted like the bottom team from Bochum, Heldt replied: “I can’t answer yes and no. To be honest, I can’t say that.” But he pointed out: “Now you have the opportunity to manipulate a game from outside.” Sky expert and former professional Dietmar Hamann emphasized: “The DFB has taken away the freedom to make decisions.”
The day before, Union President Zingler had heavily criticized the decision of the DFB sports court. He also attacked Bochum: “The fact that Bochum is using the process to gain an advantage in terms of sport, I find it an unfair scandal.”