Berlin (dpa) – After the referee’s wrong decisions on the Bundesliga weekend, the criticism is increasing – also on the German Football Association.
Former top referee Manuel Graefe blames years of misdevelopment in the DFB for the mistakes and calls for a “restart”. Record national player Lothar Matthäus suggests former professional footballers as support for the video assistant after “decisions that are no longer so easy to accept”. The DFB itself had admitted to mistakes made by referees in two games.
Gräfe: “Time to ask the question of responsibility”
On Saturday, the role of the video assistant in the Bundesliga once again caused criticism. In the top game between FC Bayern and Borussia Dortmund (3-1), VAR did not intervene after Benjamin Pavard fouled BVB professional Jude Bellingham from the penalty spot. In the 2-1 victory of 1. FC Union at RB Leipzig, the video assistant reported a kick from Leipzig’s Nordi Mukiele against Berlin’s Niko Gießelmann, but the referee did not revise his decision. Video evidence project manager Jochen Drees explained in a DFB announcement on Monday that the wrong decisions had been made in both cases.
DFB referee boss Lutz-Michael Fröhlich meanwhile made the referees responsible before the season finale. “We will work even more intensively with the referees on the last three matchdays in preparation and point out the possible sources of error, but above all to give them peace and security for their game assignments,” said Fröhlich.
“It’s time, after the DFB drove refereeing structurally and personally against the wall for twelve years, to ask the question of responsibility,” wrote Graefe in a guest comment in the “Bild” newspaper and added: “If it’s in a club or does not work in a company for years, at some point the management level will rightly be held responsible.”
The referees have been organized in an outsourced GmbH since January 1st. Head of referee Lutz Michael Fröhlich is responsible for the “sport and communication” area, while department head Florian Götte is responsible for “management and organization”. The DFB is the majority shareholder with 51 percent, the German Football League is also a shareholder.
Gräfe: “Principle of performance takes second place”
There were simply too many wrong decisions, some of which were clearly wrong, said Gräfe, who emphasized: “Here we are again with the performance principle, which has unfortunately been at the back of the DFB referee management for a long time. Previously with the bosses Fandel and Krug, today with Fröhlich, Meyer and Drees.” The DFB – and now also the DFL – is required, because it cannot be that this problem is so bad for the Bundesliga. “Wrong decisions obviously have no necessary consequences, because people prefer to choose the referees for positions or tasks according to personal, regional or political aspects.”
DFB representative Fröhlich has no understanding for Graefe’s massive criticism. “We are less constructive about the way a former referee uses the current discussion to publicly express his personal opinion,” he said.
Gräfe, who had to end his career in the summer of 2021 due to the age limit and was therefore in a clinch with the DFB, calls for a “restart without these political influences”. The 48-year-old Berliner proposes the engagement of the former Swiss referee Urs Meier, who can act “independently and performance-oriented”.
Meier reacted with interest to the suggestion. “I don’t rule that out! It would be a job that I would enjoy. German football is very close to me,” he told the “Bild” newspaper.
Matthew brings ex-soccer players into the conversation
Matthäus, however, could imagine that former professional footballers are used as support. The proposal is not new. “As former footballers, we can assess it better because we have been in these situations ourselves for years and know what it looks like when you are fouled or fouled. How you fall, where the ball moves when this or that in front of it happens. And most importantly, we see it faster,” Matthäus wrote in a Sky column. The intuition of ex-footballers is different in such cases.
Fröhlich was open to the idea. “We are happy to accept constructive suggestions from football experts like Lothar Matthäus and we are also striving for more mutual exchange with other football experts, current and former players and club officials,” he said. This is an important addition to the existing regular exchange with the clubs, which the DFB has recently intensified significantly.
Nevertheless, Matthäus is against abolishing the video referee again. That would be “a step backwards,” said the 1990 world champion: “I think that the bottom line is that more wrong decisions are prevented than before, and there’s still room for improvement.”
Ex-colleague Merk contradicts the criticism
The three-time world referee Markus Merk cannot understand the sharp criticism of his former colleague Manuel Graefe at the DFB. In an interview with the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger”, Merk accused Gräfe of other motives for his statements. “His approach has been based on a personal level for years. He uses every opportunity to advance a factual level,” said Merk: “No one should claim to say that if you had considered him more, it would be the football world a better one. And that’s basically his argument.”
The 60-year-old Merk meanwhile calls for a clearer focus on the main referees on the field with a view to the discussions about the video assistants in the Bundesliga. “He can’t just be the vicarious agent of the video assistant,” said Merk: “You have to train the referees so that they can do their primary job better again: having the main responsibility on the field.”