Team was beside themselves
DFB admits serious mistake in cup semi-final
April 24, 2026 – 1:06 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
SC Freiburg was upset about a whistled goal in the DFB Cup semi-final. The DFB now admits: Freiburg was right.
The disallowed Freiburg goal in the semi-finals of the DFB Cup should have counted. This was confirmed by Marco Fritz from the DFB on Wednesday. Fritz is a former referee himself and now works as head of rule interpretation and evaluation for DFB Schiri GmbH. The duel in the first minute of extra time between SC striker Lucas Höler and Jeff Chabot was a “robust but rule-compliant duel,” Fritz told the dpa news agency.
Referee Tobias Welz had ruled a foul against VfB defender Chabot, Höler’s goal scored immediately afterwards did not count. “In the dynamics of the game, the referee noticed that Höler was using his arm illegally in the duel between Lucas Höler and Jeff Chabot. That’s why he decided on a foul and interrupted the game,” explained Fritz. “With the television images, however, it would have been much better to assess the duel as a robust but legal duel, let the game continue and give Höler the immediately following goal.”
Particularly bitter from Freiburg’s point of view: Shortly before the end of extra time, Stuttgart took the lead and won 2-1, which meant a place in the final. Freiburg’s defender Christian Günter then complained: “He runs against a 1.95 man, he just flies there and it’s never a foul.” Freiburg’s coach Julian Schuster also recognized a “regular” goal: “Sorry, that’s not a foul. That hurts.”
Even VfB striker Deniz Undav admitted: “I don’t think you can make a worse mistake than a referee. Good for us, of course, but you can never, ever whistle that away.” Stuttgart coach Sebastian Hoeneß could also understand Freiburg’s frustration. “You can’t dismiss the situation. We would have reacted the same way Freiburg did,” he said.