After Ball boy coup against Italy
DFL plans stricter rules in the Bundesliga
28.03.2025 – 9:04 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
Most recently, teenager Noel Urbaniak was one of the three leading actors of a strange goal of the national team as a ball boy. In the Bundesliga, the rules for ball children could be stricter.
In German professional football, new rules for ball children could soon apply-triggered by a scene that attracted a lot of attention. In the National League game of the German national team against Italy, a ball boy initiated a goal with a quick reaction. Now uniform requirements should ensure that similar situations will be prevented in the future.
As the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” reports, the German Football League (DFL) is planning together with the 36 clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2nd Bundesliga changes in dealing with ball children. Accordingly, it was orally agreed that the children should no longer bring the ball into play in the future. Instead, they should – based on the practice in the English Premier League – put it on a hat near the sidelines.
According to the report, the aim of this measure is to prevent the home team’s preference. Because these provide the ball children, who could give their own team an advantage through rapid ball transfer. The new model is already being used in several stadiums such as in Augsburg, Hoffenheim, Kiel and Leverkusen.
The trigger for the discussion was the scene with ball boy Noel Urbaniak, which played a central role in the 2-0 win of the DFB team against Italy. He had quickly thrown the ball to Joshua Kimmich, who immediately carried out the corner kick. Jamal Musiala met – while Italy’s goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and his teammates were still in a discussion. Urbaniak was celebrated for his reaction afterwards (you can read more about this here).