Frankfurt / Main (dpa) – FC Bayern’s 4-1 victory in the Bundesliga game at SC Freiburg remains despite the mistake made by the table leader. The German Football Association (DFB) announced this decision by its sports court.
On April 4, Freiburg protested against the game rating because the club was formally in an active role in having the processes legally checked. According to the sports court, the Munich team was not to blame for “the culpable use of a player who was not eligible to play”. There is therefore no reason for denial of victory. Rather, a serious misconduct by referee Christian Dingert and his team is the cause of the mistake.
Bayern had twelve players on the field for a few seconds in the game on April 2, before the referee stopped the match when the score was 1-3 from Freiburg’s point of view. Previously, the wrong shirt number had been displayed by Munich’s team manager when Kingsley Coman was replaced. The Frenchman probably didn’t feel addressed and initially didn’t leave the field in a double substitution. In this phase, however, there were no game-changing scenes.
The involvement of Bayern in the exchange chaos “is not sufficient from the point of view of proportionality to justify the serious legal consequences of a game revaluation,” said Stephan Oberholz, the chairman of the sports court.
The referee team “failed to fulfill their duties in several respects,” added Oberholz. The present case is also not comparable with the mistake made by VfL Wolfsburg, who illegally brought a sixth substitute into the game in the DFB Cup at Preussen Münster. VfL was then stripped of victory.
In the table, Bayern are now nine points ahead of pursuers Borussia Dortmund. Freiburg occupies fifth place, which entitles them to participate in the Europa League – three points behind RB Leipzig in fourth place in the Champions League and one point ahead of sixth-placed TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. The people of Breisgau can appeal the verdict within one working day.