Did you notice it?
Historical moment in the Bundesliga game
02.02.2025 – 6:42 p.m.Reading time: 1 min.
In the game between Bayer Leverkusen and Hoffenheim, something has not yet been there has been a matter of existence: referee Robin Braun writes history.
Historical moment in the Sunday evening game: In Leverkusen there was an arbitrator announcement to the audience in a Bundesliga stadium for the first time. Referee Robin Braun in the 22nd minute of the game between Bayer and TSG Hoffenheim after a foul by guest player David Jurásek to Nathan Tella initially decided on a penalty. After consulting the video referee Robert Schröder, Braun took this back because Tella had previously been offside.
Braun’s announcement to the viewers about the stadium speakers in the Deutsche Bank Park of Frankfurt in the wording: “Cunct was checked. According to the pictures, there was an offside position. Therefore, the decision is not a penalty, offside.”
The first will not remain the last announcement of its species in the highest German division at the same time: As a test run until the end of the season, there should be announcement of the referees in selected stadiums until the end of the season. The German Football League (DFL) had launched the project to create more transparency for the audience.
There had been no announcements in the other stages in which this would have been possible at the weekend. The test run had previously been tested on the DFB campus and in Portugal. With the innovation, football is also based on examples from other sports: In ice hockey and American football, referee announcements have long been common in certain decisions and also contribute to disguising complicated situations for the viewers.