“Pranks me crazy”
Bundesliga coach is annoyed about ball boys
Updated 12/7/2025 – 7:45 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
A draw, but still frustration: St. Pauli’s coach Blessin complains about ball boys and misses fairness like in England. How Cologne’s Kwasniok reacts to the accusation.
Despite the lucky point win after nine defeats in a row, St. Pauli coach Alexander Blessin expressed clear criticism of the ball boys after the game at 1. FC Köln. “I thought for a long time whether I should talk about it, but it tickles and it just burns inside me. I don’t want to offend anyone from FC Köln, but the situation really pisses me off. I don’t understand why some teams can’t manage it with these ball boys,” said Blessin after the 1-1 draw.
“In the first half it was the case that the balls were still outside, in the second half the balls were suddenly gone. Please make it so that the balls are outside the whole time – like in England – and then we leave the ball boys alone and that’s a fair solution,” added the Kiezkicker coach.
In the summer, the DFL recommended that the 36 first and second division teams only use their ball children to place the balls on marker tiles instead of throwing them to a player. However, the implementation of the concept is not mandatory.
Cologne coach Lukas Kwasniok reacted cautiously to the guest coach’s problem. “I never noticed it, but of course, when you’re behind, you’re more likely to notice something like that,” said the FC coach and added: “If – and Alex is right – the DFL basically wants to do the same thing in the future, then sooner or later word will certainly get around to Cologne.”