Bad omen?
Referee appointment for DFB game with an aftertaste
March 28, 2026 – 5:19 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Stuart Attwell will take charge of the DFB team’s game against Ghana. He played a crucial role in the European Championship exit two years ago.
On Monday (from 8:45 p.m. in the live ticker on t-online) the German national team will welcome Ghana for an international match in Stuttgart. The Englishman Stuart Attwell is the referee – the man who, as a video assistant at the 2024 European Championship quarter-finals in the same stadium, did not punish one of the most controversial scenes of the tournament.
Back then, Spain’s Marc Cucurella blocked a shot from Jamal Musiala with his hand in the 106th minute – in his own penalty area. Attwell did not intervene as VAR, referee Anthony Taylor allowed play to continue. Germany lost 2-1 after extra time and were eliminated.
At the time, national coach Julian Nagelsmann described Attwell’s non-intervention as “madness” and rumbled: “The fact that there won’t be a penalty – I can’t accept that.” Former DFB captain Michael Ballack complained: “There is no longer a clearer handball in football.”
However, referee experts rated Taylor’s decision as consistent with the rules. There was no apparent intention on Cucurella’s part, the distance to the shooter was short and the shot was very hard. The referee Patrick Ittrich said: “This scene shows the whole dilemma of the rule. I’m actually more in favor of handball, but it’s not the handball where you send him out because you don’t have any other pictures.”
There is also another comparison: In the European Championship round of 16 against Denmark (2-0), Attwell assisted his compatriot Michael Oliver as a video referee. In a similar scene, Oliver decided on a hand penalty for Germany.
It is the first game for the DFB team under Attwell’s management. The 43-year-old has been refereeing at FIFA level since 2009 and was already in action as VAR at the 2021 European Championship. The U21 and U19 of the DFB each lost their only game under his leadership.
