Overview
- DFB Schiri-GmbH head Knut Kircher said a stripped-down review using standard broadcast images could help prevent clear errors in the first two rounds.
- Innovation lead Jochen Drees indicated matches from the second round could use VAR if individual venues meet personnel and technical requirements.
- A media cost analysis put full VAR and goal-line tech at about €11 million plus roughly €1 million in staffing per season, or around €20,000 per top-flight match, with no agreement on who would pay at non-DFL hosts.
- Second-round controversies, including Bayern’s Luis Díaz scoring from an offside position against Köln, intensified calls from club figures to bring video review forward.
- Former referee Markus Merk and pundit Dietmar Hamann argue the deeper issue is declining on-field decision quality and overreliance on technology, urging structural reforms.