Overview
- In Union Berlin vs. Freiburg, Andrej Ilic’s 63rd-minute goal was overturned after a four-minute VAR review, with referee Sören Storks ruling that Rani Khedira interfered from an offside position.
- The DFB confirmed the semi-automated offside system drew a line on the wrong defender at St. Pauli in the 15th minute, the third failure at the Millerntor this season, prompting a manual VAR check.
- St. Pauli president Oke Göttlich questioned payments for malfunctioning technology and raised the prospect of refunds, while referee chief Knut Kircher pledged an investigation and corrective measures.
- Former FIFA referees Markus Merk and Urs Meier warned that dependence on video review is undermining on-field decision-making and called for stronger referee training.
- ZDF referee expert Thorsten Kinhöfer urged introducing VAR from the DFB-Pokal’s second round after uncorrected offside incidents in matches such as Köln–Bayern and Dortmund–Eintracht.