Bayern Munich To Play 12 Players, Freiburg To Appeal

Bayern Munich (Instagram @fcbayern)

JAKARTA – Freiburg will appeal their match against Bayern Munich. The appeal relates to FC Hollywood's error in fielding 12 players in the match.

Munich visited Freiburg's headquarters at the Europa Park Stadium for the continuation of the 2021-2022 German Bundesliga on Saturday, April 2. In that match the visitors managed to bring home a 4-1 victory, but left controversy.

The controversy occurred when FC Hollywood was winning 3-1 over Freiburg. In that period, Munich coach Julian Nagelsmann decided to make two substitutions at once.

The 34-year-old pulled off Niklas Suele and Marcel Sabitzer in the 85th minute and brought on Corentin Tolisso and Kingsley Coman. However, only the first name left the field.

Investigating a calibaration, it turns out that Coman did not leave the field. Kathleen Krueger, Bayern team manager, gave the fourth official the wrong number. He gave up the number 29, whereas Coman started this season wearing the number 11.

Coman who did not leave the field made the visitors have time to play with 12 players on the field. Although this error lasted only a short time, Freiburg decided to appeal.

"Therefore, the board of Sport-Club Freiburg has decided, after intense discussions at different levels and legal examinations, to appeal against the validity of the match," Freiburg wrote on their official website as quoted on Tuesday, 5 March.

Freiburg made several important points when submitting the appeal for processing by the German Football Federation (DFB). One of the considerations is to protect the rights of other clubs who are faced with a similar situation in the future.

Freiburg said that a written statement detailing the reasons for their appeal would soon be sent to court. Thus, this appeal could have affected the outcome of the match and Bayern were declared 0-2 losers according to the rules.

The results of the appeal can also determine the fault lies with the field court who presided over the match. The reason is, he just lets a substitute player into the field, but the player being replaced is still on the field.

FC Hollywood is currently still at the top of the German Bundesliga standings with a collection of 66 points. They are 9 points ahead of Borussia Dortmund who are trailing in second place.