St. Pauli demands VAR money back: technology fails for the third time

St. Pauli demands VAR money back: technology fails for the third time

The Bundesliga has caused excitement again, and it's not the first time this season. FC St. Pauli is faced with a serious problem: the semi-automatic offside line has failed for the third time this season. After a bitter 4-0 defeat against Borussia Mönchengladbach, St. Pauli boss Oke Göttlich announced that the club could potentially ask for its money back for the technology because it was not reliable. Loud Picture All Bundesliga clubs pay around 80,000 euros per season for the technology costs for the video referee (VAR), via a levy from the DFL.

Göttlich made it clear that the technical problems had nothing to do with the defeat against Gladbach. There was a controversial offside decision on the guests' first goal, which was assessed as correct by referee Robert Hartmann and the VAR in Cologne. The referee boss Knut Kircher now had to face the critical questions and named various causes for the breakdowns. He reported starting problems with the new system, which requires player movement profiles from EA as well as different data for the calibrated line from Sportec Solution.

Technical breakdowns and their causes

Kircher also mentioned that in one of the incidents, a technician inserted a plug incorrectly. In addition, difficulties with body tracking could have been responsible for the incorrect offside line. Kircher promised to carefully review the problems and present solutions by the next home game. The question remains, however, how many times the technology can fail before consequences arise.

The debate about VAR is not only taking place at St. Pauli. There are always discussions about technology throughout the league. One could almost say that viewers have to develop a certain sense of humor in order to view the multitude of technical glitches with a wink.

What does this mean for the future?

Who knows, perhaps the discussion about VAR will continue in the stadiums and fan bars in the long term. The Bundesliga faces the challenge of not only improving its technical infrastructure, but also giving fans the feeling that they can trust the referees' decisions. In view of the current incidents, one wishes that the technology would finally work perfectly - because watching football will be much more fun that way.