“That such referees…”
Manuel Gräfe attacks ex-colleagues and the DFB
03/20/2023 09:26 am
Manuel Gräfe is no longer allowed to whistle in the Bundesliga, but he is still present: he successfully sued the DFB, and he has also been criticizing actors and structures for years. Now he sees an “exemplary clarification of personal mistakes” – in the person of Tobias Stieler.
The former referee Manuel Gräfe criticized his former colleague Tobias Stieler after his corrected penalty decisions and again attacked the German Football Association. In the Bundesliga game between Bayer Leverkusen and FC Bayern Munich, Stieler only awarded two penalties for the Rhinelanders after studying the video images and in each case took back a yellow card previously shown for alleged swallowing.
With the hashtag for the game (#B04FCB), the 49-year-old Gräfe denounced that there was a “misdevelopment of the last decade” in terms of personnel. This is made clear by the fact that “such referees” – meaning Tobias Stieler – would be sponsored by the DFB “up to the highest group of UEFA”, “but the performance never justified it,” Graefe tweeted. The achievement of Stieler would “illustrate this in an exemplary manner”.
The 41-year-old Stieler has been a FIFA referee since 2014 and thus represents the DFB in international games. After Leverkusen made it 2-1, he thanked his video assistant for his support. “The referee soul cries a little, but I think the football world can be satisfied,” said Stieler.
Gräfe accuses the DFB of age discrimination after the end of his own Bundesliga career and therefore successfully sued the association. The Frankfurt Regional Court ruled on January 25 that the age limit of 47 for top referees at the DFB is not legal. The former referee will receive €48,500 in compensation for age discrimination, but no compensation for lost revenue.