FC St. Pauli coach Marcel Rapp criticizes VAR inconsistency

FC St. Pauli coach Marcel Rapp has expressed significant frustration regarding inconsistent refereeing and VAR applications following a 1-1 draw against Hannover 96. Rapp described his situation as a “cry for help,” stating he no longer understands the implementation of the rules after seeing identical scenarios judged differently in consecutive matches.

In the match against Hannover, a goal was allowed that mirrored a situation from a previous game against Karlsruhe, where a similar goal was disallowed. According to Alex Feuerherdt of DFB Schiri GmbH, the decisions fell within the “interpretable” range for the VAR. While the DFB tends toward “rather no punishable offside,” the threshold for VAR intervention remained high enough that the on-field officials' original decisions were not overturned in either instance.