Germany still discussing Kießling's phantom goal for Bayer Leverkusen

Stefan Kiessling of Leverkusen scores his team’s second goal against goalkeeper Koen Casteeln of Hoffenheim during the Bundesliga match between 1899 Hoffenheim and Bayer Leverkusen at Rhein-Neckar Arena on October 18, 2013 in Sinsheim, Germany

Friday night matches are somewhat of a tradition in the German Bundesliga, but what happened last Friday in Hoffenheim is still the talking point here in Germany, the Stefan Kießling phantom goal for Bayer 04 Leverkusen and what happens next.

Just to recap what happened. In the 70th minute following a Gonzalo Castro corner, Stefan Kießling heads the ball just wide of the goal but due to a hole in the netting of the goal, the ball jumps into the net and referee Felix Brych gives the goal to the disbelief of Hoffenheim. It was Leverkusen’s second goal of the night with the match ending 2-1 in favour for Bayer 04.

After the match discussions started on what needs to happen with the general perception being that there needs to be a rematch like in the case of the Bayern Munich vs 1.FC Nuremberg match in 1994 when Thomas Helmer didn’t score but a goal was given by the match officials. The German FA then had decided to have a rematch, which then wasn’t to the liking of FIFA

“I didn’t really see it, I turned away but I was surprised to see the ball in. I didn’t know how it got in,” said phantom goalscorer Kießling afterwards and he has come in for criticism as referee Brych approached him for a clarification, but Kießling himself wasn’t sure what had happened.

Hoffenheim lodged an appeal against Friday nights result with the German FA (DFB) deciding to consult both teams, the referee, its control committee and football’s governing body FIFA to clarify the legal position for such cases internationally and such a process might take a few days until a final solution to the issue is found.

Here a video of what happened in Hoffenheim!