Elversberg coach cleared to face Bayern Munich after referee admits mistake

Vincent Wagner will be on the touchline when his SV Elversberg side hosts Bayern Munich on Sunday, after a German football tribunal overturned his one-match ban. The reason: the referee who sent him off admitted he made a mistake. The DFB sports court ruled in Wagner’s favor following an oral hearing on September 10, where referee Martin Petersen conceded that his decision to issue a second yellow card to the Elversberg coach during halftime of their match against Borussia Mönchengladbach on September 6 was wrong. Petersen acknowledged that Wagner wasn’t confronting him at all. He was simply walking toward his own players. How the mess started Wagner’s troubles began during the Mönchengladbach match when he protested a throw-in decision, picking up a first yellow card. The situation escalated at halftime. Wagner received a second yellow card for allegedly entering the pitch area and approaching the referee. That triggered an automatic yellow-red dismissal and a one-match touchline ban, which would have forced him to miss the biggest game in his club’s history. Wagner’s initial appeal to the DFB was rejected between September 7 and 8. The federation deemed it a factual refereeing er...