Football coach Niko Kovac from VfL Wolfsburg called for a return to the old handball rule in football before the Bundesliga game at Borussia Dortmund on Saturday (3:30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on Sky). “Back to the roots, back to the origins – that’s best. “Everyone knew what was going on,” said Kovac this Thursday at the press conference for the game. A handball should only be whistled “if a clear intention is assumed”.
The reason for his statements is a much-criticized hand penalty that was imposed on Tuesday in the Champions League game in Paris (0-2) against Wolfsburg’s next opponent, Dortmund. The new handball rule is “a disaster,” said Kovac. “It has no hand, it no longer has a foot. This is arbitrary.”
Kovac: “We are destroying football!”
Since the handball rule also involves factors such as the increase in body surface area, “you can’t commit to anything. It’s vabanque, like rolling dice. Today like this, tomorrow like this. “One whistles like that, the other doesn’t whistle at all,” criticized the VfL coach. “I don’t understand the handball rule any more than anyone else. I have to keep asking the fourth official. I don’t understand it either and I’m always learning new things.”
The 51-year-old added sarcastically to his criticism: “In the meantime you have to train so that you can play into the player’s hand. Then you can hope that someone is sitting in the basement and says: “You, you, you – someone had their hand on it.” And then you get the penalty. You no longer have to hit your teammate in the middle or aim for the goal. “Aim for the hand.” But “that can’t be the case,” said Kovac. “We are destroying football!”
Daniel Theweleit, Paris Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 1 Tobias Rabe Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 8 Published/Updated: Recommendations: 5
In the debate, however, the Wolfsburg coach expressly defended the referees in the Bundesliga or in international competition. “The problem is not the referees. They just have to implement what is given to them,” he said. “These are the ones who suffer too.”
