Felix Brych was particularly in focus at the weekend. The referee officiated his 344th Bundesliga game on Saturday evening (November 25th, 2023), setting a record. But he only refereed his record game for one half.
Half an hour had passed in the game between Eintracht Frankfurt and VfB Stuttgart when Brych buckled his right knee during a movement. He then limped across the field before the game was interrupted in the 34th minute. Brych was treated on the Eintracht bench and then returned to the pitch with a white tape bandage.
Patrick Schwengers took over in the second half, actually scheduled to be the fourth official. Brych only led one half of his record game. “I was really looking forward to the game,” said Brych in an interview with ARD radio. “The fact that it ends like this is all the more tragic for me. But that’s life.”
Heiko Neumann, sports show, November 25th, 2023 9:11 p.m
Brych says: “Record has great meaning for me”
It was Brych’s 344th appearance as a referee in the German upper house – and he thus equaled the record set by Wolfgang Stark, who has so far refereed the most games in the Bundesliga. “Ultimately, this is the greatest achievement of my career: It’s not one game like the Champions League final or a World Cup participation, but the long time as a professional referee. The record has great meaning for me,” said Brych.
This record “expresses this longevity. And records themselves are something special for me, because they stay for now,” the 48-year-old continued: “Just like track and field athletes or swimmers want to achieve records so that they go down in the annals “That’s also a goal for the referee.”
Brych has been honored as a world referee twice in his career, officiating games at the 2012 Olympic Games, the 2016 and 2021 European Championships and the 2014 and 2018 World Cup tournaments, as well as the finals of the Europa League (2014) and Champions League (2017).
In the Bundesliga for over 19 years
On August 28, 2004, Brych was a referee in the Bundesliga for the first time. The trained lawyer celebrated his debut at the game between Hertha BSC and Mainz 05 in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium. “A player is slowly introduced and at some point in the 85th minute he comes to his first Bundesliga game. And we referees are immediately the center of attention. Me “I was happy when the game was over, even if it went well,” he said now.
He was most often assigned as a referee at VfB Stuttgart games. So it’s fitting that his 54th appearance in a Swabians game was also his record game.
Red for Mohamad, praise from Wagner
Brych has already held another record since August 21, 2010. At that time, the referee showed the fastest red card in Bundesliga history after 87 seconds in the game between 1. FC Kaiserslautern and 1. FC Köln. Cologne captain Youssef Mohamad was sent off after an emergency stop on Erwin Hoffer from 1. FC Kaiserslautern. “After two minutes – that’s tough,” Brych said at the time, but pointed out that the rules had given him “no leeway.” “If I whistle foul, I have no other choice.”
It is precisely these views that colleagues – and apparently also the teams – value so much about Brych. “Felix is not a surprise bag, he is predictable – and in this case I mean that in a totally positive way,” ex-referee Lutz Wagner praises the new record holder in the Sportschau interview: “He always followed a straight path and didn’t worry about background noise “, prepared himself very professionally and didn’t make any compromises. At some point, the teams will get the same idea when someone is such a reliable game manager. Then mistakes are accepted.”
Phantom goal by Kießling and Böller in Augsburg
One of his biggest mistakes was undoubtedly Stefan Kießling’s phantom goal. On October 18, 2013, the then Bayer Leverkusen striker headed the ball into the side netting, but the ball went through a hole and into the goal – and Brych incorrectly decided that Leverkusen had scored. “That wasn’t great for me, even my World Cup participation was shaky. The pressure was very high for weeks,” he said recently.
But eventually the World Cup decision-makers forgave him for the faux pas and sent him an invitation to the tournament. After the 2021 European Championship, Brych finally ended his international career and concentrated fully on what was happening in the Bundesliga. And there he had to deal with another particularly unpleasant experience recently.
Before the international break, Brych was a referee at the game between FC Augsburg and TSG Hoffenheim. The game in which a firecracker exploded in the visitors’ block, causing several fans to suffer trauma. “It’s also a referee’s job that things always happen that you haven’t experienced before,” said Brych, who interrupted the game and then claimed that he had never heard such a loud bang before.
“It won’t last forever”
On Saturday, Brych will be hoping that the only bang he hears will be that of a champagne bottle. The Munich native makes no secret of how special the day is for him, so there should be one or two moments afterwards to toast him. Brych also emphasizes that his 344th game is far from being his last.
“The DFB and I have agreed that we will look from year to year. I’m happy and grateful that I can referee this season. It won’t last forever, that’s not possible biologically. If I compete, “I want to be fit and know that I can perform,” said Brych. The Bundesliga still retains its “predictable” record referee for a while.
