Year of the Referee: TSG honour local refs

You can't play without referees - but the number of match officials has been declining in recent years. To draw attention to this important position, the German Football Association (DFB) has declared this the Year of the Referee. TSG Hoffenheim are delighted to be involved in this initiative.

Before the match against Bayer 04 Leverkusen, stadium announcer Nils Hachmann spoke to Olaf Hautzinger ( chairman of the Sinsheim district referees' association), Anna Pfister (one of the top female referees in Baden) and 11-year-old Marc, who is a promising up-and-coming referee. Some of the 13 referees who officiate for TSG Hoffenheim were also present and joined Frank Willenborg and the team of referees from the Bundesliga match for a photo opportunity.

TSG will also be giving its support to a newcomers' course organised by SrVgg Sinsheim at the Dietmar Hopp Stadium on 19 January 2024. Click here for registration.

The Year of the Referee is an initiative of the DFB and its regional associations that aims to focus attention on one of the biggest issues facing German football. The number of referees has been falling for over 15 years. This is causing increasing problems for the amateur game. German football wants to take visible and effective action to counter this trend. The motto for the Year of the Referee is: "Love the sport. Lead the game." Until the end of the year and beyond, various smaller and larger campaigns, especially with the help of the districts, counties and local referee groups, will bring the refereeing issue to the centre of public attention and help bring about improvements.

The referees from the professional leagues are also supporting numerous activities in the Year of the Referee - starting with the kick-off event with Deniz Aytekin, TSG star Anton Stach and Nils Petersen at a Bezirksliga match near Mainz. The 24-year-old, who moved to TSG in the summer, received a lot of praise for his performance, but also recognised: "It's impossible for a referee to see everything and get everything right." According to Stach, communication is therefore vitally important: "It must never be patronising. If you don't have an arrogant attitude, you can take a lot of pressure off in certain situations." In case of doubt, this also includes admitting a mistake. "Then the players are also more relaxed." He himself, at least, no longer wants to yell after a call, but would rather ask questions calmly and seek dialogue: "Even if it doesn't always end up that way in the midst of emotions, I at least want to have this intention." His respect for the art of refereeing has no doubt increased considerably following this experience.

The finals of the DFB-Pokal for men and women in Cologne and Berlin this year also featured joint activities between Bundesliga and amateur referees. In addition, the DFB organised two special editions of "The Best Day" programme, in which amateur referees were invited to the DFB Campus and spent a day with the Bundesliga referees.

The Year of the Referee seems to have had a positive impact: in the 2022/2023 season, for the first time in almost two decades, the number of active referees did not decline from one season to the next. There was a slight increase: more than 53,600 referees officiated around 1.3 million matches across Germany. Another encouraging development: 5,000 people successfully completed a new referee training course in the first half of 2023 - 34% more than in the same period of the previous year.