After the fierce criticism of the refereeing team around Sascha Stegemann by Dortmund officials in Borussia's 1-1 draw at VfL Bochum, the DFB has admitted a mistake by the referee.
Commenting on the unpunished foul by Bochum's Danilo Soares in the penalty area on national player Karim Adeyemi, a statement published on Saturday said: "He doesn't play the ball, instead only hits the opponent and brings him down. That's a foul and therefore a penalty, as the TV pictures show."
Dortmund coach Edin Terzic and sporting director Sebastian Kehl had complained above all that Stegemann had not watched this situation and other controversial scenes again in the video on Friday evening. "The expectation must remain that such processes will be correctly decided by the referee on the pitch without the need for support from the video assistant," wrote the German Football Association.
Dortmund were also upset about two other situations. Before Bochum's 1-0 win, they had seen a foul on BVB midfielder Emre Can. The DFB did not comment on this scene.
In addition, Borussia had demanded a penalty after VfL defender Erhan Masovic got the ball on his arm in the penalty area.
The sporting director of DFB Schiri GmbH commented on the situation as follows: "The defender tries to block a shot with his right leg ahead. However, the ball goes against the left leg and over the upper body to the left upper arm, which in this sequence of movements is not classified by the referee as an unnatural enlargement of the body area, but as a natural movement to support the body in the falling movement. This assessment of the incident by the referee is understandable from the point of view of the TV images." So the defensive behaviour was not a hand penalty.