DFB: From professionals to amateur footballers: the new captain’s rule works

It was an oft-seen sight: seven or eight players running towards the referee, gesticulating wildly and with deranged facial expressions, trying to convince him in the most impressive way possible that he had just made a scandalous wrong decision. The sight of men gone wild with testosterone seemed to confirm all those who are skeptical about football per se. Especially since such a spectacle would actually be unthinkable in other sports (and in women’s soccer), but it was often observed among male kickers even when the supposedly blatant injustice consisted of an incorrect throw-in at the halfway line.

For the unfortunate referees, the whole thing was a nuisance in several ways: Firstly, because it is difficult for anyone to argue objectively when they are being shouted at from all four directions. On the other hand, because even the sleepiest fan in the stands suddenly had to assume that his team was going to get a great whistle due to the enraging events on the pitch and that he would then cover the referee with shouts of “Shoot” until the final whistle. Thirdly, because “pack formations” were often the starting point for fights on the pitch, especially in lower-class football. And fourthly, because in the age of social media, the bad habits had long since spilled over into the youth sector. Eight-year-olds not only imitate the wide-legged Cristiano Ronaldo before a free kick, but also the aggressive behavior of professional packs.

The problem was there when the German Football Association (DFB) decided in mid-July to introduce the so-called captain’s rule for all of its leagues in the future. This innovation, which was previously tested at the European Championships, means that if there is a perceived need for clarification, only the captain of the respective team is allowed to speak to the referee – the other ten players from both teams stay back. If you don’t, you’ll get a yellow card.

The rule was used for the first time a month earlier, on June 14, 2024, in the opening game of the European Championship between Germany and Scotland – and then in all other European Championship games. It was so well received from day one that the DFB decided during the tournament to introduce it in all national competitions. Bundesliga referee Sascha Stegemann justified this at a media event in Frankfurt am Main, not least because of the civilizational lag behind other sports: “We are always asked why we can’t manage it in football, that we are as respectful as in handball or Rugby is going on.”

The first match days have now been completed in the German amateur classes and in the professional leagues two to four, and an initial conclusion can be drawn that is nothing short of a sensation: The DFB has decided to change the rules – and (almost) everyone likes it. A few examples:

»Players who start to complain are now even warned by colleagues to be quiet. This has never happened since I’ve been a referee.”

Marvin Schories Football referee

Friday, August 9th, fourth matchday of the “Schröder Saarlandliga”, named after a sausage producer, one of the many sixth leagues of German football. The traditional club Borussia Neunkirchen, which has fallen quite low and played in the Bundesliga for three years in the 1960s, welcomes Saar 05 Saarbrücken in front of 350 people. Even after an intensive search, there were no visiting fans on all three sides of the stand, so the atmosphere on and off the pitch was relaxed. Referee Tobias Ewerhardy from SV Kulturen-Niederlosheim whistles well and doesn’t have to show a single yellow card. There are no pack formations, even the two captains have no need to talk to the confident referee for over 90 minutes.

The same picture the next day in the second Bundesliga, when 37,000 fans watched Karlsruher SC’s 0-0 draw in Düsseldorf, a game without pack formation and similar annoyances. “Everything went smoothly from both sides,” says Marvin Wanitzek, who finds the rule fundamentally positive. However, the KSC captain didn’t think much of wanting to punish all emotional outbursts on the pitch. “Football is and remains an emotional sport, there will always be scenes in which you can rightly get upset.” If a yellow card is then drawn immediately and a player is thrown off the pitch after the next one, as Schalke’s Ron Schallenberg did in Nuremberg (1:3) was not a good development. “You can’t always suppress your emotions,” says Wanitzek.

That is not the intention of the rule, assures referee Tobias Ewerharty, who led the sixth division game in Neunkirchen. If a player expresses objective criticism after a foul near the halfway line, a yellow card should not be shown, even if the player is not the captain. Things are different with game-decisive scenes, which can quickly get out of hand. When asked about the game he led in Saarland, he puts the praise into perspective: “That was an easy game to manage – without any controversial penalty decisions or red cards.” But since the introduction of the rule, the games “have been much more disciplined almost across the board. In any case, I don’t know anyone in football who wouldn’t find the introduction totally positive.”

Marvin Schories, who acts as referee chairman for the Harburg district and as a conflict guide in the Lower Saxony Football Association, has had similarly good experiences at the other end of the republic. Since the introduction of the captain’s rule, he has refereed three lower-class games in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia – and draws a consistently positive conclusion: “The rule works and fulfills its purpose by increasing the attractiveness of the game and leading to more fair behavior.” All players , says Schories, they pulled themselves together in the games he led. “They know what to do and what not to do.” What he finds even more remarkable, however, is that “now even players who start to complain are warned by their colleagues to be quiet. This has never happened since I’ve been a referee.”