FC St. Pauli’s 2025/26 Bundesliga campaign is headed off a cliff. The fact that – for the third consecutive time in three home fixtures – the semi-automatic offside technology St. Pauli is paying the German FA good money for has failed didn’t do much to improve the mood of club President Oke Göttlich. 

Two incorrectly awarded offside goals during the second round of the DFB Pokal this week sparked a debate as to whether the over-reliance on VAR is ruining the visual acuity of football refs. The latest incident also demonstrates that humans officiating football matches must be at the top of their game. 

On Saturday, Borussia Mönchengladbach striker Haris Tabakovic’s opening goal was initially disallowed because the automatic offside system incorrectly ruled Tabakovic offside. The exact same thing happened in St. Pauli’s last two home fixtures against Bayer Leverkusen and Hoffenheim. 

The German FA has publicly acknowledged this mistake. FSCP President Göttlich expressed frustration afterwards, even though none of the three incidents led to an unfair outcome for his team. After all, German clubs are paying their FA for the use of this technology. 

“When reviewing the offside decision in the 15th minute, the semi-automatic offside technology unfortunately delivered an incorrect result,” a DFB statement read aloud on Sky Germany yesterday noted. “Due to the fact that an offside line was drawn on the wrong defender.“

“It’s obviously annoying,” Göttlich added in the club’s press room. “One pays for something. And if you don’t get that, then you should at least be allowed to ask for your money back at some point. It’s very absurd that we can’t get these technological resources we pay for up and running.”