Coach of German league's surprise package Elversberg cleared to face Bayern after ref admits error
Referee Martin Petersen shows coach Elversberg's Vincent Wagner a yellow-red card during the Bundesliga soccer match between SC Paderborn 07 and SC Freiburg, in Paderborn, Germany, Saturday Sept. 5, 2026. Credit: AP/Swen Pförtner
FRANKFURT, Germany — The coach of Elversberg, the small-town team shaking up German soccer, has been cleared to be in the dugout against champion Bayern Munich after a referee admitted he made a mistake sending him off.
From a town of only 13,000 people, Elversberg has been a sensation on its Bundesliga debut after beating former champions Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Coach Vincent Wagner was due to sit out arguably the biggest game in the club's history Sunday against Bayern after he was sent off for a second booking at halftime in last week's 4-3 win over Gladbach.
His one-game ban was overturned on appeal Friday after referee Martin Petersen made a rare admission of an error.
Stephan Oberholz, chair of the German soccer federation's tribunal, said Petersen admitted he got it wrong when he showed Wagner a second yellow card as the coach walked onto the field at halftime. Oberholz said the referee now accepted Wagner hadn’t been trying to confront him and had instead been heading toward his own players.
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