Should Joshua Kimmich’s yellow card for his fundamentally correct protest over Leipzig’s wrongly taken free kick be overturned? Referee Florian Badstübner is against it and the rules are clear as well.
It was a bizarre incident on an already entertaining evening: when Florian Badstübner awarded Leipzig a goal for the supposed 1–4 in the 66th minute of the Bundesliga season opener against Bayern Munich, he was immediately met with fierce protests from Joshua Kimmich.
What seemed at first like just another heated reaction from a frustrated player quickly turned into one of the most talked-about refereeing moments of the weekend, sparking debate about the laws of the game, the authority of referees, and the balance between passion and respect on the pitch.
Kimmich, who wears the Bayern captain’s armband in Manuel Neuer’s absence, rushed straight at Badstübner after the ball hit the back of the net. The midfielder shouted with visible anger, waving his arms and demanding the referee listen. For many watching, it looked like a classic case of dissent that would inevitably lead to punishment. For Badstübner, the protests crossed the line of acceptable behaviour. Speaking afterwards to Sky, he described the moment in detail: “The routine VAR check had only just begun when this demonstration started, you could almost say. Joshua Kimmich came at me very, very aggressively and shouted at me. At first, I didn’t even know what he wanted from me.”
What Kimmich had noticed, however, was crucial. In the buildup to the Leipzig goal, defender Castello Lukeba had not taken the free kick correctly. Instead of playing the ball to a teammate, he simply nudged it forward and began dribbling, something the Laws of the Game explicitly prohibit. Free kicks must clearly put the ball into play by passing it, not by self-dribbling. Incredibly, neither the referee nor his assistants spotted the infringement live. The goal was initially allowed to stand, but VAR began its automatic review.
Even then, VAR should not technically have had the authority to intervene on such a matter, since the protocols are limited to offsides, fouls in the buildup, mistaken identity, and goals. Yet Badstübner admitted that the protests, combined with the sense that something irregular had occurred, prompted him to ask his team of officials to re-examine the execution of the free kick. “I asked again within the team the whole team whether the execution had been correct. And then I heard a clear ‘no,’” he explained. After a demonstrative consultation with his assistant on the sideline, he overturned the decision. The goal was wiped out, and Bayern maintained their clean sheet on what would ultimately end as a resounding 6–0 victory over Leipzig.
Badstübner later confessed that he had “never seen anything like it before.” It was a unique situation: an incorrectly taken free kick leading directly to a goal in a high-profile Bundesliga fixture. His correction “in the spirit of football” ensured the rules were respected, but it also opened the door to another question should Joshua Kimmich’s yellow card for dissent have been rescinded, given that he was ultimately right?
On that point, the referee was firm. The booking would stand. According to the Laws of the Game, yellow and red cards can only be annulled if they are the result of mistaken identity or if they were given for tactical fouls after an incident later overturned by VAR. Emotional reactions, even if justified in content, are still punishable if delivered aggressively. Badstübner explained: “Of course the card stays, otherwise players could always protest to the referee, and if they were right, it would be taken away. It’s about mutual respect.”
The referee did acknowledge that Kimmich had a point, and that his insistence may even have helped alert the officiating team to what had gone wrong. “At first, I didn’t even know what he wanted from me,” Badstübner repeated. “Then he calmed down a bit and said there was a mistake in the free kick execution. He didn’t say that Lukeba had dribbled it, but he was clear something was wrong.” Yet the way the message was delivered with shouting, aggressive body language, and further conflict with Leipzig players was deemed unacceptable. “If he had just communicated it a bit more calmly,” the referee said, “then I think we would have resolved it more quickly. It was one step too far. We have to protect the image of football.”
The incident has sparked debate across Germany. Pundits on television split between those who argued that Kimmich’s yellow was harsh given he was correct, and those who supported the referee’s stance that respect for officials must remain non-negotiable. Former referees weighed in, pointing out that without strict standards, matches could quickly descend into chaos, with every decision met by player protests in the hope of forcing a reversal. Others suggested that the rules should be amended to allow for yellow cards to be rescinded in cases where a protest leads to the correction of a clear and obvious refereeing error.
For Kimmich himself, the moment will be remembered as a mix of frustration and vindication. His protests were punished, but in the end, they helped ensure Bayern were not wrongly pegged back on the scoreboard. For Badstübner, it was a reminder of the constant tightrope referees walk between upholding the rules and maintaining authority, all while managing the emotions of elite-level footballers in high-pressure situations.
Ultimately, the bizarre free kick incident added another layer of drama to what was already a highly entertaining Bundesliga opener. Bayern’s dominance in the 6–0 win will take the headlines, but the discussions about refereeing, respect, and the use of VAR may linger long after the final whistle.
