Overview
- The DFB sports court issued the sanction on March 17 following unsporting public remarks during Köln’s March 7 match against Borussia Dortmund.
- Announcer Michael Trippel audibly questioned referee Daniel Siebert’s decisions, saying "Pfui, widerlich" after a VAR-assisted red card for Jahmai Simpson-Pusey.
- He also complained post-match about an unreviewed handball by Dortmund’s Yan Couto, a sequence that drew no VAR intervention despite protests.
- Köln’s sporting director Thomas Kessler publicly criticized the comments and initiated a clarifying discussion, which the DFB counted as mitigating.
- Trippel submitted a written apology to the DFB’s control committee, and the ruling directs Köln to ensure future stadium announcements remain neutral.