On Friday, the DFB federal court, chaired by Oskar Riedmeyer, upheld the ruling of the DFB arbitration court of 9 January 2025. This means that VfL Bochum's appeal against the result of the Bundesliga match against 1. FC Union Berlin, which was played at the Stadion An der Alten Försterei on 14 December 2024, was upheld in the second instance at today's appeal hearing. The match was awarded to Bochum, 2-0.

The game was interrupted for several minutes in stoppage time after a lighter thrown from the terrace grazed the Bochum goalkeeper's head. After extensive consultation with the sporting directors of both sides and the security officers, referee Martin Petersen decided that there were no grounds for abandoning the game.

The game continued with a sporting ‘non-attacking pact’ agreed between the two sides and was finally ended by the referee with the result at 1-1.

After several hours of proceedings, the DFB federal court upheld the original decision of the sports court and decided in favour of VfL Bochum. The appeals by FC St. Pauli and Kieler SV Holstein had already been rejected.

"Today we have witnessed proceedings in which the misconduct of a spectator has led to a game’s result being changed for the first time. And this despite it being properly ended by the referee,” said Union President, Dirk Zingler, on the decision. “It is our opinion the DFB Control Committee wanted to set this precedent. The court has been asked by VfL Bochum and the Control Committee to send a political signal, and this was only possible with an incorrect application of the legal and procedural rules. We are therefore forced to avoid this political pressure and will appeal to the Permanent Arbitration Court.”