The Deutscher Fussball-Bund met on Monday and have decided to reduce Jerome Boateng's ban from three games to two.
There was little debate from any involved when Boateng saw red on Tuesday evening against Schalke 04. The Bayern Munich defender brought down Sidney Sam in the 17th minute, denying a clear goalscoring opportunity and gave Bastian Dankert no choice but to produce the red card.
The DFB Disciplinary Board came together in Frankfurt, along with Boateng and Matthias Sammer, to review the incident. It was decided that “the tackle denied a clear goal scoring opportunity but there was no dangerous play involved and it didn’t result in a goal.”
In other words, a red card results in a three game ban and because there was no dangerous play from Boateng, it reduced the ban to two. Had Manuel Neuer not saved Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting's resulting penalty, the ban would have dropped to just one game.
“Jurisdiction and sports jurisdiction is not based on statistics but is liable to developments," commented Hans E. Lorenz, the chairman of the DFB Disciplinary Board.
He continued, "The Disciplinary Board decided not to hand out any additional punishments to repeat offenders last year when the previous offence or the new one related to a one game suspension. From now one, that also applies when a professional foul has been committed.”
Lorenz finished by saying: “If the penalty had been converted then Jerome Boateng would have only been banned for one game. The fact that Manuel Neuer saved it should not have a 200% increase on the punishment to three games.”
The one match ban means Boateng will be unavailable to face Hamburger SV on Saturday.
Quotes via dfb.de