20 hours ago
Own goal enough for promotion: German club chooses fair play
Absurd rules in football are not uncommon. The latest case occurred in the district league in Middle Franconia. Türkspor Nürnberg simply needed to score an own goal to be promoted. No joke!
But how did this completely crazy situation arise? In the promotion round to the district league, the promotion was to be decided in a three-way comparison between Türkspor Nürnberg, SV Tennenlohe, and DJK Göggelsbuch. Two out of the three teams would be promoted in the end, and each was to have home advantage once.
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With Tennenlohe, the first team to be promoted was already determined after two games. The decisive match, therefore, took place between Türkspor Nürnberg and DJK Göggelsbuch. DJK needed a win with a two-goal margin to be promoted; otherwise, the Nürnberg team would have been able to celebrate.
After 90 minutes, the match ended in a 1:1 draw. Great joy for Türkspor? Unfortunately, no. A new rule in amateur sports states that every promotion match needs a winner. Particularly bitter when you consider that the Nürnberg team would have been promoted with an own goal.
But Türkspor played fairly, and so the match went into extra time. "It can't be that as a player, you have to consider scoring an own goal to help your team and get promoted," said Türkspor's captain Emirhan Karaaslan to 'fuß
In extra time, it got even more bitter, as Göggelsbuch won 3:1 and got promoted. On Facebook, the club explained why they decided against the own goal: "Because we stand for fairness, respect, and sporting integrity. Because we are convinced that football should be decided on the pitch - not through absurd calculations or tactically forced own goals."
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As reported by the portal ' the club has now filed an appeal against the relegation mode and hopes for a retroactive promotion.
What do you think of relegation matches? Should they be abolished? Feel free to write your opinion in the comments.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.
📸 Lachlan Cunningham - 2025 Getty Images
