Die Roten Moments: Soccer Spectacle the Hannover 96 Way

Hannover 96 is a German professional soccer club currently playing in Bundesliga, the country’s top-flight soccer league. Although the team has been struggling to barge into the top half for the past two seasons, it is still among the most entertaining squads to root for in the German soccer scene. Below are some of the team’s most unforgettable moments on the turf: 

Image source: dw.com

1. Jan Schlaudraff scores a goal against Hamburg

 

In late 2011, Hannover 96 had a tough but intriguing tourney against Hamburg. The opposing team has taken the lead, threatening the record set by the Hannover 96 of being unbeaten at home for the season. With Drobny, who netted Hamburg’s opener, being in a terrific form that night, the team found it difficult to score against their opponents. However, Schlaudraff was able to secure a magnificent goal right in front of the net, ending the game in a draw and ultimately protecting their home record. 

2. The win against Bayern Munich

 

Bayern Munich is the top team in the league as of the moment (in fact, for the most of Bundesliga’s history). Fans would not be expecting the number one seed to be beaten out easily by underdogs. However, the seemingly meek Die Roten was able to pull off a show against Bayern, beating them right on their home ground during one of their matches in the 2010-11 season. 

Image source: dfb.de

3. The playoff leg against Sevilla

 

Fans were absolutely ecstatic about this game. Tickets were practically sold out almost immediately. Online servers were crashing because of the massive traffic that they were getting. Spanish side Sevilla was the clear favorite between this match-up because of its history in UEFA. Despite the intense pressure, an underrated Hannover team was able to defeat an absolute behemoth in the field. 

Hey guys, John Eilermann here, soccer fan and Hannover’s biggest supporter. More about our favorite team can be read here.

Farewell Ghost Goals: Bundesliga is All Set for Hawk-Eye

The upcoming Bundesliga season will welcome a new addition to the field. Hawk-Eye will provide goal line technology systems for the 18 Bundesliga clubs and across 306 Bundesliga matches per season.

 Image source: teslabet.com

Last December, at a general meeting of the League Association, the Bundesliga clubs voted in favor of implementing the ball-tracking technology from the start of the 2015/16 season and onwards. The Hawk-Eye system is predominantly known for being used at tennis Grand Slams, cricket matches, and at the Olympics. The English Premier League meanwhile has adopted the technology at the start of its 2013/14 campaign.

The decision behind implementing such technology was to avoid future ghost or phantom goals. In football, a ghost goal is a contentious goal usually involving whether or not a ball crossed the goal line. Such goal can be awarded without the ball ever crossing the goal line. It can also be applied when the ball crosses the goal line unseen by the referee. The talk of such technology become more prevalent as questionable decisions haunt the German football league. For example, in 2013, there was Stefan Kiessling's controversial goal in the win over Hoffenheim and in 2014 during the DFB-Pokal final when the referee failed to spot that Mats Hummels' header crossed the line.

Image source: netzwelt.de

Hawk-Eye uses six precision cameras and one high-speed camera for each goal, all of which are fitted to the stadium’s roof. If the ball comes within the vicinity of the goal, each camera will capture its movement and a software will calculate its exact position in real time from the various angles even if only a small part of the ball is visible. Moreover, as soon as the ball crosses the line, the system will alert the referee via a wrist watch. Bundesliga stadiums are now being fitted with the technology in preparation for the new season.

Hello there! John Eilermann here. It will be interesting to see the Hawk-Eye in action once the Bundesliga season begins. But I’m more interested in how the Reds will perform this season. What do you think? Let me know on Twitter.