German football 2017/18 (BuLi, DFB-Cup, nat. teams etc.)

Another thing, because of the news of today: As I briefly mentioned earlier, we seem to have a big problem with the referee system in Germany, bit surprised it hasn't really made it to the English speaking media. Part of it is outlined in this article - the part relating to nepotism in ref appointments and mobbing, and secretly changing the rules of the VAR system without immediately informing either the clubs or the DFB:

VAR, secret instructions and gagging orders: the Bundesliga's refereeing controversy | Deutsche Welle

What this article doesn't yet cover is that Hellmut Krug, who has been dismissed as the chief of the field refs as a result of the accusations of favoritism in ref appointments and mobbing but is still in charge of the VAR project, has now been accused of overturning VAR decisions in his function as a VAR supervisor in favor of his home club Schalke. VAR supervisors aren't allowed to overturn VAR decisions, nor can referees be appointed to officiate a game of their home club when it comes to field refs.

Krug denies the allegations, but Bild, who broke the story, says that VAR officials have told them this (Krug overturning VAR decisions) has been going on for months. What makes the situation worse is that it's Krug himself as the chief of the VAR project who gets to decide which ref is put in charge of VAR supervision in what games, so Krug is basically appointing himself, without there apparently being an authority to control his work as a supervisor.