The appeal process surrounding the case of former top referee Manuel Gräfe has collapsed. Around 25 hours before the scheduled date on Thursday (1.30 p.m.), the Frankfurt/Main Higher Regional Court canceled the oral hearing on Wednesday due to a “new extension of the lawsuit filed at short notice”. There is no new translation yet.
According to SID information, the background to the dismissal in the dispute with the German Football Association (DFB) is a failure on the part of Gräfe in calculating the compensation claim. Accordingly, the lawyer Gräfe initially did not take into account the salary increases for the referees of the past two years and has now submitted them later.
In January 2023, the regional court awarded Gräfe compensation of 48,500 euros for age discrimination. It was proven that the referee had to end his career at the age of 47 because he reached the DFB age limit. The court deemed this “unacceptable” and “disproportionate” because “performance tests” could also be used instead of the specified age limit.
However, Gräfe was denied the compensation he demanded for lost income, so the now 51-year-old appealed – as did the DFB. At that time, Gräfe demanded almost 195,000 euros, but he is now said to have increased his demand to 750,000 euros. Due to this enormous expansion of the lawsuit, the hearing had to be postponed several times.
