NFL official Shawn Hochuli shocked the crowd at Allianz Arena in Munich on Sunday when he announced a false start penalty in German during the first half of the Carolina Panthers‘ eventual 20-17 win over the New York Giants.
The entire penalty was called in German except at the end, when Hochuli closed with, “It’s by the center. It’s third down.”
What makes the 46-year-old’s call even better is that he’s following in the footsteps of his father, Ed, who called a personal foul penalty in Spanish during the NFL’s first game in Mexico — and the first regular-season game held outside the United States — between the Arizona Cardinals and the San Francisco 49ers at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City in 2005.
Hochuli entered the league in 2014 and was promoted to referee in 2018 following his father’s retirement. He’s widely known for giving Tom Brady the first unsportsmanlike conduct penalty of Brady’s career in a 2022 playoff game.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell recently shared that the league is working ‘very hard’ to hold a game in Berlin after the continued success in other German cities. The NFL played its first regular-season game in Germany in Munich in 2022, then two games in Frankfurt in 2023. Sunday’s game between the Giants and Panthers reportedly sold out in just over 90 minutes when tickets went on sale in June.
The NFL hosted its first international game in Brazil this season and is heading to Spain for the first time next year with a game in Madrid. London also hosted three games this season.
The Panthers came out with the overtime win in Sunday’s game — the last of this year’s internation slate — after kicking a field goal after a costly Giants fumble on their own 23-yard line set Carolina up with a short field and all the momentum.
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