ESSEN, Germany — A German soccer match was halted for approximately 40 minutes after a firecracker thrown from the stands detonated near a goalkeeper, who was subsequently taken to the hospital, the player’s team reported on Wednesday.
Felix Wienand, playing for Rot-Weiss Essen against Waldhof Mannheim in the German third division, was hit by the firecracker, which exploded “in his immediate vicinity” after being thrown from the section of the stands occupied by Mannheim supporters, according to Essen.
The club reported that Wienand was taken to the hospital with a suspected acoustic trauma and an acute stress reaction, while coach Uwe Koschinat expressed concerns about potential long-term effects on the goalkeeper.
After the lengthy interruption, the match eventually resumed, with the 23-year-old goalkeeper’s team securing a 1-0 victory.
This incident follows closely on the heels of another event from over a year ago, when a goalkeeper was injured by a lighter thrown from the stands during a top-tier German match, which ended in bizarre circumstances as both teams decided against scoring after the referee restarted the game against the injured player’s team’s wishes.