Bundesliga 2025-26: What is the ‘handshake dialogue’ rule and why is it confronted with recoil?


A new Bundesliga rule that calls for a meeting with the referee team and both captains and coaches before each competition match has not been received universally, with world cup winner Toni Kroos who said it would have no real impact.

The rule, which is called a handshake dialogue, came into force last week at the start of the competition season, in which he obliged captains and coaches to meet the referees as a group 70 minutes before the kick -off.

«This has absolutely no effect,» said Kroos, who retired last year after a very successful career at Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, in a podcast.

The World Cup winner 2014 with Germany said that the rule would do little when it comes to controlling emotions.

«You are in the midst of preparation. Now we will say how much we like each other and by the fifth minute there is no more handshake, only a yellow card,» he said.

Cologne coach Lukas Kwasniok continued.

«This is all nonsense,» he said. «Seventy minutes before the game, nobody is in the mood for something like that,» Kwasniok told a press conference. «Apart from the interruption of preparations, not much else happens there.»

The DFL said in July, when it introduced the rule that the meeting was intended to improve the standards of Fair Play.

«In the spirit of Fair Play, this meeting serves as an opportunity for mutual exchange and respectful interaction between all involved in the game. The meeting takes place 70 minutes for the kick -off in the dressing room of the referees,» the DFL said.

Published on August 27, 2025



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