Hempel Moves Up: Social Worker Now Referees in the Bundesliga

The start of the new season began for soccer referee Richard Hempel with a hard-fought match. Despite a lack of goals, the game between 1. FC Kaiserslautern and Karlsruher SC was anything but a scoreless draw. “I like it when a game has that derby feel to it, with the players going at each other. But of course, there are limits at some point,” the referee says in retrospect. After 25 minutes, the 28-year-old had already handed out four yellow cards. The frantic pace eventually subsided. Afterward, he received high praise from fans as well as from FCK coach Torsten Lieberknecht. 

A dream comes true for Richard Hempel

For Hempel, who hails from a small town in eastern Saxony, the new season also marks a personal rise. While he had previously only been able to get a taste of the top flight as a fourth official, he will now also be officiating matches there. “The Bundesliga—it’s a dream,” says the trained social worker, who also works as a de-escalation trainer. “It’s a great feeling to be among the 22 best referees in Germany and to be able to say: I get to referee in the Bundesliga—unbelievable.”

Hempel’s success didn’t come out of nowhere. He refereed his first match at age 12 and worked his way up division by division. By the time he was officiating matches in the Regionalliga and simultaneously serving as an assistant referee in the 3rd Division, he had made up his mind to pursue refereeing professionally. At the end of last season, there were exactly 63,222 referees in Germany—marking an increase for the third year in a row. Aside from Berlin’s Daniel Siebert, Hempel is, alongside Rostock’s Bastian Dankert, the only referee from East Germany currently officiating in the Bundesliga.

The “Carrot and Stick” Approach

Hempel jokingly describes his style of officiating as “carrot and stick.” In fact, footage from his RefCam—a mini-camera attached to his headset—shows how he interacts with players during the FCK vs. KSC match. He praises one player for his fair play. He uses strong language with another player. But even with this player, Hempel returns to the incident shortly afterward and tries to have a clarifying conversation about why he reacted that way. The players should know how Hempel thinks; above all, he wants to be a point of contact and a mediator.

That’s why he uses the informal “du” on the field. If a player or coach doesn’t want that, he has no problem with it. In his matches so far in the 3rd League and the 2nd Bundesliga, this approach has earned him respect and recognition. “I hope that at some point, some players will think: ‘Richie’s here today, so I know what I’m allowed to do and what I’m not. But I also know that we can communicate with each other in a relaxed way.’” He definitely wants to come across as a referee “you can talk to” and who isn’t perceived as an adversary.

Long on the German Football Association’s radar

Hempel’s physical stature certainly helps him in this regard. At nearly two meters tall, he usually towers over everyone else on the field. But that’s not the only reason he caught the attention of the German Football Association (DFB) in 2016. At just 18 years old, he was already officiating at a U18 scouting tournament in Duisburg. “Richard Hempel has performed exceptionally well in the 2. Bundesliga. That’s why he has truly earned his promotion to the Bundesliga and the trust that comes with it,” says Knut Kircher, Managing Director of Sports and Communications at DFB Schiri GmbH.

When he received the call informing him of his appointment to the Bundesliga, he was standing in the kitchen preparing dinner. “It was wonderful to hear that, because at that moment, a dream of mine came true,” Hempel admits. At first, he didn’t know what to do with all the emotions and immediately told his family. As a child, Hempel had learned the basics of refereeing alongside his father. He spent the summer on vacation in Italy to recharge for the new season. A referee must not only be wide awake but also in good physical shape.

Hempel always sees himself as a psychologist as well

Since they’re not allowed to officiate games involving teams from their own region, Hempel will not be assigned to any RB Leipzig matches. The DFB aims to prevent any suspicion of bias or doubts about the referees’ impartiality. In his role on the field, Richard Hempel always feels like a psychologist as well. But he doesn’t just distinguish between different types of players. He recently observed that there are also different personalities within his own profession during the World Cup in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

Hempel knows that his colleagues from South America, for example, sometimes have to physically assert themselves in their national leagues. “They’re used to completely different levels of tension in the game than we are.” Hempel was impressed by American referee Tori Penso, who officiated the Germany vs. Ecuador match (1–2) and drew the ire of former German national team coach Julian Nagelsmann. Despite the extreme pressure she was under, she smiled a lot and remained approachable to the players. “I think it’s cool to see the different ways of interacting with players—from totally aloof to very physical.”

Countdown rule benefits referees

Hempel also found the World Cup exciting in terms of rule changes. The five-second countdown for throw-ins and goal kicks noticeably speeds up the game. The players picked it up quickly. “When they were counted down, they took the next throw-in faster. That’s a rule change that absolutely works in our favor as referees.”

In any case, a referee’s mind is always on the move because he has to apply new rules, Hempel says. He views the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) as a kind of backup parachute. The work in the Video Assistant Center is very demanding. Hempel once took on that role himself during a training camp. “You have screens showing eight camera angles. My heart was racing—and that was just a practice scenario. An operator showed me where else I needed to look; I hadn’t even noticed that. It’s really exhausting.”

“In the end, a human has to make the decision”

Hempel considers the technical tools available to referees today to be sufficient. Perhaps the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to assess handballs could be another possible tool. Otherwise, he feels well-equipped on the field. We have semi-automatic offside detection, goal-line technology, and the video assistant in the background. Richard Hempel cannot imagine AI replacing the role of the referee one day. “No one wants cameras and monitors to be the only ones making decisions. In the end, a human has to decide.”