Thirty players were used in a match for the first time across Europe’s major footballing nations in Wednesday’s DFB Pokal clash between Borussia Dortmund and Hertha Berlin.
Astoria Walldorf had already made history on Tuesday when Benjamin Hofmann became the first player to come on as a fourth substitute in Europe’s top nations in extra-time of his club’s DFB Pokal defeat to Arminia Bielefeld following a rule change made to the competition.
As part of an ongoing pilot of a proposed change to the laws of the game, the German Football Association in December announced that clubs in the DFB Pokal would be able to make a fourth substitution in extra-time.
And on Wednesday, Hertha attacker Sami Allagui came off the bench for the club in the 118th minute in their eventual penalty shooutout defeat at Dortmund to became the 30th player to be involved in the game after Thomas Tuchel’s side also brought on a fourth substitute.
Dortmund had already used up all their substitutes, with Christian Pulisic, Matthias Ginter, Gonzalo Castro and Andre Schurrle coming off the bench, and Hertha coach Pal Dardai made use of his fourth change deep into extra-time.
Although Hertha’s Allagui and Alexander Esswein, who was brought on after 96 minutes, both converted their penalties in the shootout, Fabian Lustenberger, another player who had started on the bench, missed his along with Vladmir Darida and Salomon Kalou.
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