BERLIN (AP) — Bochum's goalkeeper was struck on the head by an object apparently thrown from the stands at Union Berlin and both Bundesliga teams left the field on Saturday. When the game resumed, they ran down the clock without trying to score.
Patrick Drewes was preparing to take a goalkick at 1-1 in added time when he was hit by an object with a similar size and shape to a cigarette lighter. He sat down and was given medical treatment.
The referee suspended the game and led both teams off the field.
Nearly half an hour later, the game resumed and Drewes was replaced by striker Philipp Hofmann. With about three minutes left of the game, both teams agreed to not try to score.
Players passed the ball around the field, walked and had conversations with opponents while waiting for the referee to declare the game over.
Bochum coach Dieter Hecking said Drewes was being taken to hospital. He added there was a “non-aggression pact” between the teams when the game resumed but that Bochum was playing “under protest because Patrick couldn't play on.”
Bochum chief executive Ilja Kaenzig said his club would file a formal protest over the result of the game, arguing the referee should not have restarted it. Union is likely to face disciplinary action over its hosting of the game, too.
Union spokesman Christian Arbeit said a person suspected of involvement in the incident was identified and the police were involved.
Bochum had already made substitutions at three different points in the game, meaning it would not have been possible to bring on another goalkeeper to replace Drewes. Bochum finished the game with nine players because of Drewes' absence and an earlier red card.
Union was 12th and Bochum last in the 18-team Bundesliga.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Bochum goalkeeper Patrick Drewes , third from right, kneels on the ground after being hit on the head with an object during a Bundesliga soccer match between FC Union Berlin and VfL Bochum, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024, in Berlin. (Andreas Gora/dpa via AP)
Bochum goalkeeper Patrick Drewes shows an object with which he was hit on the head during a Bundesliga soccer match between FC Union Berlin and VfL Bochum, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024, in Berlin. (Andreas Gora/dpa via AP)
Bochum goalkeeper Patrick Drewes kneels on the ground after being hit on the head with an object during a Bundesliga soccer match between FC Union Berlin and VfL Bochum, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024, in Berlin. (Andreas Gora/dpa via AP)
Ivan Ordets from VfL Bochum, left, and Berlin's Tom Rothe in action during the Bundesliga soccer match between FC Union Berlin and VfL Bochum in Berlin, Saturday Dec. 14, 2024. (Andreas Gora/dpa via AP)
LANDOVER, Maryland (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump was huddling with allies and a Republican cause célèbre at Saturday's Army-Navy football game, a chance to take in one of most storied rivalries in college sports while spotlighting his emerging national security team.
Trump was joined by Vice President-elect JD Vance, embattled Pentagon pick Pete Hegseth, potential backup defense option Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and others for the 125th matchup between service academies.
Also planning to attend is Daniel Penny, a military veteran who was acquitted of criminally negligent homicide this week in the chokehold death of an agitated subway rider in New York. Penny was invited by Vance, who accused prosecutors of trying to “ruin" Penny's life by charging the Marine veteran in the death of Jordan Neely in 2023.
Trump, who attended Army-Navy games as president-elect in 2016 and during his first terms, has been making an increasing number of public appearances before his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025. He was accompanied by his family and Vance on Thursday as he rang the opening bell for the New York Stock Exchange after being recognized as Time magazine's person of the year.
Trump spent the weeks after the Nov. 5 election holed up at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida assembling a team to help lead his next administration. He and his aides have become bullish about Hegseth's chances of winning Senate confirmation. The Army combat veteran and former Fox News host's chances of becoming defense secretary had appeared in peril amid allegations of excessive drinking, sexual assault and his views on women in combat.
DeSantis, a former Navy lawyer who competed against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, is among the possible replacement candidates Trump has considered if Hegseth's bid fizzles.
Trump senior adviser Jason Miller said Friday in a Newsmax interview that Hegseth has “made it through the gauntlet." Miller predicted Hegseth will be confirmed.
“This is someone who’s literally been shot at on the battlefield,” Miller added. "That’s the type of person who I want leading the (Department of Defense) because as we make these decisions about whether or not to put American troops into harm’s way, I want someone who knows at a personal level what that’s like before you go and send some young man or young woman into battle.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is also expected to attend the game and bring with him a contingent of other GOP lawmakers vying for face time with the incoming president weeks before Republicans take control of the three branches of the federal government.
Johnson said he intends to discuss with Trump plans for a legislative package that could move through Congress next year with a simple majority in the face of expected Democratic opposition.
Vance said Friday that Penny, a fellow Marine veteran, had accepted his invitation to be in Trump's suite on the Army side. Penny was cleared of criminally negligent homicide in Neely's death after a judge had dismissed a more serious manslaughter charge last week because the jury deadlocked on that count.
The case was a flashpoint in the long-standing debates over racial justice and as well as failures by New York City to address homelessness and mental illness, both of which Neely had struggled with.
“Daniel’s a good guy, and New York’s mob district attorney tried to ruin his life for having a backbone,” Vance said in a post on X. “I’m grateful he accepted my invitation and hope he’s able to have fun and appreciate how much his fellow citizens admire his courage.”
Hegseth planned to be in a suite with some Medal of Honor recipients, according to a person familiar with Hegseth’s schedule.
Trump’s picks for Navy secretary, John Phelan, a businessman who never served in the military, and for Army secretary, Dan Driscoll, an Iraq War veteran and former senior adviser to Vance, also are expected to attend, said the person, who was not authorized to publicly discuss those details and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Kickoff is after 3 p.m. EST at Northwest Stadium, home to the NFL's Washington Commanders, in Landover, Maryland.
Army (11-1) is ranked 19th in The Associated Press Top 25 after beating Tulane on Dec. 6 to win the American Athletic Conference — the first league title of any kind in the team’s 134-year history. Navy (8-3) was ranked earlier this season after starting with six straight victories
Madhani reported from West Palm Beach, Florida. AP Sports Writer Noah Trister in Baltimore and Associated Press writer Farnoush Amiri contributed to this report.
FILE - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis delivers remarks and answers questions at a news conference, Sept. 16, 2024, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)
Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to be defense secretary, is joined by his wife Jennifer Rauchet as he speaks with reporters after meeting with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
FILE - Daniel Penny arrives at courtroom after lunch break in New York, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)
