The NFL’s International Series for the 2024 season rolls on in Week 10, with Sunday’s slate of games beginning with a matchup featuring the Carolina Panthers and the New York Giants at Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany. While a meeting between a pair of 2-7 teams might not be the best way to showcase the NFL in Germany, the game has produced one of the season’s most memorable moments involving an official.
And it had nothing to do with a controversial penalty decision.
Late in the first quarter Panthers center Cade Mays was flagged for a false start penalty. In announcing the decision referee Shawn Hochuli decided to let the crowd in Munich hear the penalty call in their native German:
Not only did Rich Eisen and Kurt Warner lose their minds in the NFL Network booth, but the crowd at Allianz Arena did as well, letting out perhaps the biggest cheer for a false start penalty in NFL history.
This is the third straight season the NFL has played a game in Germany, but Hochuli has now set the bar for future games in the International Series with this penalty call.
