Ligue 1: FFF Confirms Wrong Penalty Call in Lens-Auxerre

The French Football Federation’s refereeing department has confirmed that a major decision went against the Laws of the Game during Lens’ 5-2 Ligue 1 victory over Auxerre. The first penalty awarded to Lens, converted by Florian Thauvin in the 12th minute, should not have been given. The review found that Auxerre midfielder Arthur Piedfort’s arm was being held by Lens forward Ismaëlo Ganiou when the ball struck him. The decision does not alter the result, but it places the opening goal under fresh scrutiny at the start of the Ligue 1 season.

Mathieu Vernice awarded the penalty after the ball made contact with Piedfort’s elbow during the contest inside the Auxerre area. The video assistant referee, Jérôme Brisard, supported the on-field call during the initial check, finding no offside and describing the handball as clear. The refereeing department later reached the opposite conclusion. It said the contact was not a punishable handball because Piedfort could no longer control the movement of his arm while it was being held by the attacker.

The explanation centred on Law 12, which allows a handball sanction when a player deliberately touches the ball or artificially increases the area covered by the body. According to the review, neither condition was present. Piedfort did not deliberately move his arm towards the ball, and his arm was not positioned in a way that artificially enlarged his body because Ganiou’s grip affected the movement. The department therefore said the handball was not established and the penalty was not justified.

The video assistant should have intervened, the review added. The correct procedure would have been to recommend an on-field review so that Vernice could reassess the incident and cancel the penalty. Instead, the penalty remained in place and Thauvin scored to put Lens 1-0 ahead after 12 minutes. The error concerns the award itself and the failure of the VAR process to correct it, rather than the execution of the spot kick.

The same match also contained the decision that the refereeing department fully endorsed. Auxerre defender Christ Makosso was sent off in the 35th minute after bringing down Abdallah Sima. Sima had received a ball in behind and was carrying it from the left towards the centre of goal when Makosso made the challenge. The review found that Makosso was the last defender able to intervene before the forward would have been in a one-on-one position with the goalkeeper.

Several elements supported the red card. Sima had control of the ball, his run was directed towards goal, the goal was close, and no other Auxerre defender was in a position to make a challenge. The refereeing department judged that the chance of Sima continuing his move and creating a clear scoring opportunity was very high. Makosso’s dismissal was therefore described as compliant with the Laws of the Game, separating it clearly from the incorrect penalty decision earlier in the match.

The department also confirmed the other major red-card decision reviewed from the weekend. Strasbourg midfielder Samir El-Mourabet was dismissed against Marseille, a match Marseille won 4-0, after striking Pierre-Emile Højbjerg on the left calf with a frustrated movement. The review said that actually making contact is not decisive in determining the offence. Giving or attempting to give a kick qualifies as an act of brutality, for which the expected sanction is a sending-off and a direct free kick for the opposing team.

For Lens, the result remains a five-goal victory and the club’s first Ligue 1 win of 2026. The database places Lens second with three points from one match and a goal record of five scored and two conceded. Its recent sequence includes a 2-2 draw with Charleroi, wins over Boulogne, Nice and Lyon, and a 2-0 defeat by Paris Saint-Germain before the Auxerre match. The confirmed error does not remove the win or any goals from the standings, but it identifies an avoidable intervention in a match Lens ultimately controlled on the scoreline.

Lens’ next Ligue 1 fixture is away to Strasbourg on 29 August 2026. That match will bring the two clubs together shortly after the federation’s review of El-Mourabet’s dismissal, although the ruling itself does not change either team’s result. The Lens-Auxerre analysis leaves two separate conclusions: the opening penalty should have been overturned by VAR, while Makosso’s red card was correctly awarded. Together, the decisions underline the different standards applied to an involuntary arm movement and to the denial of a clear scoring opportunity by the last defender.