Breakdown of Der Schiedsrichter entschied zuungunsten unseres Spielers.
unser
our
der Spieler
the player
entscheiden
to decide
der Schiedsrichter
the referee
Questions & Answers about Der Schiedsrichter entschied zuungunsten unseres Spielers.
How does the preposition zuungunsten affect the rest of the sentence?
zuungunsten is an advanced preposition meaning "to the disadvantage of". It requires the noun phrase that follows it to be in the genitive case. That is why the masculine noun phrase unser Spieler becomes the genitive unseres Spielers.
Are there other ways to write zuungunsten?
Yes, you can also write it capitalized as two separate words: zu Ungunsten. Both forms are completely correct and interchangeable, though writing it as a single lower-case word is very common in modern formal German.
If I wanted to say the referee decided "in favor of" our player, how would I change the sentence?
You would use the exact opposite preposition, zugunsten, which also takes the genitive case. The sentence would simply become: Der Schiedsrichter entschied zugunsten unseres Spielers.
Why is entschied used here instead of the conversational hat entschieden?
entschied is the simple past (Präteritum) of entscheiden. While everyday spoken German usually prefers the Perfekt (hat entschieden), you will often encounter the Präteritum in news, formal writing, and sports reporting like this example.