Hoffenheim, leading Nuremberg 1-0, looked to have scored a second on the stroke of halftime when Kevin Volland chipped the ball over goalkeeper Raphael Schaefer and into the goal.
Replays showed that the ball landed well behind the line before bouncing back out and into play, Nuremberg players turned away in disappointment and Volland was on his way to celebrate when referee Thorsten Kinhoefer waved play on.
"For the 2-0 (lead) that wasn't, I cannot say too much," Hoffenheim coach Markus Gisdol told reporters. "The ball was in but I cannot change that decision, can I?"
Hoffenheim did score a second goal in the second half but squandered their lead to draw 2-2.
"Whenever people have to decide there can be mistakes," Kinhoefer told reporters.
"This was one such mistake. We referees would welcome not having to deal with this but that is not the case, so we have to take the decision and today it was wrong."
Germany has ruled out adopting any goal-line technology until at least 2015 despite being at the heart of major disputed goal incidents.
A disputed goal is part of English and German football folklore after Geoff Hurst's shot crashed down from the underside of the bar and was ruled to have crossed the line during England's 4-2 World Cup final victory over West Germany in 1966.
At the 2010 World Cup it was England who saw a goal disallowed in their 4-1 defeat to Germany despite the ball crossing well over the line.
World soccer's ruling body FIFA, which bowed to pressure and approved the use of goal-line technology last year, chose a system produced by German-based GoalControl for this year's Confederations Cup and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
England's Premier League will become the first domestic competition to adopt the camera-based technology when it kicks off on August 17.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann)
