Hello and welcome to the English part of the SV Darmstadt 98 website! This page is run on a volunteer basis but will be updated on a regular basis with news and features that you will also see on the German site. As time goes on, we will look to expand the content on the site and bring you more and more information.
It is worth heading to the "Bölle" even before kick-off for the Lilien's friendly match against Portsmouth FC on Saturday (August 1st): when the stadium opens at 12pm, the "Trinkhalle am Bölle" in the north wing of the main stand will celebrate its debut and open its doors to all stadium visitors.
At the Merck-Stadion am Böllenfalltor against Hannover 96! SV Darmstadt 98 will host the team from Lower Saxony on Sunday (August 30, 1:30pm) for Matchday 3 of the 2. Bundesliga season. The advance ticket sale for members for the new season's second home game begins this coming Wednesday (July 29) at 12pm—available as usual online and at the ticket shop at the Merck-Stadion. You can find all further details in this announcement.
The Lilies have successfully concluded their training camp in Bad Wörishofen. We chronicled their time in the Allgäu region in our diary.
Following the Lilien's successful friendly match on Saturday (July 25th), Florian Kohfeldt answered questions from the traveling media representatives.
A successful conclusion to the training camp in Bad Wörishofen: SV Darmstadt 98 won their friendly against SG Sonnenhof Großaspach convincingly, 7–2 (4–1).
Markus Pfitzner commented on the summer pre-season, the current squad, and the final pieces of the puzzle—among other topics—on the sidelines of Friday's training session (July 24th). We have compiled the key statements made by the "Lilien" president from the training camp in Bad Wörishofen for you.
Sergio Lopez’s time at SV 98 is coming to an end after two years. The 27-year-old Spaniard is moving to FC Granada. The "Lilies" and the Spanish second-division club agreed on the transfer this Friday (July 24th).
"It’s coming home"? Not quite. But at least it’s coming to the "Bölle"! To kick off the season, SV Darmstadt 98 will host English second-division side Portsmouth FC at the Merck-Stadion am Böllenfalltor next Saturday (August 1). Fans of both clubs can look forward not only to an exciting international pre-season test but also to a special day of football centred around the official season opener. Kick-off is at 2pm, with a varied program of activities around the stadium awaiting visitors beforehand. But first, let’s take a closer look at the "Lilies'" opponents.
Ibrahim El Kadiri has been an SV 98 player for just under a month. We took the opportunity during the training camp to interview the skillful new signing.
A training camp, a friendly match, and a blue-and-white presence in the Odenwald: there is plenty going on around SV 98 this week. The "Lilies" are continuing their intensive preparations for the new season in Bad Wörishofen until Sunday (July 26th), while also bonding as a team off the pitch. Saturday (July 25th) brings the next pre-season test: a match against SG Sonnenhof Großaspach. Additionally, SV 98 will once again be represented at the Erbach Wiesenmarkt’s Family Day on Thursday (July 23rd). "Lilies Across the Board" brings you all the latest news from life at the club.
Taking the next step together: SV Darmstadt 98 and Klöber Versicherungsmakler GmbH are further expanding their partnership. The Darmstadt-based company, which has served as a "Top Partner" to the Lilien for the past two years, will now act as a "Premium Partner" of SV 98.
It’s cup time again! In the first round of the 2026/27 DFB-Pokal season, the Lilies will face FC Carl Zeiss Jena in the "City of Light" on Sunday, August 23, at 3:30pm. Here’s how you can be there for the away match: the pre-sale for members begins this coming Friday, July 24, at 12pm —available both online and at the ticket shop at the Merck-Stadion. You can find all further details in this announcement.
We are an association in the sense of German association law. Historically, the strength of us lilies is based on the connection between the world of work and university at the merger of the two clubs FK Olympia 1898 and Darmstädter SC. We live our appreciation for the diversity of people and their ways of life. Exclusion of any kind has no place with us.
We are aware of our roots of the founding family Ensgraber and their supporting persons as well as our club history which has had many ups and downs. We have always achieved our greatest sporting successes under special conditions, whether in disciplines such as athletics, field handball, judo or table tennis, whether as after-work professionals or as football prodigies – always as a close-knit community. After overcoming the threat of insolvency and starting over in 2008, we are successfully working towards the common goal of positioning and establishing ourselves in German professional football. Always with the aim of embodying a football club that is a role model for society, fights against discrimination and exclusion and stands up for Darmstadt and the region.
The mission statement that has now been developed will help us to consistently and ambitiously continue the path that SV Darmstadt 1898 e.V. has chosen in the future.
We want to establish ourselves in the top group of the 2nd Bundesliga with economic stability in the long term and challenge the top 20 in German professional football.
As a grassroots, contemporary club, we are committed to ensuring that sport, and especially football, lives up to its role model function in all areas as an integral part of our society.
We are one of the most successful German football clubs and want to establish ourselves in the top group of the 2nd Bundesliga in the long term. We look forward boldly and want to challenge the top 20 clubs in Germany in all areas.
We fight for maximum sporting success, but always while maintaining our economic stability and our social roots within our club life. This is and remains the guiding principle of our daily actions.
As an association, we stand for democratic participation, maintaining the 50+1 rule and maintaining standing room and socially acceptable ticket prices. We are all responsible for the success of our club.
That’s why we think and act in a team-oriented manner and contribute together to the success of our SV Darmstadt 1898 e.V. Our youth performance center is the contact point for the best youth players in our city and our region. We accompany you on your path to professional football and beyond in your personal development. We see ourselves as partners of the region’s clubs. Together with them, we form the basis for youth and young talent work in football.
We fight for social openness and tolerance and focus on the interests of our members and fans. Respect and respect are crucial factors for us when dealing with one another.
We as a club and our “Bölle” are an emotional home for our members, fans, active members, employees and for our coaching team as well as our partners, sponsors and of course for people from all walks of life – from Darmstadt, our region and all of Germany.
We are a multi-disciplinary association. Our amateur sports departments are successful regionally, nationally and internationally. In football, we are known throughout Germany as the “Lilies of the Böllenfalltor” and are developing into a nationally recognized and unique club that combines tradition with innovation and modernity.
In a social and ecological sense, we are committed to sustainable business practices. We do not understand sustainability in the context of special fields of action or individual disciplines, but rather see it as a meaningful networking of social, ecological and economic aspects with all our cross-departmental and cross-association activities.
We are an integral part of our hometown and our home region. We have had a symbiotic relationship with the city from the very beginning.
Just like our city, the digital city of Darmstadt, we see digitalization as an opportunity for us, our members, fans, partners and sponsors. Proximity to fans and the grassroots remains an integral part of our DNA.
We are aware of our origins and our values. Our maxim is the constant combination of tradition and modernity.
We mean what we say. We keep what we promise.
We are always approachable, friendly and open, because we act according to our philosophy: cosmopolitan, member-oriented, with social responsibility – and we live that.
We are looking for the challenge. With our football and our enthusiasm for our club, we want to create identification and be an emotional home.
We are proud of our independence as a club and, on this basis, present ourselves as an ambitious partner with an eye on the future. We always strive for the best for our club, on and off the pitch.
We want to inspire and inspire by resolutely living and communicating our sporting ambition, social responsibility and role model function.
In all our actions, as a close-knit community, we look forward courageously and passionately. Successes and defeats bring us together; setbacks do not deter us from our path.
Darmstadt sports club has been a registered association under German association law since 1898. The foundation of our club is its members, who have accompanied, guided and shaped it through well over 100 years of club history.
Membership not only offers the opportunity to best support the youth and the club’s social projects but is also an important building block for the healthy further development of our club. Be it as an active member in one of our popular sports departments, as a passive member with full voting rights at general meetings (98 euros annual fee) or as a supporting member without such voting rights (60 euros annual fee) – in total, SV 98 brings together over 11,000 members who support the club.
Members of SV Darmstadt 98 receive pre-purchase rights for tickets for home and away games, a wide range of information from club life and other exclusive benefits such as a voucher booklet, our member magazine “Der98er” or of course the official membership card for each new season. We also always try to include the opinions of our members when voting. Be it via surveys or the opportunity to help design things like jerseys and the like. Comprehensive support for our members is important to us and should be expanded further in the future.
Membership in SV 98 is not just a purely formal act, but a clear commitment and active support of our lilies as a grassroots, social and sporting sports club with many advantages and opportunities for participation.
Memberships can be taken out simply and easily via the homepage www.wirlilien.de. We ask that children and young people use the printed membership application.
Memberships can be taken out simply and easily via the homepage www.wirlilien.de. For children and young people, we ask you to use the printed membership application, which you can find as a PDF here.
Sam Donovan
My name is Sam and live in England. As previously mentioned, I maintain this page on a volunteer basis as I work full-time as a high school Maths teacher. I’ve loved football for as long as I can remember and still have memories of watching Euro 96 and attending my first game in the same year with my grandad.
I’ve been volunteering with the club since 2019 when I started to run the International Twitter account. However, I’ve supported the club since before that. On a trip to Germany in 2014, I met someone who was from Darmstadt, and they began to tell me about the club. As luck would have it, I was able to find a stream of the game of “The Miracle of Bielefeld” and I was hooked from that moment. I think what drew me to the club was the passion shown by the players and the supporters but also the spirit and being viewed as an underdog.
My first game seeing Darmstadt play live was in August 2015 when we drew away to Schalke. My first trip to the Böllenfalltor was in 2017 when we again played Schalke but won 2-1 with a stoppage time winner.
