Happy Birthday SVD! | The Wonder of Bielefeld

We congratulate SV Darmstadt 98 e.V. on its 126th birthday. The Lilies‘ club history began with the founding of FK Olympia 1898 Darmstadt on May 22, 1898. After merging with SC Darmstadt on November 11, 1919, SV 98 officially played its games as SV Darmstadt 98. The Lilies can look back on an eventful history. And the past few days are exemplary of this. May 18th marked the end of a disappointing season that ended with a lot of emotions. May 19th marks the 10th anniversary of what is probably the most incredible game in Lilien history. Darmstadt 98. These are ups and downs. Unlimited hustle and bustle and deep sadness. Anyone who commits themselves to this club commits themselves to it with all their heart. We stand for great tradition, but also for looking forward as a community. Just like we will do again now. All the best, sports club from 1898!

„You have to fight. Nothing is lost yet.“ When SV Darmstadt 98 played in the relegation second leg in Bielefeld on May 19, 2014, this motto was written on the armbands of all the Lilies. What followed was probably the craziest game in the club’s history. And last Sunday marked the tenth anniversary of May 19, 2014. The miracle of Bielefeld. The Lilies spectacularly defeated Arminia 4-2 after extra time on the Bielefelder Alm and thus achieved promotion to the 2nd Bundesliga – a year after the SVD had actually been relegated to the regional league. How relegated and discarded people became heroes. This is what the SV 98 documentary is about, which is called „The Miracle of Bielefeld.“ On the occasion of the anniversary, a 75-minute documentary was created, in which formative figures such as the then coach Dirk Schuster, winning goalscorer Elton da Costa and captain Aytac Sulu Have your say in detail now for free on the official YouTube channel of SV Darmstadt 98!

The season has ended for the SVD professionals since Saturday afternoon, but for the young Lilies in the youth performance center it is still all about points. After we were able to report on the U16 association league championship in the last “Lilies Across the Board” issue, this time we can look forward to the U19 Hessen league championship. On Sunday (May 19th), coach Daniel Petrowsky’s team beat SG Rot-Weiss Frankfurt 3-0. With two game days to go, the team can no longer challenge the top spot in the table. In addition to the U19, the U17 also has three games left in the Hessenliga, where the Lilies are also in second place at Platz an der Sonne, four points ahead. The U14 and U16 also have three games left. The U12s still have a few more games on their calendar, the young 98s still have two group league games and two tournaments ahead of them.

Over 100 Bundesliga games, 167 games in the 2nd Bundesliga and a very important goal in Bielefeld ten years ago: Jerome Gondorf ended his professional career last Sunday (May 19th) at the age of 35. After 146 competitive games for Karlsruher SC it’s over, the football boots are now hanging on the nail. The Karlsruhe native also left his mark on SV 98: he played with the Lily on his chest in a total of 140 competitive games; when Darmstadt were promoted to football in 2014, the midfielder scored the important goal in the relegation second leg in Bielefeld to give them a 3-1 lead. After two years in the Bundesliga with SVD, the now 35-year-old moved to Werder Bremen, followed by a year and a half at the Freiburg. Since the beginning of 2020, Gondorf has been playing again in his hometown of Karlsruhe, and he also served as captain for KSC. We congratulate you on a great career and wish you all the best for the future, Jego!

And another promotion hero from 2014 ended his active professional career last weekend. „After this season it’s definitely over, then I’ll end my active career. After that I’ll become a youth coach. And it’s definitely my goal to take over a men’s team in the future,“ Dominik Stroh-Engel spoke to last week sv98.de is already talking about the end of his career. The ex-Lilie can look back on almost 250 third division games, and the great attacker played a total of 98 competitive games for the SVD – 22 of which were in the Bundesliga. Coming from Wehen Wiesbaden in the summer of 2013, Stroh-Engel quickly fitted in. With 27 goals, the now 38-year-old played a large part in the rise of the 98ers and also became the top scorer in the 2013/14 third division season. In 2017, he moved to Karlsruher SC, and via Unterhaching, “Dodo” came to Memmingen, where he played his last game last weekend. We congratulate you on a great career and wish you all the best for the future, Dodo!

On Tuesday evening (May 21st) the 30th matchday in the district league C Darmstadt was scheduled for the 98er fan team. After the duel with GW Darmstadt II was postponed from Saturday to Tuesday, the spectators present saw a 4:4 draw. Two game days before the end of the season, the second team is still in third place in the table, there is no room for coach Andreas Degenhardt’s team to go up, and the SVD is two points ahead of the fourth-place team from Roßdorf. It continues next Sunday (May 26th/3pm), when the team will face relegation candidate TUS Griesheim.

It’s been a long time coming, now it’s mathematically certain: the Young Boys from Bern will be crowned Swiss champions again this season, it’s their sixth championship in the last seven years. Interim coach Joël Magnin’s team won 1-0 at Servette Geneva on Monday (May 20th) and is nine points ahead of FC Lugano, who lost 2-1 at FC Zurich, one match day before the end of the championship round had to. The official championship celebration will take place next Sunday (May 26th). We wish our friends from Bern a lot of fun and congratulations on the renewed championship!

The Beckenbauer of Asia? Bum-kun Cha was a striker, but the then 25-year-old South Korean’s reputation preceded him because of his footballing skills. And it was precisely with these advance praises that he moved to Böllenfalltor in the winter of the 1978/79 season. He was supposed to revive SV Darmstadt 98’s offensive. And in his first and only Lilien game against VfL Bochum on December 30, 1978, he delivered: Bum-kun Cha was immediately in SVD head coach Lothar Buchmann’s starting lineup, was substituted after 78 minutes and played a decisive role in the 3: 1 win for SV 98. The 78 minutes against Bochum, however, were to remain his only appearance in the Darmstadt jersey. At the turn of the year, the then attacker traveled back to South Korea, but did not return to Darmstadt because he had to do military service in his home country. He never played for the Lilies again, but later moved to Eintracht Frankfurt and also played for Bayer Leverkusen. But his 78 minutes at the Böllenfalltor will forever be remembered. This Wednesday (May 22nd) Bum-kun Cha celebrates his 71st birthday, on which we warmly congratulate him.

Wednesday (May 22nd) remains a day of celebration for Darmstadt 98. Former co-coach and head coach Klaus Schlappner is also celebrating his special day. The native of Lampertheim is 84 years old. From 1977 to 1980 he was assistant coach at the Lilies, during which time he took over the interim head position for three months after Lothar Buchmann left the club for Stuttgart. For the 1987/88 season, Schlappner returned to the coaching bench at the Böllenfalltor, other clubs included SV Waldhof Mannheim, 1. FC Saarbrücken and Carl-Zeiss Jena. The Hessian native was also national coach of China. We would like to congratulate our former coach and wish him all the best for the future!

On Sunday (May 26th) Peter Schmidt celebrates his 86th birthday. The member of the SV Darmstadt 98 council of elders saw his first Lilien games in 1946, when the games were played on alternative pitches at the adjacent university stadium or at the cycling track in Bessungen. Schmidt has been a member of SV 98 since 1950 – the very club to which he has been loyal since his childhood. Schmidt was involved in a voluntary capacity for years; between 1963 and 1970, the Darmstadt native was active as a club youth leader. Schmidt always followed the Lilies‘ games from the back straight until he was elected to the Council of Elders in 2014 and has sat in the main stand ever since. We warmly congratulate Peter Schmidt and wish him all the best for the future!