How excited are the fans for the last game of the year? What makes SC Paderborn so strong? And what about SV Darmstadt 98's focus? Florian Kohfeldt answered these and other questions on Thursday (December 18th) ahead of the Lilies' match in East Westphalia (December 19th/6:30pm). We've compiled the most important statements from our head coach's press conference for you.
Personnel update: All players are available.
We’re really looking forward to Paderborn. Not because we’re looking at the league table, but because I’ve noticed since Sunday’s final whistle against Münster that the team is incredibly eager to play this game. It will be a challenging match against a very good team. We’re going to Paderborn with the feeling that we’ll get our chances. We have a full squad to choose from. We’ve also been training well. I would even say that we trained exceptionally well today, especially in our final training session. We’re looking forward to a top-class match against one of the league’s top teams. We want to deliver another excellent performance and, ideally, take all three points home.
Paderborn had the longest winning streak this season, winning eight games in a row at one point. They have a lot of self-confidence – especially at home. Their style of play is characterised by a mix of a possession-based approach and a lot of long, deep balls with frequent switches of play. This makes them very difficult to press. They have excellent defensive organization and are very compact. They also have many young players with high individual quality. Paderborn has a home game on Friday and gained a lot of confidence in Karlsruhe. They’ll have high ambitions. I think it will be a pretty exciting match.
I haven’t given any thought to Christmas or the winter break because my focus is solely on Paderborn. Therefore, I won’t be drawing any conclusions about the first half of the season yet. We’re only concentrating on what’s coming up, and that’s the game on Friday in Paderborn. What’s characterised us in the first half of the season since day one is that we’ve focused only on the games and have been fully present in 99 percent of cases. We have great respect for Paderborn, but we’re full of energy that we want to show on Friday.
With Fraser, we could have taken a big risk against Münster. However, we decided to give him a normal week of training. He had a good week and is in my considerations for the starting eleven. Whether he’ll be ready for 90 minutes, I don’t know. The fact that Fraser and Fabian Nürnberger are back is very important overall. Nevertheless, we’ve shown in recent weeks that we can find other solutions. The fundamental DNA of our team is the high and aggressive pressing, which we’ve implemented for a very high percentage of playing time this season. Having both of them back expands our options.
Not many games were truly in doubt in recent weeks; we just didn’t have a comfortable lead in them. If there’s one thing we need to discuss in recent weeks, it’s our efficiency. Just one goal against Münster and only three against Karlsruhe were insufficient considering the chances we created. That’s why the games looked closer in the end than they actually were. Overall, though, we’ve developed a certain composure, allowing us to see out close games calmly and without panicking.
The Bundesliga finalised the match schedules for matchdays three through six on Wednesday (July 15th): Darmstadt's home game against Hannover 96 on matchday three will take place on Sunday. This will be followed by their away game against 1. FC Kaiserslautern on Saturday at 1pm. The home game against Arminia Bielefeld on Friday evening and the away game in Wolfsburg, also on Friday evening, have also been confirmed.
The Lilies can welcome another new arrival at the Böllenfalltor: Florian Kleinhansl will now wear the SV 98 jersey. The 25-year-old joins on a free transfer following the expiration of his contract with 1. FC Kaiserslautern on June 30th.
Third test, third clear victory. SV 98 won the match against FC 08 Homburg 5-1 (3-0).
SV Darmstadt 98 and the fusion energy company Focused Energy are entering into an official partnership. The aim of the collaboration is to more closely link top-level football and high technology from the Darmstadt region and to jointly generate momentum for innovation and future societal issues.
Killian Corredor will be playing in his home country again in the future. SV 98 has reached an agreement with FC Nantes on the transfer of the Frenchman.
On Tuesday (July 14, 6pm), SV Darmstadt 98 hosts Regionalliga side FC Homburg and asks fans to take note of the following information.
A home game against KSV! SV Darmstadt 98 hosts Holstein Kiel for the opening matchday of the 2. Bundesliga season this Saturday (August 8 at 1pm). Here’s how you can be there: the member pre-sale for the new season's first home game begins this coming Wednesday (July 15) at 12pm —available online and at the ticket shop at the Merck-Stadion, as usual. You can find all further details in this announcement.
For every home goal scored by the "Lilies," SV Darmstadt 98 fans were doubly rewarded during the recent 2025/26 second-division season. Beyond the joy and excitement, supporters received 98 litres of Krombacher Pils for every goal Darmstadt scored at the Merck-Stadion am Böllenfalltor.
In recent days, various media outlets have published reports and graphics regarding the distribution of TV revenue for the 2026/27 season. Some of these reports included not only specific figures but also a comparison to the previous season. This comparison indicates a supposed revenue increase of €1.4 million for SV 98 compared to the 2025/26 season.
SV Darmstadt 98 successfully completed their second pre-season friendly, defeating Verbandsliga side VfR Fehlheim 8-0 (4-0).
