Ahead of Sunday's match against SC Preußen Münster (May 10th, 1:30pm), Florian Kohfeldt spoke about his contract extension, the upcoming opponent, and the tension within the team. We've summarised the most important statements from the Darmstadt head coach's press conference on Friday for you here.
Personnel update: Luca Marseiler, Merveille Papela, Fraser Hornby, Fabian Holland, Fabian Nürnberger, Matthias Bader (all injured) and Aleksander Vukotic (suspended due to yellow cards) are unavailable. Sergio Lopez is doubtful.
Several people here place an enormous amount of trust in me. For a head coach, the direct sporting superior is the most important person to confide in. Paul and I have had an incredibly high degree of common ground in many areas from day one. That was the most crucial element for me. But it wasn’t just Paul; the entire club environment gives me the feeling that the club is willing to develop further. You can feel that in the newly elected board and also in the office. With all the employees, you get the feeling: This is a club where everyone is ready to continue. I’m someone who likes to develop further. That’s why I extended my contract with complete conviction and full of energy. Furthermore, we feel incredibly at home here as a family. It has become a club and a place close to my heart. Everything just fell into place. I’m looking forward to what’s to come.
Münster is an opponent fighting for everything. For us, in terms of the standings, it’s „only“ about fifth place, which would still be a fantastic result. Münster is in an extremely difficult position. They need to win their last two games and hope for some other results. They will do everything they can to make that happen.
Basically, since the coaching change, their game has shifted from short passing to more long balls. Add to that set pieces from all angles. They will certainly try to put us under pressure. This clashes with our current personnel situation, where many of our automatic plays are simply unavailable. Nevertheless, we will try to play a very proactive game. We are facing a team with quite a few question marks regarding their approach, but we know their mental state, and that will be: all in for Münster.
A drop in intensity must be prevented, and this will therefore be actively addressed. It’s incredibly important for us to finish the season in fifth place and end it with a win. The season was far too good to go into the summer break feeling like this.
Even with seven or eight players unavailable, we will field a team that has the ambition to win in Münster. That’s my ambition as well. I will definitely put the best possible team on the pitch.
While this is a personal accolade, which I don’t generally place too much importance on, it can be significant if viewed as a representative team achievement. We have the second-strongest attack in the league, and Isac is just one goal behind in the top scorer rankings. This is certainly a topic of discussion for Isac, but also for all of us, because we define ourselves through our attacking style of play. Therefore, our goal is to finish as high as possible in both of these categories. We would like to help Isac become the league’s top scorer and perhaps even have the best attack in the league. These are our objectives.
To say it’s just a coincidence would be too simplistic for me. But I stand by my statement 100 percent that we’ve made great strides forward in the areas of medicine and performance. Nevertheless, if you look at the raw numbers, our outcome isn’t that great. Still, we have to look at what happened. Mey, for example, leaves the KSC game saying everything’s fine, and the next morning he has a swollen knee. That has nothing to do with treatment or management.
What we need to continue improving is working hand in hand in all areas. Many of these things were just bad luck. But if there’s even one injury that wasn’t bad luck, we have to try to prevent it from happening again. The entire Darmstadt 98 organisation has had to learn new ways of working, thanks to Paul and me, and we’ve already implemented a lot of that. We need to continue learning how to optimise processes.
But we’ve also brought a lot of players up to a very robust level this year. When I look at Hiroki Akiyama’s development in this regard, these are steps that we were not able to take last year.
It’s nonsense to say something like this isn’t an issue. It’s normal to think about it. But a standout quality of this team is that they’re a cohesive unit. No one will hold back because of their own personal interests. The game against Elversberg, for example, demonstrated this: putting in such a tremendous effort while playing with a man down. The lads give their all and are fully committed until the very last moment. It’s perfectly normal that they’re also thinking about their futures in their private lives.
It offers the advantage of planning certainty, even though I would have preferred to forgo this certainty for now. A potential promotion would likely have necessitated an adjustment to our playing style. Now it’s perfectly clear which players we want to sign and what changes we want to make to the squad. Overall, we were able to intensify internal discussions last week.
SV Darmstadt 98 offers a diverse holiday program for children aged 6 to 14 at its sports camps. Participants can try a different sport each day. This year's summer program will take place from July 27th to 31st and from August 3rd to 7th in Bürgerpark.
Successful event enters its second round: On September 27, 2026, the Lilien Team Marathon, presented by CRAFT, will take place for the second time. Organised by SV Darmstadt 98 Stadion GmbH, the event is aimed at running enthusiasts of all ages and abilities and focuses primarily on one thing: teamwork.
"Cycling, nothing is as beautiful as cycling," goes the lyric from a song by Max Raabe. A song he will likely perform at his concert in Münster on Sunday. Where better to find these lyrics than in Germany's cycling capital: Münster? In the city where there are more bicycles than people and where football is also played on two wheels.
While SC Preußen Münster desperately needs a win to keep their hopes of staying in the league alive, SV Darmstadt 98 aims to finish the season in the best possible way. The Lilies will rely on their strength at set pieces, while Münster will be showing remarkable passing accuracy. We've compiled all the facts and figures for Sunday's match (May 10th, 1:30pm) for you here. Here you'll find the top facts about the game between the Westphalians and the South Hessians.
SV 98 and Florian Kohfeldt are moving forward together. The 43-year-old has extended his contract with the Lilies.
The second consecutive away game, and the last of the season, is upon us. Once again on a Sunday (May 10th, 1:30pm), Darmstadt will be playing away – this time against SC Preußen Münster. Everything you need to know for your final away trip of the season to the LVM-Preußenstadion, about three and a half hours away, can be found here in the usual fan information section.
There's a lot going on at the Bölle. The 98th Darmstadt baby of 2026, along with their family, visited the Merck Stadium at Böllenfalltor, and they weren't the only ones. Where else the Bölle gang has ended up, and many more news items about the club, can be found here in our "Lilies Across the Board" section, as every Wednesday.
SV Darmstadt 98 informed all season ticket holders about the season ticket procedure for the 2026/27 season on Wednesday (May 6th) and would also like to share this letter on the club's own website.
Autographs, photos, and personal encounters with the Lilies: You'll have the opportunity to do so on Thursday (May 7th) from 5pm to 6pm. As part of an autograph session presented by Merck, Patric Pfeiffer, Kai Klefisch, and Fynn Lakenmacher will be at the Merck Stadium at Böllenfalltor. You'll also receive a ten percent discount in the fan shop during this time.
Darmstadt's 2-1 defeat at Karlsruher SC also ended any remaining theoretical hopes the South Hessian club had of finishing the season in the top three. The loss at the Wildpark stadium served somewhat as a symbol for the past few weeks, during which SV 98 had only managed one point from five matches since the international break in March. Following the game on Sunday afternoon, the Darmstadt players addressed the assembled media representatives with mixed feelings.
Three points! SV Darmstadt 98's U21 team secured a victory in the Lotto Hessenliga on Saturday afternoon (May 2nd). In their match against Hünfelder SV, the young Lilies overcame an early deficit to clinch a convincing 3-1 win. This result puts the U21 team currently outside the relegation zone. "Our trend is clearly upward," said a delighted U21 coach Sebastian Schmitt.
The successful collaboration between the Hessian Disabled and Rehabilitation Sports Association (HBRS) and SV Darmstadt 98 will continue long-term: Both partners have extended their existing agreement to promote inclusive sports indefinitely. This sends a clear signal for the sustainable development of inclusion and disability sports in Hesse.