How does Florian Kohfeldt look at the upcoming away game at FC Schalke 04? What content is the focus of the current training work? And how does the head coach of SV Darmstadt 98 assess the Lilies' sporting situation? Kohfeldt answered these and other questions in the press conference on Wednesday (September 18th). We have summarised the most important statements for you.
Personnel update: In addition to the long-term injury, Oscar Vilhelmsson is still missing with adductor problems.
We’re going into the game with good tension, but no nervousness. We know that the start to the season wasn’t great and we’re not pretending that last Saturday was an explosion and that everything would now work itself out. But there were footsteps. It is important for us this season to develop a game idea and to score consistently in the long term in order to be able to play a worry-free season.
My emotional state looking forward to Friday can be described in one word: awesome. An incredible force is coming at us – of course, first of all, the force of a stadium that is one of the largest and loudest stadiums in Germany. I believe that Schalke as a team is in transition overall. They have communicated that this season is not about attacking the top places, but about playing a stable season. However, you can’t see that in their squad, which is at the absolute top level in the 2nd league, especially in the front positions. They clearly have top league players in their ranks. They play accordingly – very man-oriented and very focused on putting their top players in the spotlight on offense and thus initiating situations.
Immediately after the game, the team was obviously annoyed. On Sunday they weren’t quite sure how to deal with this result. I told them that we can’t be happy because we weren’t good enough in our content after the break. But I also said that we at least have a point in hand. We have seen that if we stick to our content, we are able to create our chances to score in the second division, keep the opponent away from the goal and dominate the game. Overall, the team was self-critical about the party, but also had a very positive look forward.
We will not dominate any opponent for more than 90 minutes. But we prepare the boys on how to deal with rashes – both positive and negative. This week we worked on tactical content as well as individual content, but also on mental aspects and fitness. We can still develop in all areas. We also worked in particular on the topics of offensive position play and rhythm changes. When do we want to play fast? When to calm down the game? There was also the issue of set pieces, which will be important in the league overall, but especially for the game on Friday.
Yes, we ran at the end of training on Tuesday. In that respect, I’m a bit old school as a coach, even though I want to solve a lot of things more about football. Overall, we work with the team on different content – tactical, mental and also physical content. But I don’t define myself by mileage. I look at the result. Of course, you need different athletic profiles for certain game ideas. In this respect we are in the process of developing. But I’m less interested in running 120 kilometers in every game. Rather, we have to run at the right moment and at the right speed.
I was hoping that the question would come to him and I was looking forward to it (grins). Fraser Hornby has scored a goal in every training session over the last ten days. In every training session he had actions that led to goals. He also has incredibly good defensive skills for a striker. I am 100 percent convinced that Fraser will score his goals and will be extremely important for us this season.
Cedric Brunner is not an issue for us. We’ll be looking at Marco Thiede in training this week to see whether he’s a good fit for us. I can already say that he is extremely fit and has a good character. We will then evaluate everything else.
Attention Lilien fans: During SV Darmstadt 98’s training camp in Bad Wörishofen (Allgäu region)—taking place from July 19th to July 26th, 2026—there will once again be an opportunity to meet the team, chat with the players, and, of course, get autographs and photos. The fan meet-up is scheduled for Saturday, July 25th, following the friendly match against SG Sonnenhof Großaspach. Kick-off for the match is at 12pm.
SV 98 remains active in the transfer market. The "Lilies" have signed Christopher Lannert from Arminia Bielefeld.
Friendly matches, fundraising campaigns, and plenty of photos—that’s what the week looked like for SV 98 and the club’s community. Between their 5–1 victory over FC Homburg and the upcoming friendly in Walldorf this Friday (July 17), the „Lilies“ showed their best side for the cameras. In addition, the SV 98 legends team will face an Odenwald select squad on Sunday (July 19th). You can also win great prizes in competitions taking place in Erbach and at the pop-up store in downtown Darmstadt. Lilies Across the Board brings you all the latest news from life at SV 98.
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.