For many Fortuna fans from Düsseldorf, May 27, 2024 will certainly remain an unforgettable date for a long time. However, in connection with a negative experience. Because that evening, their favourite team's almost certain promotion to the Bundesliga was snatched out of their hands. Daniel Thioune's team won the relegation first leg in Bochum 3-0, but the Bochum team managed a sensational comeback in the second leg and Fortuna remained in the second division. And the new season now begins with the away game at the Böllenfalltor. The goal for the upcoming season? To be just a little bit more successful than last year. Because that would automatically mean promotion. We take a closer look at our opening opponent.
| Arrivals | Departures |
| Noah Mbamba (Defensive Midfield, Bayer Leverkusen) | Christos Tzolis (Club Brügge) |
| Tim Rossmann (Left Midfield, Karlsruher SC) | Yannik Engelhardt (Como) |
| Danny Schmidt (Attacking Midfield, Mainz 05 II) | Benjamin Böckle (Rapid Wien) |
| Florian Schock (Goalkeeper, VfB Stuttgart) | Karol Niemczycki (SV Darmstadt 98) |
| Dzenan Pejcinovic (Striker, VfL Wolfsburg) |
Humanity is most important to him. That was already the case when he was still standing on the lawn. And it still is today. “Mutual respect and mutual appreciation are always important,” emphasised Daniel Thioune in an interview with the online portal mopo.de. Common ground. That’s what the head coach of Fortuna Düsseldorf is all about. Work together. Working together to make dreams come true. That’s what he stands for. “I always want to achieve the maximum – wherever I am at the moment. So I also want to make my dreams come true with this club,” said the coach of Fortuna Düsseldorf in an interview with kicker.
And the coach is holding on to what is probably one of his biggest dreams: to get a taste of football in the Bundesliga and compete with the best teams in Germany. But this dream has (still) been denied him. In his previous coaching career, Thioune managed to make the jump from the third division to the second highest German league. With VfL Osnabrück he won the 3rd league championship in the 2018/19 season. He then took over Hamburger SV with the aim of getting promoted to the 1st Bundesliga – a goal that he narrowly missed with the Hanseatic League. At the end of the 2020/21 season, the team finished the season in fourth place.
However, Thioune never gave up his ambitions. Since he took over as coach at Fortuna Düsseldorf in March 2022, he has continued to pursue the goal of achieving the maximum. Under his leadership, the team showed significant improvement and ended the 2022/23 season in a solid place in the upper mid-table of the 2nd Bundesliga. As is well known, Thioune’s team missed out on promotion to the Bundesliga last season. Daniel Thioune and Fortuna are now starting the new season with fresh momentum and some new faces in the squad. They want to work together to make their dreams come true. And their head coach will set an inspiring role model.
The Rhinelanders are characterised by their attacking power – at least that was the case impressively last season. With 72 goals in the last season, the Düsseldorf team took top spot in the 2nd Bundesliga. Above all, Christos Tzolis was a guarantee for goals and scored 22 goals. However, the top scorer is no longer available to Fortuna and instead joined Club Bruges in the summer. The load must therefore be distributed across several shoulders. Düsseldorf has a few to choose from: Vincent Vermeij, for example, scored twelve goals last season, while Ao Tanaka (7), Felix Klaus (6) and Isak Johannesson (4) were particularly dangerous.
Isak Johannesson. The 21-year-old has been passionate about football since he was a child. Growing up with the ball at his feet, his role models were Argentine legend Lionel Messi and Icelandic midfielder Aron Elís Thrándarson. “Football is the best thing you can do,” said the Icelandic international, who initially moved to Fortuna on loan in 2022 and has been permanently employed by the 95ers since this summer. At the age of 17, Johannesson made his debut for Iceland’s national team and played 27 games in which he scored three goals.
The central midfielder was part of the FC Copenhagen squad for two years before moving to Fortuna, where he gained numerous experiences in the Danish league: two championship titles, as well as Danish Cup winners and participation in the Champions League with games against Manchester City, Borussia Dortmund and FC Seville on his CV. And yet Johannesson couldn’t really leave his mark in Copenhagen. He played 61 competitive games for the Danes, but was only on the field for 2,398 of a possible 5,490 minutes. In short: he rarely had the opportunity to show his skills in his favorite position.
The move to Fortuna, on the other hand, gave him a boost and more scope in his position to finally let his talent blossom. With success. Goals and assists piled up. Last season he made 36 competitive appearances, scoring seven goals and providing nine assists. Coach Daniel Thioune also noticed this positive development and described Isak Johannesson to the kicker sports magazine as “a little diamond”. And further praised: “It’s fun to work with him.”
SV 98 have secured the services of highly sought-after Nicolas Verkooijen. The Belgian U21 international joins the club in southern Hesse on a free transfer after his contract with Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven expired at the end of the season.
The "Bundesliga Talent Series" will launch in the 2026/27 season as an additional U21 competition to promote young talent in German professional football. SV 98 is one of 26 clubs from the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga that have committed to participating.
Tim Arnold will play in the Regionalliga West next season. SV 98 is loaning the 19-year-old to Sportfreunde Siegen. The fourth-division club also has an option to sign him permanently.
Want to take your team to the Heinerfest stage? Then apply now! SV Darmstadt 98 is looking for four teams to be part of the Lilies' Heinerfest game show and compete against former Lilie player Michael Stegmayer. The show takes place on Saturday, July 4th, from 4pm to 6pm. Amateur teams, groups of friends, families, fan clubs, and club groups are all welcome to participate.
With the start of the Hessian summer holidays on June 29th, the Merck Lilies football camps will of course also be in full swing again. You can find all the information here.
SV 98 is making changes to the head coaching positions for its U21 and U19 teams for the upcoming season. Sebastian Schmitt, who has been in charge of the U21s since February, will now coach the U19s. Conversely, the current U19 coach, Patrick Kurt, will take over the position with the U21s.
The SV Darmstadt 98 fan shop at the Merck Stadium at Böllenfalltor will be closed next Monday (June 22nd). It will reopen on Tuesday (June 23rd) with its regular opening hours.
Where are the Darmstadt 98 players spending their summer holidays? We'll give you a brief overview. Furthermore, SV 98 welcomed their first new signing, Noah Weißhaupt, to the Böllenfalltor stadium this week, and the club's veterans team will be playing two matches again this weekend. We'll keep you up-to-date with all the latest news from SV Darmstadt 98 in our "Lilies Across the Board" section.
At the Merck Stadium at Böllenfalltor against FC Homburg: Ticket sales for the friendly match on July 14, 2026, at 6pm against the regional league team begin on June 18 at noon. Tickets are available as usual at the ticket office at the stadium and in our online ticket shop. We would also like to draw your attention to this very special match day: The friendly against FC Homburg will put our youngest fans in the spotlight, giving them their first ever children's match day at the stadium, an event never before seen at the Merck Stadium.
Fabio Torsiello will also play for Alemannia Aachen next season. SV 98 is loaning the 21-year-old attacking player to the third-division club for another season. Aachen also has an option to sign him permanently.
