Strong eLilien season ends | U21 international match at Bölle

What a season it was for our eFootballers! This season, the eLilien reached the Virtual Bundesliga (VBL) playoffs for the first time in the club’s history and fought for a place in the big VBL final. But their journey ended on Tuesday evening (March 18) against a strong VfL Bochum. It was clear from the start that it would be a very tough match against Bochum. Nassim and Kaan lost 1:3 in the doubles match. After that, all eyes were on Nassim, the brightest hope: Only he could save the eLilien from elimination with a win in the singles match. After an incredibly exciting duel that went to a penalty shootout, Nassim was the unfortunate loser. Despite the defeat, the boys on the controller played a season that far exceeded expectations. The Lilien fans can be very proud of the performance of their eSports players.

Midfielder Fabian Nürnberger is on international duty this week and you can read about his involvement in the playoffs here. To do so, the Bulgarians must prevail against Ireland in a two-legged tie. The first leg will take place on Thursday (March 20th, 8:45pm) in front of their home crowd in Plovdiv. The second leg will be played on Sunday (March 23rd, 8:45pm) in the Irish capital, Dublin. Both matches will be broadcast live on DAZN. We wish you the best of luck, Fabi!

International match at Bölle! The German U21 national team will kick off the European Championship year on Tuesday (March 25) against Spain – one of the top favourites for the U21 European Championship title in Slovakia next summer. Kick-off at the Merck Stadium at Böllenfalltor is at 8:30pm. If you want to watch live, you can buy tickers here or secure tickets via the DFB ticket hotline (069 90 28 38 38). Standing tickets start at €9 (€7 concessions), and seats are sold out except for a few box seats (€178.50). Group tickets for ten or more people are available for just €6 per person in the standing area.

#OnThisDay. On March 18, 2023, the main stand of the Merck Stadium at Böllenfalltor was officially opened. On Tuesday (March 18), it celebrated its two-year anniversary. The ENTEGA VIP Lounge, consisting of the entire business and box sections, was used for the first time at the 2023 Saturday evening home game against 1. FC Kaiserlautern. This marked the completion of the renovation work on the new stadium, which had begun at the end of 2018 with the dismantling of the opposite stand. The debut was impressive: The result was a 2-0 home win for the Lilies. Since the renovation, the main stand has 2,982 seats, including 1,294 in the business section and boxes.

The SV Darmstadt 98 U17 team had to play two very difficult games last week. The B-Juniors played a 2-2 draw against SV Gonsenheim, the leaders of the DFB Youth League. The Lilies took the lead with an early goal in the 11th minute, but Gonsenheim countered shortly before halftime. Shortly before the end of the game, the Lilies scored what appeared to be the winner, making it 2-1, but the home team were awarded a penalty in stoppage time, which they converted. Meanwhile, a goalless draw at home against third-placed SpVgg Unterhaching secured another point. The two draws saw the Darmstadt U17 team slip to fifth place in the main round of the DFB Youth League. Darmstadt’s next match is on Saturday (March 22nd, 11:00am), away to second-placed SSV Ulm.

The U19 team was able to recover last week and will now play a test match against SG Bornheim/GW Ffm on Thursday (20.03/8pm) before returning to action at home against FC Augsburg in the DFB Youth League on Saturday (22.03/11am).

The SV 98 fan base is slowly getting into gear after the winter break: The Lilies‘ „second team“ won 2-1 away at FC Ober-Ramstadt II. The home team made it 1-0 in the 54th minute. Darmstadt, however, didn’t let this discourage them and promptly responded in the 58th minute: 1-1. It looked like the score would be shared, but our fan base didn’t give up and scored the late winner in the 90th minute to make it 2-1. With the win, the Lilies climbed to third place in the District League C. The next game is on Sunday (March 23rd, 3pm) at home against SV Weiterstadt II.

You can find an overview of the upcoming matches of the Lilien fan team here:

Our new winter signing Jean-Paul Boëtius celebrates his 31st birthday on Saturday (March 22). The Dutchman began his career at Feyenord Rotterdam. After loans to Genk and Basel, he eventually landed in Germany with Mainz 05 and later with Hertha BSC. He has a total of 143 Bundesliga appearances to his name, including twelve goals and 20 assists. Boëtius has already made six appearances in the 2. Bundesliga since signing with SV 98. We look forward to hopefully seeing many more games from you and wish you a happy birthday, Djanga!