SV Darmstadt 98


Sportverein Darmstadt 1898 e.V. is a German football club based in Darmstadt, Hesse. The club was founded on 22 May 1898 as FC Olympia Darmstadt. Early in 1919, the association was briefly known as Rasen-Sportverein Olympia before merging with Darmstädter Sport Club 1905 on 11 November that year to become Sportverein Darmstadt 98. Merger partner SC was the product of a 1905 union between Viktoria 1900 Darmstadt and Germania 1903 Darmstadt. The footballers are today part of a sports club which also offers its approximately 5,500 members athletics, basketball, cheerleading, hiking, judo, and table tennis.
The football department competed in the Bundesliga for the 2015–16 and 2016–17 seasons after a 33-year run in lower leagues.

History

Early history

Olympia played as a lower table side in the Westkreisliga between 1909 and 1913. In the late 20s and early 30s the club played as SV Darmstadt in the Kreisliga Odenwald and Bezirksliga Main-Hessen, Gruppe Hesse, but struggled to stay in top flight competition. In 1933, German football was reorganized under the Third Reich into sixteen premier divisions known as Gauligen. Darmstadt was not able to break into upper league play until 1941 when they joined the Gauliga Hessen-Nassau, Gruppe 2. Their stay was short-lived and they were relegated after their second season of play at that level. By 1944–45 the division had collapsed in the face of the advance of Allied armies into Germany.
Darmstadt enjoyed a long run as a second division team through the 50s and then again from the time of the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963 on into the 70s. However, they were never better than a lower to mid-table side until they finally managed a breakthrough in 1973 with a Regionalliga Süd championship and participation in the promotion rounds for the Bundesliga where they finished a distant second to Rot-Weiss Essen.

From the Bundesliga to insolvency

A side with limited resources, Darmstadt eventually managed two seasons in the Bundesliga. They narrowly missed a third turn in the top league in 1988 when they lost in a lengthy relegation-promotion play-off to Waldhof Mannheim in extra time of the third match between the two clubs. In the following years Darmstadt 98 escaped relegation to the Amateur Oberliga Hessen in 1991 when Essen was refused a 2. Bundesliga licence for financial reasons. However, by 1997, SV had themselves become victims of financial mismanagement, slipping to the third and fourth divisions.
The team's most recent successes include wins in the Hessen Pokal in 1999, 2001, 2006, 2007 and 2008 as well as three consecutive Possmann-Hessen Cup wins from 2000 to 2002. In the DFB-Pokal, Darmstadt advanced as far as the third round in 1989 and 2001, and to the quarter-finals in 1986. In 2004, the club claimed the Oberliga Hessen championship under manager and former player Bruno Labbadia and were promoted to the Regionalliga Süd.
Financial problems limited their options and they were relegated to the Oberliga Hessen at the end of the 2006–07 season. The club's stated aim was to reach the new 3. Liga within five years. However, on 6 March 2008 Darmstadt entered insolvency proceedings with debts of around €1.1 million making the future of the club uncertain. After the 2007–08 Oberliga Hessen Championship, Darmstadt played in the Regionalliga Süd. Darmstadt took various measures to avert bankruptcy, for example a friendly benefit match against Bayern Munich, donations etc. In addition, the former management of the club made vital financial contributions which secured the club's future.

Rise to the Bundesliga

After winning the 2010–11 Regionalliga Süd in dramatic fashion, Darmstadt were promoted to the 3. Liga. In 2012, Dirk Schuster was appointed as head coach, and he signed Darmstadt's future captain, Aytaç Sulu. In the 2012–13 season, the club was initially relegated but their fiercest rivals Kickers Offenbach were refused a 3. Liga licence due to going into administration and were relegated to the Regionalliga instead. Darmstadt 98 took Offenbach's place.
In 2013–14, having finished third in league and thus gaining entry into the promotion-relegation play-offs, Darmstadt defeated Arminia Bielefeld in the second leg through away goals after losing 1–3 in the first leg at home to secure promotion to 2. Bundesliga for the first time in 21 years in dramatic circumstances.
In the following 2. Bundesliga season, Darmstadt secured the second-place position in the league and therefore promotion to the Bundesliga after a 33-year absence. In their final league match, against FC St. Pauli, the club won 1–0 at home through a 70th minute free-kick by Tobias Kempe. This was the second consecutive promotion for the team, led again by coach Schuster and captain Sulu.
Darmstadt reached the Round of 16 of the 2015–16 DFB Pokal. On 8 March 2016, long-term fan Jonathan Heimes died of cancer and posthumously, Darmstadt's stadium was renamed into "Jonathan-Heimes-Stadion am Böllenfalltor" for the 2016–17 season. Darmstadt finished the 2015–16 season in 14th position, mainly due to a positive away record.
Coach Dirk Schuster announced his decision to join FC Augsburg, whereas Norbert Meier was appointed as head coach for the 2016–17 season. After being defeated in the second round of the 2016–17 DFB Pokal and only scoring 8 points in 12 games, Maier was sacked on 5 December 2016. On 27 December 2016, former Bundesliga player and Werder Bremen assistant manager Torsten Frings was presented as new head coach. However, the team was incapable of securing the next season in the Bundesliga after a 0–1 defeat to Bayern Munich in the 32nd matchday of the season, and was relegated to the 2. Bundesliga.
After a poor start to the 2017/18-second Bundesliga season, Torsten Frings was removed from his position and on 11 December 2017 the vacant manager's position was again filled by Dirk Schuster who returns to the Darmstadt club for his second spell as manager.

Honours

The club's honours:

League

The recent season-by-season performance of the club:
SeasonDivisionTierPosition
1963–64Amateurliga HessenIII1st ↑
1964–65Regionalliga SüdII14th
1965–66Regionalliga SüdII13th
1966–67Regionalliga SüdII14th
1967–68Regionalliga SüdII14th
1968–69Regionalliga SüdII8th
1969–70Regionalliga SüdII18th ↓
1970–71HessenligaIII1st ↑
1971–72Regionalliga SüdII7th
1972–73Regionalliga SüdII1st
1973–74Regionalliga SüdII4th
1974–752. Bundesliga SüdII10th
1975–762. Bundesliga SüdII7th
1976–772. Bundesliga SüdII6th
1977–782. Bundesliga SüdII1st ↑
1978–79BundesligaI18th ↓
1979–802. Bundesliga SüdII4th
1980–812. Bundesliga SüdII1st ↑
1981–82BundesligaI17th ↓
1982–832. BundesligaII7th
1983–842. BundesligaII12th
1984–852. BundesligaII15th
1985–862. BundesligaII10th
1986–872. BundesligaII4th
1987–882. BundesligaII3rd
1988–892. BundesligaII11th
1989–902. BundesligaII16th
1990–912. BundesligaII17th
1991–922. Bundesliga SüdII8th
1992–932. BundesligaII24th ↓
1993–94Oberliga HessenIII9th
1994–95Regionalliga SüdIII11th
1995–96Regionalliga SüdIII15th
1996–97Regionalliga SüdIII13th
1997–98Regionalliga SüdIII16th ↓
1998–99Oberliga HessenIV1st
1999–00Regionalliga SüdIII9th
2000–01Regionalliga SüdIII5th
2001–02Regionalliga SüdIII14th
2002–03Regionalliga SüdIII17th ↓
2003–04Oberliga HessenIV1st ↑
2004–05Regionalliga SüdIII5th
2005–06Regionalliga SüdIII5th
2006–07Regionalliga SüdIII16th ↓
2007–08Oberliga HessenIV1st ↑
2008–09Regionalliga SüdIII15th
2009–10Regionalliga SüdIII15th
2010–11Regionalliga SüdIII1st ↑
2011–123. LigaIII14th
2012–133. LigaIII18th
2013–143. LigaIII3rd ↑
2014–152. BundesligaII2nd ↑
2015–16BundesligaI14th
2016–17BundesligaI18th ↓
2017–182. BundesligaII10th
2018–192. BundesligaII10th
2019–202. BundesligaII5th
2020–212. BundesligaII

Current squad

On loan

Current technical staff

PositionName
Manager Dimitrios Grammozis
Assistant manager Iraklis Metaxas
Assistant manager Sven Thur
Goalkeeping coach Dimo Wache
Fitness coach Kai-Peter Schmitz
Head physiotherapist Dirk Schmitt
Club doctors Dr. med. Michael Weingart
Club doctors Dr. med. Thomas Saltzer
Club doctors Dr. med. Alexander Lösch
Team officials Helmut Koch
Team officials Utz Pfeiffer
Academy directors Björn Kopper
Academy directors Ramon Berndroth
Academy Chief Coach Ramon Berndroth
Academy Coordinator Tim Kuhl
Under-19s coaches Ramon Berndroth
Under-19s coaches Ali Sevim
Under-17s coach Patrick Kurt
Under-16s coach Carsten Neuberth

Former managers

The managers of the club:
StartEndManager
19681970 Heinz Lucas †
19711976 Udo Klug †
19781979 Lothar Buchmann
19791979 Klaus Schlappner
19791980 Jörg Berger
19811982 Werner Olk
19821983 Manfred Krafft
19831984 Timo Zahnleiter
19841984 Lothar Kleim
19851986 Udo Klug †
19861987 Eckhard Krautzun
19871988 Klaus Schlappner
19881989 Werner Olk
19891989 Eckhard Krautzun
19891990 Dieter Renner †
19901990 Uwe Klimaschefski
19901991 Jürgen Sparwasser
19941996 Gerhard Kleppinger
19961996 Max Reichenberger
19961998 Lothar Buchmann
19992000 Eckhard Krautzun
20002002 Michael Feichtenbeiner
20022003 Hans-Werner Moser
20032006 Bruno Labbadia
20062006 Gino Lettieri
20062009 Gerhard Kleppinger
20092010 Živojin Juškić
24 March 20102 September 2012 Kosta Runjaić
5 September 201217 December 2012 Jürgen Seeberger
20122016 Dirk Schuster
1 July 20165 December 2016 Norbert Meier
5 December 201627 December 2016 Ramon Berndroth
3 January 20179 December 2017 Torsten Frings
12 December 201718 February 2019 Dirk Schuster
24 February 201930 June 2020 Dimitrios Grammozis
24 February 2019present Markus Anfang