BAt SV Darmstadt 98 they make their own calculations overall. For club president Rüdiger Fritsch, having reached fourth place in the second division last season meant winning the “actual second division championship” – because ahead of the “lilies” in the table were the big clubs Schalke (champions), Werder Bremen and HSV would have stood. However, the southern Hesse have also become a heavyweight in the league: Fourth, seventh and fifth place in the last three rounds of the game testify to the enormous upswing of the traditional club, which knows how to do a lot with comparatively modest financial means year after year. With a clever transfer policy and plenty of expertise in the selection of coaches. In Darmstadt, tables are therefore now being thought of in other dimensions.
Only: The “Lilies” cannot be made into a promotion candidate in the new season, which begins for them this Saturday (1 p.m.) with an away game against Jahn Regensburg. “We’re staying like last year: ambitious. We want to present ourselves in such a way that it’s difficult to beat us,” says coach Torsten Lieberknecht, without going into specifics. To his delight, the environment in Darmstadt is also playing along, which the football coach certifies as a “healthy, realistic assessment”. And if someone expresses expectations that are far too high for Lieberknecht, the down-to-earth trainer quickly manages to “calm down” the supporter. Strength lies in calm – that should also be the motto at Böllenfalltor in the future, where they were able to keep the majority of the squad. Of the important players, southern Hesse “only” lost striker Luca Pfeiffer (17 goals) and winger Tim Skarke (to Union Berlin).
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