The Darmstadt 98 Chronicle
Squad10 Aug 2026
Luca Sirch gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Luca Sirch has just signed for Darmstadt 98, and for once the answer mattered.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Darmstadt 98 make their move for Davie Selke
$4.6M on the table at Basaksehir. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Market10 Aug 2026
Darmstadt 98 turn down Nürnberg for Paul Will
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Darmstadt 98
Hiroki Akiyama and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Luca Sirch falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
VfL Wolfsburg tell Darmstadt 98: Elvis Rexhbeçaj is not for sale
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market10 Aug 2026
Anton Lehmann steps up from the Darmstadt 98 academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Anton Lehmann has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
Darmstadt 98 promote Andreas Krüger from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Andreas Krüger has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
One of our own: Jürgen Schuster joins the Darmstadt 98 first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jürgen Schuster is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
- Squad Darmstadt 98 lose Niklas Schmidt
- The dugout Paul Will knocks on the manager's door