The Lillies of the Bundesliga, SV Darmstadt 98

As per German professional footballing custom of adding the year of a club's formation to its name, SV Darmstadt 98 carry their age with them everywhere. However, in this case, it doesn't refer to 1998; this venerable old football club has been in existence since 1898! The team is known as The Lillies and has traditionally played its home games at Merck-Stadion am Böllenfalltor. You can buy or sell SV Darmstadt 98 tickets on StubHub for any of their games, home or away.

Plucky local heroes of German football

When SV Darmstadt 98 was originally formed, it was known as FC Olympia Darmstadt. It adopted its modern name in the early twentieth century when it combined with Darmstädter Sport Club 1905. The team were virtually permanent residents of the lower leagues for many decades from the very beginning of their existence, until 1973, when they won a south regional league championship and qualified for the promotion play-off for the professional Bundesliga. Unfortunately, it was not to be, and they were unsympathetically bundled out by Rot-Weiss Essen. They did rise to the Bundesliga a few years later, and once again in the early 1980s, but most of their time since has been spent in the amateur leagues of German football. They earned a third shot at the higher league in the late 1980s, but their hopes were dashed by SV Waldhof Mannheim. These achievements caused a huge surge in the club's fan base, and SV Darmstadt 98 tickets became more sought after in a city that has always played second fiddle to bigger clubs in the region.

Bundesliga promotion finally arrives

A revival of sorts occurred in 2011 when they again won the Regionalliga Süd and gained themselves promotion to the Bundesliga third division. They did well, and it wasn't long before they found themselves in the second division, after beating Arminia Bielefeld in 2014. Things were about to get even better for SV Darmstadt 98. After a nondescript first year in the division, they placed third the following year, earning themselves a first division playoff match against FC St. Pauli. This was the first time that fans of the club were able to watch their team play against the cream of the crop for over 30 years. That first division run came to an end in 2016, courtesy of a late season defeat to Bayern Munich, and they were once again relegated to the second division. They're an exciting team to watch and wear the mantle of plucky underdogs with a lot of pride, so get yourself some SV Darmstadt 98 tickets on StubHub and discover the lesser-known realms of the German game.