Darmstadt 98 coach Florian Kohfeldt, Digi Mart USA News: Darmstadt 98 is responding to its sporting crisis with a joint statement from the club’s presidium, management and head coach, expressing mutual confidence. The message suggests that the team will continue on its current path, though with changes in approach, according to the club’s leadership.
The crisis at SV Darmstadt 98 has united the club’s most important leaders. The Hesse-based second-division club, which has fallen from promotion contender to relegation candidate within months, issued the statement on Monday, quoting President Markus Pfitzner, sporting director Paul Fernie and coach Florian Kohfeldt.
According to the statement, the club faces an uncomfortable situation that no one is ignoring, and a way out can only be found together. Pfitzner said the club stands for continuity but that everyone is fully aware of the seriousness of the situation.
He added that the sporting situation has been comprehensively analyzed and reviewed.
Fernie held detailed talks with Kohfeldt “in complete openness,” as he put it, and then reported back to the full presidium. Immediately after Saturday’s defeat in Nuremberg, the sporting director had avoided a clear public commitment to the coach, which had fueled speculation.
The club now aims to end those discussions.
Kohfeldt described the talks as a sign of strength and a principled approach. “Of course, no one wishes for these kinds of conversations.
At the same time, they are an absolute sign of strength and an attitude for me,” he said in the statement. He added: “I feel the trust of the entire club.”
Earlier reports had suggested that the coach and sporting director did not always agree on the quality of individual players in the current squad. Fernie responded that both men share considerable dissatisfaction with the team’s league position, while also sharing confidence in the squad’s potential, which must be fully realized.
Fernie said he remains convinced of Kohfeldt’s meticulous work. The immediate goal is to leave the relegation zone behind as quickly as possible after the second-division break.
Kohfeldt had previously said after the Nuremberg defeat: “We will have nothing to do with relegation at the end of the season if we continue like this.”
