Bundesliga 2 Side Darmstadt 98 Set To Increase Footprint In Texas

Bundesliga 2 side SV Darmstadt 98 will become the latest club looking to increase its footprint in the United States. In March 2026, Die Lillien will play a friendly match against cooperation partner San Antonio FC. The second division side will be in Texas from Mar. 22 to 28, with the friendly match against the USL Championship side taking place on Mar. 25.

The visit will fall during the March international break and just a few months before the 2026 World Cup, which will take place in Mexico, Canada, and the United States. While Darmstadt and San Antonio have been sister cities since 2017, the cooperation agreement between the two clubs has been in place since July 2024.

The two cities have used the relationship to collaborate on government, transit, business, music, climate resilience, academic and professional exchange, and more. Now, both Darmstadt 98 and San Antonio FC, together with the ownership group Spurs Sports & Entertainment, also want to deepen their relationship.

“For us, this was an opportunity where we could both learn but also give back,” Darmstadt 98 managing director Martin Kowalewski said in an exclusive interview. “While San Antonio FC can learn from us, we can take plenty from a sports and media company like Spurs Sports & Entertainment.”

Kowalewski knows the US market well. In 1997, the now 55-year-old played for Orlando Sundogs in the A-League. The A-League would eventually become the USL Championship, which San Antonio now plays in.

The contacts and market knowledge that Kowalewski had built up during his active career as a soccer player and later in his professional career in sports marketing ultimately helped Darmstadt 98 to enter into a partnership with San Antonio FC.

Indeed, while San Antonio FC plays in the very ambitious USL Championship, America’s second division is still catching up with Major League Soccer. In that regard, Darmstadt, which played in the Bundesliga from 2015 to 2017 and once again from 2023 to 2024, is the bigger fish in the relationship.

Spurs Sports & Entertainment, however, also owns the National Basketball Association franchise, the San Antonio Spurs, the NBA G League team, the Austin Spurs, and the 18,354-seat Frost Bank Center in San Antonio. Forbes currently evaluates the franchise at $4.4 billion.

“Spurs are supporting the entire effort,” Kowalewski said. “It offers us an interesting insight into one of the biggest media markets on the planet. We want to learn from the Spurs, whether it’s how they handle media, merchandise, and commercialization. It is something that will enrich us.”

It isn’t, however, a one-way street. “Without a doubt, they too want to learn from us,” Kowalewski said. “We have many things to offer from a soccer-specific side. We consider a knowledge transfer. We want to take things away from a big franchise like the Spurs, and they want to learn about soccer-specific aspects.”

This makes sense. After all, San Antonio FC is an ambitious club, playing in the United Soccer League pyramid that is planning to establish a new first division that will run parallel to Major League Soccer by 2028. “They are very ambitious, which was important to us,” Kowalewski said.

What is the goal of the cooperation? “From my managing director’s perspective, the goal is also to achieve economic success and attract sponsors for this project,” Kowalewski said. Our club has the ambition to challenge the top 20 clubs in Germany, and this will help.”

It isn’t just about money either. “We also want to help the league grow abroad, Kowalewski said. Darmstadt received money from the Deutsche Fußball Liga (DFL), the governing body of the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2. The DFL reserves a pot of money for clubs that want to travel abroad to increase the league’s profile in places like the United States.

“We see it as a duty to help strengthen the DFL’s profile abroad,” Kowalewski said. “This is in particular true for a place like the United States ahead of a crucial World Cup.” For Darmstadt, it isn’t just a short-term thing either. “We have to stay on the ball,” Kowalewski added.

With that in mind, the club has also launched several off-field activities in Germany and the United States. One of them is “Im Zeichen der Lillie,” an initiative launched by Darmstadt 98 and club sponsors to address various social issues.

Another example is the creation of a cooperation club in Northern Texas: SVD Beaumont Texas. The club was created as a grassroots project and serves as an example of sustainable youth development programs and of football’s role as a social model.

The goals of the cooperation with SVD Beaumont are youth development, creating a platform where young people can develop their athletic and personal potential, and improving their social and professional opportunities. “We want to give back to disadvantaged communities,” Kowalewski said about “Im Zeichen der Lillie” and SVD Beaumont Texas.

At the forefront remains the partnership with San Antonio FC and Spurs Entertainment, however. After all, working together with such a prestigious sports organization generates headlines. As outlined, it is also the aspect from which Darmstadt hopes to learn the most.

There is, however, also another element that can’t be ignored. “The talent level in the USL Championship is very high,” Kowalewski said. At this point, Kowalewski mentions Paderborn’s Santiago Castañeda. Castañeda made the jump from the USL Championship side Tampa Bay Rowdies to MSV Duisburg before joining Paderborn and is now considered one of the brightest talents in the German second division.

“It isn’t our number one priority,” Kowalewski said. “But they have a very big talent pool.”

That is without a doubt true. The USL Championship has done an excellent job of developing talent and selling players abroad. And even though it isn’t the number one priority, having an American player on the roster would certainly help Darmstadt’s partnership with San Antonio FC.