- 1 Elversberg vs Darmstadt: eighth in the Bundesliga against the bottom of the 2. Bundesliga
- 2 SV Elversberg: two wins in six since the 4-3 at Gladbach, and three players out or doubtful
- 3 Darmstadt 98: three away games, three defeats, 12 goals conceded
- 4 Free Football Prediction: Elversberg vs Darmstadt
- 5 About our free predictions
- 6 No commitment from us
- 7 Information changes
- 8 Your responsibility
- 9 Responsible gambling
- 10 Legal age
- 11 About visuals
Elversberg vs Darmstadt: eighth in the Bundesliga against the bottom of the 2. Bundesliga
Elversberg are eighth in the Bundesliga in the first top-flight season in the club’s history. Darmstadt, the side they shared the 2. Bundesliga with last season, are bottom of it, level on points with the five teams directly above them and three points off the top half. On Tuesday 27 October the two meet in the second round of the DFB-Pokal at the Ursapharm-Arena an der Kaiserlinde, with kick-off at 19:45 UK time.
The table tells only part of it, because the head-to-head record has been leaning Elversberg’s way for a while. They’re unbeaten in their last four competitive meetings with Darmstadt, with two wins and two draws: 4-0 at home in August 2024, 3-0 away in February 2025, then 0-0 at home last November and a 3-3 in Darmstadt in April.
Darmstadt’s last competitive win over Elversberg came in the third division, a 3-0 in December 2013. Across 20 meetings overall, Elversberg have eight wins, Darmstadt six, and six have been drawn.
Both reached this round with first-round away wins in August. Elversberg won 3-1 at Duisburg, Darmstadt 2-1 at Carl Zeiss Jena, and the winner here goes into the last 16 with extra time and penalties available if it’s level after 90 minutes.
Bookmakers have Elversberg between 1.40 and 1.44 to win in normal time, the draw at around 4.80 and Darmstadt between 6.00 and 7.00. That price is too short to back on its own, so the question this preview tries to answer is by how much the home side should win.
SV Elversberg: two wins in six since the 4-3 at Gladbach, and three players out or doubtful 
Elversberg’s last six games have swung between extremes. They won 4-3 at Borussia Monchengladbach, lost 2-1 at home to Bayern Munich, drew 0-0 at Schalke, lost 1-0 at Union Berlin, beat Augsburg 4-3 at home, and then lost 4-0 at RB Leipzig on Saturday.
Their home results carry the most weight for Tuesday. Vincent Wagner’s side have scored four against Augsburg and pushed Bayern to a one-goal margin at the Kaiserlinde, and their attack has produced eight goals in the two wins of that six-game run.
The defeat in Leipzig cost them Jan Gyamerah, who was hurt during the game and is expected to miss a spell, and Wagner is also without Tom Zimmerschied, who has an ankle problem. Noah Darvich could miss a second game in a row.
Those absences thin out Wagner’s options, but the probable side still looks strong for this level: Kristof in goal, a back four of Sirch, Pinckert, Rohr and Gunther, Keidel and Poreba in midfield, and Petkov, Onyeka and Campbell supporting Futkeu.
The 4-0 in Leipzig is the result that worries me least. It came against a Champions League side away from home, and Elversberg have scored five goals in their last two games at the Kaiserlinde.
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Darmstadt 98: three away games, three defeats, 12 goals conceded 
Darmstadt have lost their last three away games by a combined 12-1. They went down 3-0 at Kaiserslautern, 5-1 at Wolfsburg and 4-0 at Karlsruher SC, and that record on the road is the main reason Florian Kohfeldt’s side are bottom of the 2. Bundesliga.
Their home form has kept them in touch. Darmstadt beat Arminia Bielefeld 2-1 and Energie Cottbus 3-1 in that same stretch, and their latest league game ended 0-0 against St. Pauli. Two wins, two draws and five defeats from nine league games add up to eight points.
Kohfeldt also travels with a short squad: Merveille Papela, Fabian Nurnberger and Luca Marseiler are all out, while Yosuke Furukawa and Carlo Sickinger are doubtful. That’s three players missing from a side that has conceded 12 goals in its last three away games.
The expected setup is a 4-4-2 with Schuhen in goal, Mikelbrencis, Pfeiffer, Luhrs and Petretta across the back, Verkooijen, Klefisch, Akiyama and Weisshaupt in midfield, and Lee and Smit up front.
The 3-3 in Darmstadt in April shows they can trouble Elversberg, but that was at home and against a second-tier version of this opponent. Since then Elversberg have been promoted and Darmstadt have gone backwards, and their away numbers suggest a long evening in Saarland.
Probable lineup SV Elversberg: Kristof; Sirch, Pinckert, Rohr, Gunther; Keidel, Poreba; Petkov, Onyeka, Campbell; Futkeu
Probable lineup Darmstadt 98: Schuhen; Mikelbrencis, Pfeiffer, Luhrs, Petretta; Verkooijen, Klefisch, Akiyama, Weisshaupt; Lee, Smit
Free Football Prediction: Elversberg vs Darmstadt
Our prediction: Elversberg to win by two or more goals (handicap -1.5)
The straight home win at 1.40 to 1.44 is below the price worth taking, so the pick moves to the margin. Darmstadt have lost their last three away games by three, four and three goals, and they travel without three players and with two more in doubt. Their goal difference across those three trips is minus 11, worse than any margin the handicap asks for.
Elversberg put four past Augsburg at the Kaiserlinde, and they’ve beaten Darmstadt 4-0 and 3-0 in two of the last four meetings. Gyamerah and Zimmerschied are missing, but Futkeu, Petkov and Campbell are all expected to start.
A goalless draw last November is the result that argues against a margin, and a cup tie can tighten if the first goal is slow to come. I’d still expect Elversberg’s attack to find two goals more than a bottom-of-the-table defence, and the -1.5 handicap is the pick.
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