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Portsmouth ready for big Darmstadt backing in pre-season show of force Pompey fans are set to travel to the Merck-Stadion am Böllenfalltor in numbers, ahead of a whopping 9,000 fans going to West Ham United in the Carabao Cup next week. Pompey are set to be backed by 1,500 travelling fans as they go to Germany this weekend. The Blues will have a healthy overseas following for the pre-season warm-up at SV Darmstadt 98 this Saturday, in their latest pre-season show of force. The 2. Bundesliga outfit have confirmed the number of away followers they are anticipating welcoming to the Merck-Stadion am Böllenfalltor, as fans travel to the Hesse region. And Darmstadt are set to roll out the welcome mat for the occasion, as they anticipate Pompey creating a ‘special atmosphere’ for the game. It will be Pompey’s first game abroad since the summer of 2023, when they faced Gibraltar side Europa FC at Estadio Jose Burgos De Quintana in Malaga, Spain. There’s clearly an appetite to sample what the German ‘city of science’ has to offer, following on from Coventry City’s trip to meet the Lillies two years ago. The Sky Blues took around 500 fans to the game as they ran out 2-0 winners, with their followers offering rave reviews of their experiences when Pompey’s game was announced last month. Darmstadt are planning to lay on a ‘a host of stalls, interactive activities and attractions for fans of all ages’ around the ground ahead of the 2pm kick-off. Florian Kohfeldt’s men have been picking up wins in pre-season, with whopping early successes over Arheilgen (12-0) and Fehlheim (8-0). They were followed with a 5-1 victory against FC 08 Homburg, 4-1 win at Astoria Waldorf and 7-2 romp at third-tier side SG. The game for John Mousinho’s men will provide their final public workout ahead of the EFL season getting underway at West Ham on August 8. And Pompey will travel to the capital with a whopping 9,000 supporters behind them, as they prepare to descend on the east of the capital en masse for their first visit to the London Stadium. The Blues were backed by a 8,800-strong show of force, as they went down to a narrow 1-0 loss to Spurs in the FA Cup back in January 2023. Over 40,000 supporters marched on Wembley for the Checkatrade Trophy win over Sunderland in March 2019, as fans snapped up their full allocation. The 85,021 present was a record for the competition.