1. FC Saarbrücken TT have won their first three Bundesliga matches and are heading to Nuremberg for the newly created Cup Grand Opening as the defending champions. The triple winners will need to win two knockout matches in two days to secure a ticket to the Final4 – with third-division team TTC immoXone Bietigheim-Bissingen awaiting first on Saturday.
Three matches, three wins: 1. FC Saarbrücken Tischtennis have had a perfect start to the new Tischtennis-Bundesliga season. After victories over Borussia Dortmund and Post SV Mühlhausen, the Saarland team also defeated TTC OE Clarity Telefonie-Systeme Bad Homburg on Wednesday. However, this 3:1 was more than just the next step in what has been an unbroken winning streak thus far. Hugo Calderano competed for FCS for the first time ever – and the Brazilian’s performance demonstrated why Saarbrücken view him as key to their reshaped team.
The evening in Bad Homburg initially began with a setback for the away team. Danilo Faso lost 1:3 to Csaba Andras, putting Saarbrücken under pressure for the first time in this tie. However, Calderano responded with a clear 3:0 against Benno Oehme then Alvaro Robles also defeated Ivor Ban without dropping a set. Falling behind early on thus became a 2:1 lead. It then came down to Calderano, who had a significantly more difficult task in his second singles match. The world number seven went two sets down against Andras but managed to turn the match around to secure the 3:1 away win.
‘I am very happy. I think I played very well today’, Calderano said after his first appearance in the Saarbrücken strip. The Brazilian was realistic about the fact that his debut contained a confident first singles match followed by an endurance test of a second: ‘Those two matches were not easy. Benno has beaten top players and Csaba played extremely well.’ This made it a perfect debut for FCS. Calderano won both of his singles matches in his return to the TTBL, Robles contributed the third point – and after three days of play, Saarbrücken not only have a full haul of points, but also saw their high-profile new signing make his mark for the first time.
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Those two matches were not easy. Benno has beaten top players and Csaba played extremely well.
– Hugo Calderano
Calderano knows the Bundesliga well. He spent nine seasons playing for TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen, winning the double twice. Now he is Saarbrücken’s top-class successor to Fan Zhendong, who has moved to Borussia Düsseldorf. How reliable these first impressions of the new season are remains to be seen. Nevertheless, FCS have got off to a successful start: three matches, three wins, and one Calderano, who has immediately stepped up in sporting terms.
However, the team do not have much time to enjoy this start. At the weekend, the competition is changing, and with it the nature of the challenges at hand. On Saturday and Sunday, the Kia Metropol Arena in Nuremberg is playing host to the brand-new Leapmotor Cup Grand Opening. For the first time ever, the Tischtennis Bundesliga is combining the German table tennis cup last sixteen and quarter-finals in one venue and across one weekend. Rather than the previous format of matches spread across multiple weeks, there will be twelve fixtures in two days – leaving four teams with a ticket to the Liebherr Cup Final4 in the winter.
The field consists of twelve TTBL clubs and four teams who qualified in the preliminary rounds. Saturday will see the eight last-sixteen matches. They will be played in two sessions at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., across four tables at once. The eight winners will then return to the arena on Sunday for the quarter-finals, which will have two sessions with two matches each. The teams that win both knockout matches during the weekend will feature in the Final4.
This means that the Cup winner will not be decided in Nuremberg. However, all 16 teams will be competing for the opportunity to battle it out for the first title of the season in the winter. The knockout format does not allow for a bad day. The quarter-finalists will also need to recover quickly and adapt to an opponent whose identity they will not know until the Saturday. There is no extended break after the last-sixteen matches, with the next round instead immediately around the corner.
1. FC Saarbrücken are competing in the afternoon session at 3 p.m. on Saturday. On paper, the situation is clear. Third-division team TTC immoXone Bietigheim-Bissingen are up against the defending champions, Champions League winners and reigning triple champions. This makes Saarbrücken the clear favourite – although that should inspire particular caution when it comes to the Cup. This match is being viewed as an exceptional opportunity in Bietigheim-Bissingen. ‘It is a true David versus Goliath situation’, said Matthias Grünenwald, chairman of the Swabian club. He particularly hopes that Saarbrücken bring their best lineup and his team have an opportunity to test their mettle against some top stars. For the third-division team, the last-sixteen is already a major stage; FCS, on the other hand, are heading to Nuremberg to pave the way for defending their title.
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It is a true David versus Goliath situation.
– Matthias Grünenwald
Patrick Franziska accepted their position as favourites but warned against assuming that reaching the quarter-finals is a mere formality. The captain recalled last year’s Cup, when his team only beat Union Velbert in the final doubles. ‘We saw in Velbert how quickly things can change’, Franziska said. Three singles matches are all it takes to cause an upset – one false start could bring the entire Cup season to an end.
Nevertheless, Saarbrücken‘s aim is clear. FCS won the Cup in 2012, 2022 and 2026 and are seeking to lift the trophy for the fourth time. Franziska emphasised that this competition represents the shortest route to a title. Given this, they will be throwing everything at it. But before any other title considerations, two fixtures await in Nuremberg. If Saarbrücken make it through the last sixteen, the quarter-final awaits a day later.
Their potential opponents will be determined whilst Saarbrücken are playing. The 2020 Cup winners ASC Grünwettersbach are up against Post SV Mühlhausen. ASC lost both their encounters in the last Bundesliga season, but Mühlhausen’s Steffen Mengel noted that matches between these two clubs are ‘actually always fifty-fifty’. Grünwettersbach’s coach Kilian Ort said: ‘That will be difficult enough. If we win the match, I look forward to preparing for our quarter-final opponent.’
Saarbrücken have already played and beaten Mühlhausen in this new Bundesliga season. Grünwettersbach, on the other hand, demonstrated in 2020 that an underdog can win the Cup. FCS will find out on Saturday which duel they might face. There will be little time to prepare – one of the new challenges of the Grand Opening event.
The Grand Opening also offers some exciting matches not involving Saarbrücken. Borussia Düsseldorf will face TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen on Saturday morning. This guarantees that one big name will be out by the quarter-finals. Düsseldorf’s Dang Qiu described why the Cup is difficult to predict. ‘The best teams don’t always win as you would expect them to’, the world number eleven noted. Düsseldorf have missed out on the Final4 for two years in a row. ‘Of course, Ochsenhausen are an absolute firecracker and a difficult match to begin with’, Qiu said. The Chinese star also had no guarantees to offer: ‘Nothing is certain in sport – even with Fan Zhendong.’
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Nothing is certain in sport – even with Fan Zhendong.
– Dang Qiu
Ochsenhausen’s Iulian Chirita views their position as the underdogs as an opportunity. ‘There is less pressure on us and we can play with more freedom’, he said. He noted that a potential singles match against Fan Zhendong would be ‘exactly what any professional could hope for’. This attitude makes Ochsenhausen similar to Saarbrücken’s opponent from Bietigheim-Bissingen: the team that has less to lose can be emboldened by this very special setting.
TTBL’s premiere combines world stars, established Bundesliga teams, and qualifiers from lower divisions. Clear favourites stand alongside fixtures with no obvious hierarchy, and major title ambitions sit alongside hopes of a single match against a high-profile opponent. This creates a level of competition that German table tennis has rarely seen in this form.
Despite the new setting, Saarbrücken‘s task remains the same. The team need to take their good start in the league and transfer it over to a competition where their previous wins mean nothing once the first rally has begun. They have the confidence, and Calderano’s successful debut makes things even more positive. The last sixteen match against Bietigheim-Bissingen is a seemingly easy task but one that needs to be taken seriously: the third-division team can play without the pressure of a result, whilst the defending champions are expected to win. Given this, Franziska’s memory of Velbert serves as more than just the usual warning due to the favourites. By Sunday evening, it will have been decided whether FCS can compete for the first title of the season once again at the Final4. It will take them two wins to get there. The first should be a must-win, whilst the second is likely to be a much more open battle. After a perfect start to the league, Nuremberg marks the next test for Saarbrücken – at a premiere that will bring German table tennis together under one roof for the weekend.
