Saarbrücken seeking triple in Frankfurt
1. FC Saarbrücken TT are hoping to round off an exceptional season at the first final four tournament for the German table tennis championships. After their Cup win and Champions League triumph, first up in Frankfurt is a match against Werder Bremen – and the last ever appearance in the FCS jersey for Fan Zhendong and Darko Jorgic.
This weekend will be more than just a season finale for the Tischtennis-Bundesliga. When the German champion is crowned on Saturday and Sunday in the Süwag Energie ARENA, the league will be charting new territory. For the first time ever, the championship will be played as a ‘final four’ tournament, compressed into two days and packed into three matches. For 1. FC Saarbrücken TT, this new format is an opportunity to put a major, final national stamp on what has been a special season.
Saarbrücken are not merely one of the four participating teams heading to Frankfurt: FCS are arriving as the newly crowned Champions League winners, reigning Cup champions, and therefore a team with two of this season’s key titles already under their belt. All that is missing is the German Championships. A win in Frankfurt would mean the triple – the triad of European, national Cup and Bundesliga titles. Saarbrücken made themselves the favourites for all of this season’s titles by signing Fan Zhendong. This expectation could now reach a historic conclusion in Frankfurt.
The drama is already so high that there is no need to artificially inflate it any higher. Fan Zhendong, Olympic champion and a defining figure in global table tennis, will be playing for 1. FC Saarbrücken TT for the last time at the Liebherr TTBL Final4. His commitment has changed the league and altered how FCS is viewed. The Fan effect was already clear in the main round. More than 70,000 spectators watched the matches live, more than ever before. Now, the biggest name in the division will be seeking to cap his time in Saarbrücken with another title.
It is understandable that views of Saarbrücken focus so heavily on Fan Zhendong. However, that is not the whole picture. Alongside the Chinese Olympic gold medallist, the team boasts two other exceptional players in Mit Patrick Franziska and Darko Jorgic. Together they form the core of a team that have already won the Cup and Champions League this season and are now aiming for another title in Frankfurt. Team manager Nicolas Barrois emphasised this: ‘We are looking forward to a fantastic event in Frankfurt. We already have experience with final four events – and, above all, this experience has been very positive. We are therefore looking forward to our match against Bremen with excitement and confidence.’
We are looking forward to a fantastic event in Frankfurt. We already have experience with final four events – and, above all, this experience has been very positive. We are therefore looking forward to our match against Bremen with excitement and confidence.
Team manager Nicolas Barrois
Even more so than Fan Zhendong, the departure of Darko Jorgic is particularly monumental for Saarbrücken. Fan was the year’s big event, the global star who set the league alight. Jorgic, on the other hand, has a longer history. He has not simply won titles with Saarbrücken – here, he developed into a world-class player and the face of these successful years for FCS. Frankfurt will also mark his final appearance in the Saarbrücken jersey. This means that his legacy is no less meaningful – in fact it is more so in many ways: this is not a tale of a spectacular guest appearance, but rather one of development, connection and shaping things together.
This emotional situation must not shift focus. Franziska describes their current state as a combination of hunger and calm. ‘Since we have had many, many competitions this year as well as highlights, I don’t think it is difficult for us to motivate ourselves for the Final4 now, especially after we have already won two titles. Given this, we are of course very excited about the Final4, but also relatively relaxed. No-one needs to worry about our motivation disappearing.’ The captain also understands that Saarbrücken must not be dependent on Fan Zhendong: ‘If you can sign or play alongside Fan Zhendong, the club must at least, to a degree, set itself the goal of trying to win every title. On the other hand, we have seen that Fan is also only human and can lose matches, so it still takes an entire team.’
No-one needs to worry about our motivation disappearing.
Patrick Franziska
The first task is SV Werder Bremen. On Saturday at 5 p.m., the second semi-final will see Saarbrücken up against the Hanseatic team who sensationally secured second place in the table from the main round. Bremen have not reached Frankfurt by accident, but rather as one of the strongest teams from the main season. The club are arriving on a wave of confidence. Bremen have already demonstrated that they can beat Saarbrücken. The 3:2 scoreline on the Weser means that this semi-final will be more than just a mere formality.
Kirill Gerassimenko noted this explicitly before the tournament. ‘The match against Saarbrücken’, he said, ‘could also be our opportunity to show what we are capable of and that we can win against them.’ He rejected the idea of their just being the underdog: ‘To me, gaining a place in the TTBL Final4 came as no surprise, and we deserve to be considered a top team as, generally speaking, we can beat anyone.’ From Saarbrücken’s perspective, Bremen offer a dangerous combination: enough quality, experience and freedom to believe that they can do it again.
Franziska was similarly matter-of-fact about their opponent: ‘Bremen played fantastically well in the main season. We lost to them in Bremen, even with our top lineup. We have therefore been duly warned and are now just focusing on this semi-final.’ Werder’s coach Cristian Tamas had some clear thoughts on the balance of power: ‘Saarbrücken’s positions in the global rankings and in particular the quality of their players quite simply make them the favourites.’ Nevertheless, beating Saarbrücken once again would be ‘a repeat of a sensation’.
Saarbrücken’s positions in the global rankings and in particular the quality of their players quite simply make them the favourites.
Werder coach Cristian Tamas
This means that FCS will have to juggle two things at once: their own position as favourites and the reminder that Bremen have beaten them before. Marcelo Aguirre defeated Fan Zhendong in their Bremen home game, a result that still lives on as a core part of the Hanseatic team’s preparations. ‘Marcelo Aguirre was able to defeat Fan Zhendong at our home game’, Gerassimenko said. ‘And as the tables in Frankfurt will be the same as those at our home game, I think we will all be well-prepared for a duel with Fan.’ For Saarbrücken, this suggests that this semi-final will not come down to reputation alone.
This is why FCS’s position is such a delicate one. Saarbrücken are the favourites but are not invulnerable. The team won the Cup and the Champions League but only finished in fourth place in the main round of the TTBL. They lost 3:1 in Bergneustadt on the final match day. This fits the picture of what has been an exciting season: FCS have the highest chance of winning the title but will need to prove their mettle in a format that will punish anyone slow to get off the mark. A difficult start, a defeat in a key clash, or a doubles match tipping the wrong way could be all it takes to put an entire season in a different light.
Barrois understands this balance between respect and aspirations. ‘Bremen are a strong team. I am expecting a tight match, but I think that we are the slight favourites’, he said. This is a fitting description of the situation. Saarbrücken will need to take Bremen seriously but must not play down their own position. Any team that has won the Champions League and the Cup and that is bringing Fan Zhendong, Franziska and Jorgic cannot really claim to be a mere challenger. FCS are being challenged by others. The question is whether they can take this position and turn it into the calm and precision that finals require.
This tournament provides the perfect setting. Ticket sales quickly showed that the new format was popular. Around 2,000 tickets were sold in just two weeks and the league is expecting thousands of fans to come to Frankfurt. For two days, the Süwag Energie ARENA will become a hub of German table tennis. The first semi-final will be on Saturday at 1 p.m. between Borussia Düsseldorf and TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt, followed at 5 p.m. by Bremen versus Saarbrücken. The two winners will compete for the championship on Sunday at 1 p.m. For Saarbrücken, this means first Bremen, then another big step if they win.
Their potential opponents in the final are an exciting prospect. Borussia Düsseldorf, as the winners in the main round, opted for Bergneustadt. ‘We chose Bergneustadt because I think they suit us better’, Düsseldorf’s coach Danny Heister said. Düsseldorf are the national benchmark, Bergneustadt the awkward challenger. ‘We may be the underdog on paper’, coach Frederik Duda said, ‘but my team have proven several times this season that they can beat any opponent. We are up to any challenge and are heading to the Final4 with the clear aim of winning it.’
This also represents a responsibility for FCS. The club have learned how to handle final four tournaments, international finals and title matches. This experience could help when the first rally begins on Saturday and the advance chatter becomes irrelevant. At this point, opportunity for the triple becomes just a sequence of tasks: lineup, match plan, nerves, doubles, pressure points. Big names create expectations but cannot win matches all on their own.
The fact that this is Fan Zhendong’s last appearance in a Saarbrücken jersey makes the whole thing even more emotional. His departure should not just be a side note, but ideally the headline: the Chinese Olympic champion leading FCS out onto the Frankfurt stage one more time to lift the championship trophy after their Cup and Champions League victories. However, stories like this can be dangerous if they mean that attentions turn to Sunday too soon. The first obstacle is Bremen. There is work to be done before the moment of farewell.
And alongside Fan is Jorgic, whose departure is no less impactful for Saarbrücken. He is not just a part of this team – he grew up in it. He possesses much of what has set FCS apart in recent years: international ambition, patient development, growing from a strong Bundesliga team into a club that wins European titles. If Saarbrücken actually do manage to win the triple in France, this would mark more than just the perfect conclusion of a spectacular Fan year. It would also be a worthy end to a Jorgic era that has left a lasting mark on the club.
Saarbrücken are therefore heading to Frankfurt full of anticipation, under pressure and with a historic opportunity. FCS are the slight favourites in the semi-final and one of the big favourites for the title but face the challenge of a format where nothing is certain. The knockout nature of the weekend makes it exciting and risky. Dang Qiu summed things up from Düsseldorf’s perspective: ‘Everyone is human – and anyone can be beaten.’ For Saarbrücken, this means that although their own quality is undeniably outstanding, it must be fully on show across both days.
Ultimately, Frankfurt could prove to be a culmination for FCS. A win against Bremen, another success on Sunday, and a strong season would become a historic one. The Cup, the Champions League, the German Championships: the highest accolade that a club can achieve in this scenario. For Fan Zhendong this would be the perfect farewell, for Darko Jorgic it would mark a final major Saarbrücken title in a long career together, and for Franziska and FCS as a whole, it would prove that this team are not just about big names, but also big titles. For FCS, this would be a particularly rare moment. However, nothing has been won yet. And so, the final four begins not with thoughts of the triple, but with the challenge that Bremen pose.