Borussia Dortmund ahead of TTBL premiere

In just under a month, Borussia Dortmund's table tennis players will compete in the Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL) for the first time. Most of the preparations have been completed. For two players, the highlight of the Olympics is still to come.

Great honor for BVB's table tennis department. The promoted team will play the opening match of the 2024/25 TTBL season on August 23. BVB's first opponent in its premiere in the German Table Tennis League will be Werder Bremen. The Borussia Dortmund table tennis department with chairwoman Ulla Reitemeyer, sporting director Evgeny Fadeev and coach Wencheng Qi have a lot of work to do before the first match in northern Germany. It all starts with a photo shoot on August 21 at the training grounds in Brackel. The first home game in the hopefully well-filled Brüggmannhalle will take place on September 8 against ASC Grünwettersbach (advance ticket sales for the black-and-yellow family day with surprise guests start at the beginning of August). Even if it is difficult to make a prediction, Evgeny Fadeev believes in his team: “We have a strong team.” After all, Denmark's Anders Lind, the No. 29 in the world rankings, is part of BVB's new squad.

Table tennis players know each other. That's a good thing, because a training camp before the start of the season in Bremen is not planned. But it's also not possible, because two of the three new additions are coming to Dortmund directly from the Olympic Games in Paris. New top man Anders Lind is representing Denmark in Paris, while Cedric Nuytinck is playing for Belgium in the Olympic tournament.

Moving in the hall

A lot is new for the promoted team, which is not only starting with an almost completely new squad, but also had to adapt its organizational structure to the new conditions. BVB last played in the small Brüggmannhalle, better known to insiders as the Keller. With the promotion to the German Table Tennis League (TTBL), BVB is moving one floor up to the large Brüggmannhalle, which has a spectator capacity of around 1,000 and meets the requirements of the German Table Tennis Association (DTTB). The required new hall floor has also already been delivered and will be laid before every home match - and then removed again. Very importantly, the internet connection required for the streaming service is already in place.

This means that the great adventure of the Bundesliga table tennis can begin in four weeks' time. One change compared to the previous second division times is obvious. When the premiere in the TTBL is scheduled for August 23, matches will be played on Friday evenings. Which is just a small foretaste. “The TTBL plays five days a week from Thursdays to Mondays. This is really new for us, as we've pretty much always played on Sunday afternoons in the 2nd Bundesliga,” explains Evgeny Fadeev, who will continue to be responsible for the sport together with his long-time coach Wencheng Qi.

Almost completely new team

So fans will have to change their schedules if they want to experience attractive sport and world-class players live. And they will have to memorize new names: that of the Dane Anders Lind, the new No. 1. His story is almost unbelievable. In March 2021, the now 25-year-old Dane was involved in a serious accident on the highway near Copenhagen through no fault of his own. So serious that he could even have been paralyzed or, in the worst case, lost his life. But 14 weeks later, Lind celebrated his comeback at the plate. Chinese player Yongyin Li and Belgian player Cedric Nuytinck follow at nos. 2 and 3. Dennis Klein, Simon Berglund and Erik Bottrof are still part of the previous team.

Even though Fadeev says the team has good potential and the Dane Anders Lind is ranked 29th in the world, it is difficult to predict where they will finish in their first season in the top flight. “People in the league think we're playing against relegation,” smiles Fadeev. However, he himself believes that everything is open between third and twelfth place: “Only Düsseldorf and Saarbrücken are set for me, after that anyone can beat anyone.”

Source: Borussia Dortmund
Feature image above: Anders Lind (Photo: Borussia Dortmund)
Feature image in the text: Cedric Nuytinck (Photo: Borussia Dortmund)