Düsseldorf in CL semi-final against Vienna

Cologne (SID) German table tennis star Timo Boll and champions Borussia Düsseldorf have been drawn to play their opponents of choice in the Champions League final round at Easter (March 31/April 1) in Saarbrücken. The record winners and last year's finalists will face Austrian outsiders TT Wiener Neustadt. The second finalist will be determined by defending champions and hosts 1. FC Saarbrücken and the last Bundesliga drop-out TTC Neu-Ulm.

Boll and Co. are aiming for their seventh triumph in the premier class in the Saar. If successful, the German champions would be celebrating their second title of the season, after the Rhinelanders had already won the German Cup at the start of the year.

Saarbrücken celebrated its greatest success last year by winning the Champions League. In the subsequent Bundesliga final, however, Düsseldorf gained revenge at national level.

Neu-Ulm will finally leave the big stage in Saarbrücken. The retort club's participation in the Champions League is a novelty in German sport, as Neu-Ulm no longer belongs to any national league and could only enter the field of participants via the club ranking of the European Association ETTU. Now that the loophole has been closed, this will no longer be possible from the coming season. Last year, Neu-Ulm refused to accept penalties for deliberate breaches of the rules and withdrew its team with veteran Dimitrij Ovtcharov from playing in Germany.

Source: SID press release