Saarbrücken wins Champions League for the first time | Historic TTCLM season for the TTBL

In an incredible thriller, the 1st FC Saarbrücken TT won the second leg in Düsseldorf and was also able to decide the decisive Golden Match in its favor and is thus the Champions League winner for the first time in the club's history. Not only because of the finalists, the Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL) can look back on a successful season in the TTCLM.

With a 2:3 defeat in the first leg, the 1st FC Saarbrücken TT went into the second leg of the final series of the Champions League (TTCLM) and managed the sensation: on Monday evening, the 1st FC Saarbrücken TT won the second showdown with Borussia with 3:2 and kept their nerves in the Golden Match. For the Saarbrücken team, it is the first title in the top flight. Last year, the competition was abandoned after the semifinals as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine; in 2021, FCS had also played Borussia in the final, but lost there.

Nicolas Barrois (Team Manager Saarbrücken): "Immediately after the final, you're just lost for words now, I'm really speechless. What we did today was really crazy. Everything was against us and you thought we were already gone, then we were back in the race, then we were gone again and then in the end we win the thing, that's indescribable. We were a bit lucky and maybe a bit better in the end, but Borussia also put up a mega fight today. For us it's really madness, because it's a title for the history books: our first Champions League title."

Patrick Franziska: "We are of course incredibly proud of the whole team. We've already won the championship and the cup, but to win against Düsseldorf in the Champions League first and second leg - and the second leg even in Düsseldorf - is something really big for the whole club. It couldn't have been any tighter and then we had the necessary bit of luck on our side."

It was a historically successful season for the Table Tennis Bundesliga not only because of the all-German final. With Post SV Mühlhausen and TTC Neu-Ulm, two more TTBL teams had advanced to the semifinals, making the final four an all-German affair. "The strength of the clubs from the TTBL in international comparison shows that we are on a good path as a league and not only offer world-class sport at the top, but also across the board," explained TTBL Managing Director Nico Stehle.

Thrilling thriller to the end

Decisive for Saarbrücken's victory in the second leg were the two wins by Patrick Franziska in the fifth set. In both games he proved to have absolute nerves of steel. In his match against Anton Källberg, for example, he was able to come back from a 0:2 deficit and win the match in a thrilling fifth set. And in his match against Dang Qiu, Franziska even fended off 3 match points from the Borussian, which would have led to an early Champions League victory for Düsseldorf, and then also won this match very narrowly in the fifth set. In the golden match, it was Franziska who won the important 1-1 tie with a commanding 11-6. Finally, Kay Stumper and Darko Jorgic faced each other in the decisive set. Both played strongly and offered the spectators a true final. In the end, Darko had his nose in front with 11:9 and thus secured Saarbrücken the first Champions League title in the club's history.

Saarbrücken and Düsseldorf have another chance to win the TTBL title: Both teams already have their tickets for the play-offs in their pockets before the last match day of the main round (April 30) and will fight for a place in the Liebherr TTBL final. The TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen are also already in the semi-finals. Which team will also make it into the top four will be decided between Post SV Mühlhausen and ASV Grünwettersbach.

The TTCLM finals in overview

First leg                                                                                                                           1. FC Saarbrücken TT – Borussia Düsseldorf 2:3
Darko Jorgic – Dang Qiu 0:3
Patrick Franziska – Anton Källberg 3:0
Cedric Nuytinck – Kay Stumper 0:3
Darko Jorgic – Anton Källberg 3:0
Patrick Franziska – Dang Qiu 1:3

Second leg                                                                                                         Borussia Düsseldorf – 1. FC Saarbrücken TT 2:3
Dang Qiu – Darko Jorgic 3:1
Anton Källberg – Patrick Franziska 2:3
Kay Stumper - Takuya Jin 3:0
Dang Qiu - Patrick Franziska 2:3
Anton Källberg - Darko Jorgic 1:3

Golden Match                                                                                                 Borussia Düsseldorf - 1. FC Saarbrücken TT 1:2
Dang Qiu - Takuya Jin 11:7
Anton Källberg - Patrick Franziska 6:11
Kay Stumper - Darko Jorgic 9:11