The semi-finalists in the check | Part 1: Düsseldorf and Grünwettersbach
The first title of the year will be awarded in just a few days. The Liebherr Cup Final Four will see the four best teams of the cup season face off on January 7. We take a closer look at the semi-finalists, this time Borussia Düsseldorf and ASV Grünwettersbach.
The squad
Timo Boll, Dang Qiu, Anton Källberg, Kay Stumper, Borgar Haug - hardly any other team in Europe has such class as Borussia Düsseldorf. This is evident when looking at all the important statistics, in the world rankings as well as in the TTBL record and the title haul. If all players are fit, the first three mentioned are likely to play in the semi-finals on January 7 and make Düsseldorf a hot tip for the title.
So even if Borussia might have the advantage, ASV Grünwettersbach has nothing to hide. Led by Wang Xi, who has already reached the Liebherr Cup final five times, Grünwettersbach is fielding a top team that can beat any opponent on a good day. In addition to Wang, ASV boasts Tiago Apolonia, Ricardo Walther and Deni Kozul as well as a number of talented young players from the Karlsruhe Institute of Table Tennis (KITT).
The cup history
27 vs. 1 - Borussia Düsseldorf clearly has the edge when it comes to titles. However, the record cup winners have recently had to fight hard to add more trophies to their cabinet. They have only won one cup in the past five years, most recently losing to 1. FC Saarbrücken TT and TTC Neu-Ulm in the final.
Grünwettersbach's only cup victory is also the only title in the club's history and was also the sensation of the year in 2020. Back then, the other three teams in the Liebherr Cup Final Four were also Düsseldorf, Saarbrücken and Ochsenhausen; Grünwettersbach beat FCS in the semi-final and then TTF in the final, in each case 3:2, with Wang Xi, Dang Qiu, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Tobias Rasmussen immortalizing themselves in the club's history.
The situation in the TTBL
Both Düsseldorf and Grünwettersbach can be satisfied with their performance so far this season. In addition to reaching the cup semi-finals, both teams have also impressed in the German Table Tennis League (TTBL). Although Düsseldorf recently lost the top match against Saarbrücken 2:3 and thus conceded its first defeat, it is still in first place in the table and is confidently on course for the play-offs with 18:2 points.
Grünwettersbach currently find themselves in eighth place and thus slightly lower than in the previous season, which ended in fifth place. However, with 8:12 points at the end of the first half of the season, the team from Baden is much closer to the play-off places (12:8) than to the relegation zone (2:18). Before the Final Four, ASV still has the second half of the season to start with a home match against TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau (January 4).
The road to the Final Four
Borussia had the shortest route of all the teams: As only eleven teams are competing in the TTBL this season and therefore entered the cup competition in the round of 16, the walk-through went to last year's finalists Düsseldorf. In the quarter-finals, the record cup winners had no trouble with TSV Bad Königshofen and secured their place in the Final Four with 9:1 sets and a 3:0 result. The last time Düsseldorf did not make it to the Final Four was in the 2018/19 season, when Grünwettersbach, TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen, TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau and SV Werder Bremen competed.
ASV made it into the top four with two commanding victories: first at TV Hilpoltstein, then in the quarter-finals against Post SV Mühlhausen. This is the first time Grünwettersbach has competed in Neu-Ulm since 2021 and the fourth time in the last six years.
Overview of the Liebherr Cup Final Four on January 7, 2024
Semi-finals, from 11 am
Borussia Düsseldorf – ASV Grünwettersbach
TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen – 1. FC Saarbrücken TT
Finals, following
Winner Semi-finals 1 – Winner Semi-finals 2
A few remaining tickets for the Liebherr Cup Final Four 2024 are still available in our ticket store.