TTBL rejects accusations by TTC Neu-Ulm and Dimitrij Ovtcharov - backing for supervisory board chairman Preuß

The Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL) does not understand the reactions of the TTC Neu-Ulm and its player Dimitrij Ovtcharov to the contractual penalties imposed on Neu-Ulm's licensed players Truls Moregardh and Lin Yun-Ju. The TTBL is particularly disconcerted by the completely absurd and unproven allegations about an alleged conflict of interest or even a personal benefit of the TTBL supervisory board chairman Andreas Preuß because of his managerial activities at the TTBL club Borussia Düsseldorf.

"We emphasize once again that Neu-Ulm's licensed players Moregardh and Lin had committed themselves "not to hold, apply for and/or claim any further player permits or playing rights for another club or team in Germany and/or abroad" for the duration of the license. A proper transfer to a club in Germany or abroad for the second half of the 2022/23 season would have been possible if the application had been submitted in due time on January 1, 2023. No such application had been made. The players still competed for TTC Neu-Ulm in the Final Four for the German Table Tennis Cup on January 8. Afterwards, both players had written to TTBL Sport GmbH requesting the revocation of the license agreement in order to be able to join another club outside the transfer period. This had been rejected by the TTBL Sport GmbH with reference to the valid regulations and reference to possible sanctions in case of violation. Their suspensions and fines are the necessary and appropriate sanction after their deliberate breaches of the rules," TTBL Managing Director Nico Stehle explained the background to the controversies.

Stehle describes the exact course of events: "The players Moregardh and Lin have violated their contractual commitments and the rules of the TTBL, the club has already publicly acknowledged the deliberate violation of the rules and, according to our perception, also did not stop or want to stop the players. Our rules protect the integrity of our competition and are not to be arbitrarily bent or even broken. By ensuring that the TTBL strictly adheres to the rules accepted by all clubs and players prior to the start of the season, each TTBL club is equally protected from distortions of competition and other disadvantages. Equality of opportunity is the basis of sporting competition in our league and also sport in general. That is why we emphatically reject the persistent and transparent attempts to reverse the polluter pays principle."

In addition, Stehle explicitly points out that only last November at a meeting of the TTBL clubs, the TTC Neu-Ulm, together with the other club representatives, unanimously spoke out against multiple eligibility for TTBL players to play for another club during an ongoing season. "The behavior of TTC Neu-Ulm is absolutely incomprehensible to us for this reason," said Stehle.

In this context, Stehle is particularly irritated by the derogatory character of the attacks repeatedly made recently against the person of TTBL Supervisory Board Chairman Andreas Preuß. "There cannot be the slightest hint of doubt about the integrity of Andreas Preuß. A double function, as chairman of the supervisory board and member of the executive board of a club is absolutely usual in organized sport - see also the occupation of the DFL supervisory board. At no time did Andreas Preuß put the interests of his club above the welfare of the league in important decisions of the TTBL supervisory board. Apart from that, the supervisory board only has a control function. The management board runs the operational business. The highest decision-making body of the TTBL is the TTBL supporting association, which consists of all twelve clubs. All the more the TTBL management condemns the defamatory allegations about Andreas Preuß by representatives of the TTC Neu-Ulm as well as its player Dimitrij Ovtcharov." In this context, the TTBL notes that Dimitrij Ovtcharov deleted these allegations from his original social media post after a few hours. "Nevertheless, Dimitrij Ovtcharov has put things into the world here in a completely baseless way, which can also damage the reputation of our organization. The Tischtennis Bundesliga GmbH expressly reserves the right to take further steps in this matter."