Miscellaneous

German record champions Borussia Düsseldorf are once again setting a precedent in table tennis by hosting their TTBL match against TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell on Sunday as a doubleheader in Berlin with the women's league leaders ttc berlin eastside. In an interview, Borussia manager Andreas Preuß talks about the objectives for the double header, the prospects for closer cooperation between the TTBL and women's clubs, and personnel planning in Düsseldorf.

Andreas Preuß, Borussia Düsseldorf is once again breaking new ground on Sunday with the double header at German women's leaders ttc berlin eastside – never before in German table tennis have women's and men's teams played first division matches together as part of a single event. How did the merger of the Düsseldorf match with TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell and Berlin's match against ESV Weil come about?

When Berlin's manager Andreas Hain was still president of the German Table Tennis Association (DTTB), he had the basic idea of having the women's and men's Bundesliga play in a joint event. I thought that was a good idea in general, especially since it had long been a dream of mine to promote our sport in Berlin as part of our basic concept of playing home games in regions without top-level men's table tennis. We have already played in Hamburg, Frankfurt, and Munich as ambassadors for the sport, so to speak—only Berlin was missing. We then combined our ideas for a large joint event and found a suitable location through Eastside's network in Berlin.

What are your expectations for this premiere?

Various. My expectations include a nearly full house with almost 2,000 spectators, but also a signal in terms of sports policy based on significant media interest and many inquiries about the fundamental idea. Because we are bringing top-level men's and women's sport closer together, but we are also bringing the TTBL closer to the women's Bundesliga and the women's Bundesliga closer to the TTBL. So there is a positive signal in us sending out such a message together.

The organizational effort involved is likely to be considerable. Can the preparations be described in figures?

The organizational effort is enormous, not least because of the high level of professionalism of the TTBL and also in our club structure, because we have more spectators, different conditions and minimum requirements to meet. These processes make the effort enormous. In addition, it is a long day event, different arrangements have to be made for women and men, and there are different playing systems. Under these conditions, preparing the hall and finding a spectator-friendly format for such a long event really means a lot of effort. We alone have to transport practically everything we have, and that's quite a lot by now, to Berlin: we have a TV broadcast, an internet TV broadcast with five cameras and two commentators, we have a live ticker, and we also have digital boards. So there are endless preparations we have to think about and a lot of equipment we have to take with us. Our truck was already on the road days in advance, 20 people worked on the project at Borussia alone, and Berlin is also providing many helpers. So the effort involved is really enormous, but hopefully it will be worth it.

How long did it take from the idea to implementation?

The idea is at least two years old. In early summer last year, we revisited it and started working on it in more detail. After a meeting in Berlin to view the hall and several coordination meetings in September 2025, things moved quickly: ticketing, media relations, organizational arrangements – all of that is part of the process, and Alexander Teichmann and our managing director Alexander Schilling did a great job for Berlin.

Is Berlin a randomly chosen venue in the long series of Düsseldorf “home games” in other cities to promote the image of table tennis, or are there also sports policy goals associated with the new constellation, especially in the German capital?

Berlin was not chosen at random, beyond the message in the area of sports policy already described. We had wanted to go to the capital for quite some time, and when the idea of a joint event with the women's team came up, it was clear that we could only do it in Berlin and nowhere else, because Berlin is as strong in women's table tennis as we are in men's. It's a perfect fit, because Topsport has had the most successful teams in both areas in recent years.

In connection with the upcoming double header, your Berlin colleague Andreas Hain has spoken about the interest of the women's Bundesliga, which is based at the German Table Tennis Association, in greater independence, possibly through integration into the professional TTBL structures. Is this a topic that is ripe for discussion from the TTBL's point of view?

It is true that there are discussions between the TTBL, the Women's Bundesliga department at the DTTB, and the CEO Wolfgang Dörner and Sports Director Richard Prause. One possible goal is to cooperate more closely, but we will have to wait and see where this actually leads. However, many, many steps are certainly still necessary to integrate the Women's Bundesliga into TTBL Sport GmbH at some point. For now, however, the focus is on examining the conditions and willingness to do so and then drawing up a roadmap that – regardless of the possibilities of future legal constructions – can lead to more professionalism on the one hand and more independence and personal responsibility on the other for the Women's Bundesliga. Another key issue at the moment is whether the women's Bundesliga can be exploited more effectively in the media and, in the long term, brought under the umbrella of TTBL media partner Dyn. But there are still many steps to be taken before that can happen, although we are at the start of some promising discussions.

After losing 2-3 in the top match against 1. FC Saarbrücken-TT at the end of the year, Düsseldorf has returned to winning ways at the start of the second half of the season. Although your team is ranked higher than usual in the table and is the closest challenger to leaders Werder Bremen, the season has been less dominant than in previous years, certainly due in part to the early exit from the cup. How do you see the situation?

The early cup exit undoubtedly hurt, and sometimes still hurts, but it is now in the past. The quarterfinal, in which we did not have our best day and Bad Homburg deserved to win after a very strong performance, was perhaps our only really bad game. Otherwise, we are absolutely on track overall: We confidently advanced to the quarterfinals of the Champions League, we are in second place in the Bundesliga despite strong competition, and we are right on track. We want to reach the Final Four tournaments as the leaders in both the Champions League and the Bundesliga, and I am very optimistic that we will succeed.

The Bundesliga has been delighting fans for weeks, not only because of the changing lineups of the teams. How is Düsseldorf responding to the increased demands for appropriate personnel planning in order to maintain its playoff chances?

We prepared for this situation before the start of the season by signing Li Yongyin from China, a player who only plays in the Bundesliga on a daily basis. In addition, we rotate our top players Kanak Jha, Anton Källberg, and Dang Qiu on a daily basis and field the best possible team for the top matches. Although Li, our new signing, is not yet scoring as well and as outstandingly as Kanak, our plan is working well so far.

In winter, the player carousel for the coming season traditionally spins particularly fast. When can we expect news from Borussia?

Apart from Borgar Haug, all four of our other players still have contracts. Whether we will sign a fifth player and, if so, who, has not yet been decided, and the same applies to the question of Borgar's future. We are generally considering various options. Our team is competitive and could get through the season with this lineup if Li plays and the others take turns. However, we are also considering signing a player just for the Champions League, perhaps from Asia, because we will obviously have to rethink our strategy in the long term if many other teams are upgrading their squads for just a few games, as Saarbrücken and Post SV Mühlhausen did recently. We have to ask ourselves whether we can still be competitive in the top events if we only focus on having a team that is more consistent and plays well together. But even though we are thinking about this, no new signings are expected in the short term due to our established players.

It is well known that your view often extends beyond Düsseldorf's concerns. The current season is clearly dominated by the games of Olympic champion Fan Zhendong for Saarbrücken. How do you assess the hype surrounding the table tennis superstar and the great interest in his performances, even in his home country of China?

The hype surrounding Fan Zhendong is enormous and is extremely good for the entire league following the end of Timo Boll's great career. It's great to see, whether at top events or in the media on a daily basis. We are also looking forward to Fan playing with Saarbrücken here in Düsseldorf. We are changing the venue especially for this and expect 3,500 spectators. Everyone is benefiting from this hype, and that is very, very good for table tennis.

Thank you very much for talking to us, Andreas Preuß.

Florian Manzke
Featured image (above): Source Borussia Düsseldorf