Bundesliga

The new year in the Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL) is already in full swing: on Matchday 13, clubs will look to sharpen their positions in both the play-off race and the relegation battle. On Sunday, fifth-placed TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt host TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen, who currently sit fourth in the table and occupy the final play-off spot. At the other end, bottom side TSV Bad Konigshofen welcome TTC Zugbrucke Grenzau in a direct battle to escape the foot of the standings. The matchday begins on Friday with fixtures in Muhlhausen and Bad Homburg, with all matches streamed live on Dyn.

Post SV Muhlhausen – 1. FC Saarbrucken-TT

Saarbrucken’s 2026 began like a fairy tale. At the Liebherr Cup Final Four in Ulm/Neu-Ulm, the club from Saarland lifted the trophy to celebrate their first title with superstar Fan Zhendong. Their Bundesliga restart, however, brought a reality check: Saarbrucken lost at Borussia Dortmund despite two points from Fan. The reigning Champions League holders remain on course for the play-offs nonetheless. Speaking of the Champions League, Muhlhausen were left frustrated after the fixture was moved forward from Monday to Friday to accommodate continental commitments. The change was triggered by a lack of willingness from Saarbrucken’s quarter-final opponents GV Hennebont TT to offer any alternative to a Sunday date for the first leg. Muhlhausen, meanwhile, were beaten 0:3 by Borussia Dusseldorf in the first leg of their all-TTBL Champions League quarter-final on Wednesday. In the league, the Thuringians most recently bounced back against Grunwettersbach after ending 2025 with three straight defeats.

TTC OE Clarity-Telefonie Systeme Bad Homburg – SV Werder Bremen

Autumn champions Werder Bremen also endured a harsh start to the calendar year. Against bottom club Bad Konigshofen, Werder slipped to a 1:3 home defeat. “After the match against Bad Konigshofen, we all shook it off and are really fired up,” said Werder team manager Sascha Greber. But TTC OE Clarity-Telefonie Systeme Bad Homburg present a formidable challenge. The “young wild ones” coached by TTBL legend Helmut Hampl have already claimed wins this season against 1. FC Saarbrucken TT, record champions Borussia Dusseldorf and fellow contenders TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt. The side from the spa town are led by Jo Yokotani, whose 10:7 record makes him the team’s standout performer.

TSV Bad Konigshofen – TTC Zugbrucke Grenzau

Bad Konigshofen stages the weekend’s summit meeting in the relegation fight. The TSV have been propping up the table since Matchday 3, but a win over Grenzau would allow the hosts to hand the wooden spoon to their visitors. The Bavarians only re-entered the relegation battle after a surprise 3:1 victory over autumn champions Werder Bremen, and with a helping hand elsewhere they could now even move out of the drop zone. Grenzau, for their part, missed the chance to take points against TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen when the champions travelled without top player Shunsuke Togami. “A really bitter defeat,” said TTC manager Markus Stroher afterwards. “We have to look forward. In principle, nothing has happened. We lost to a team in a play-off place, and our full focus is now on Saturday’s match in Bad Konigshofen.”

ASC Grunwettersbach – Borussia Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund are currently riding a wave. First came a sensational 3:2 win over 1. FC Saarbrucken-TT and superstar Fan Zhendong, then table tennis legend Timo Boll publicly backed Dortmund as play-off material. Even so, there is still a long road ahead. Dortmund are only two positions away from the finals spots, but they must make up four points and a clear deficit in match difference. ASC Grunwettersbach, however, are aiming to halt Dortmund’s surge. The Karlsruhe-based club have not won a match since November and have suffered four consecutive defeats in that spell. One source of hope is new signing Tom Jarvis: the Englishman lost in four sets to Muhlhausen’s Steffen Mengel on debut, but showed enough against the TTBL veteran to underline his potential.

TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen – TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt

No Shunsuke Togami, no problem: that was the message from TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen as they opened the second half of the season in Grenzau and emphatically underlined, via a 3:0 away win, that the champions’ success is not solely dependent on their Japanese top player. Ochsenhausen will be hoping the same holds true in Sunday’s Matchday 13 headline clash. Against table neighbours TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt, a huge step towards the play-offs is on offer, but Togami will again be unavailable to head coach Bogdan Pugna. For Bergneustadt, it already feels like a must-win early in the year. Victory for the side led by star man Benedikt Duda would cut Ochsenhausen’s advantage to two points; defeat, with nine matches still to play, would leave a six-point gap. To avoid that scenario, Schwalbe need a turnaround: they have lost their last three matches, including defeats against the supposedly weaker teams from Bad Homburg and Bad Konigshofen.

Borussia Dusseldorf – TTC RhonSprudel Fulda-Maberzell

Matchday 13 concludes with a special highlight: Borussia Dusseldorf against TTC RhonSprudel Fulda-Maberzell will be played neither in North Rhine-Westphalia nor in Hesse, but at the Sportforum Berlin. As part of the doubleheader “Champions Doppelpack,” the TTBL match is the day’s main event, preceded by the Women’s Bundesliga top clash between ttc berlin eastside and ESV Weil. For record champions Dusseldorf, taking “home” matches on the road is nothing new. “It’s always something special to play in another city, in front of fans who don’t get to see us that often. There are also plenty of new fans, and some will only discover us on that day. I have only good memories of home matches away from home, and we’ve always won so far,” said Dusseldorf top player Dang Qiu. On the table, Dusseldorf want to further cement their play-off position, while Fulda are looking to push back into the top half after their 1:3 defeat against Bad Homburg.

Matchday 13 fixtures

Friday, 16 January:
19:00: Post SV Muhlhausen – 1. FC Saarbrucken-TT
19:00: TTC OE Clarity-Telefonie Systeme Bad Homburg – SV Werder Bremen

Saturday, 17 January:
15:00: TSV Bad Konigshofen – TTC Zugbrucke Grenzau

Sunday, 18 January:
13:00: ASC Grunwettersbach – Borussia Dortmund
14:00: TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen – TTC Schwalbe Bergneustadt
15:30: Borussia Dusseldorf – TTC RhonSprudel Fulda-Maberzell

All matches are on Dyn.

Picture: Tiago Abiodun of TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen (Photo: Nicolai Schaal)