Who is the best table tennis player on this planet? Timo Boll has an opinion. The 44-year-old, four times number one in the world and a quarter of a century of the best German player, just said in the SZ interview: “Many think Ma Long for the best, but for me it is fan Zhendong. He is the only one I have never won. Played eight times.”
The Chinese Fan Zhendong, 28, born in Guangzhou, became world champion and Olympic champion in 2021, again world champion in 2023 and again Olympic champion in 2024. He has 7.2 million followers on his Chinese Weibo Canal. He is an icon of table tennis – and if nothing goes wrong now, he will play for the 1. FC Saarbrücken next season.
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It should play in all three competitions: in the Bundesliga, in the cup and in the Champions League – not in every game, but yet in some. In Saarbrücken, you are thinking about moving these games to the Große Saarlandhalle, because 2800 spectators fit there.
The man who has threaded this deal is called Nicolas Barrois, 35, born in Saarbrücken and the manager of the table tennis Bundesliga club. Saarbrücken won the Champions League for the third time on Sunday, for the third time in a row in the final against Borussia Düsseldorf. Boll plays for Düsseldorf, he is gradually ending his career and playing his last international game on Sunday. But in Saarbrücken everyone talked about the fan zhendong sensation. “The reactions are unimaginable, totally crazy,” says Barrois. “It has only been known for a few days that Fan Zhendong will play for us, and yet we already get ticket inquiries, jersey inquiries and inquiries from potential sponsors.”
What for heaven’s sake wants the best table tennis player in the world in Saarbrücken? Barrois knows: “He wants to play here and is looking forward to the European trip.” Barrois follows fans internet activities, and he last saw him at the Champions League final in Munich. “Fan Zhendong feels like the adventure of Europe. He wants to play here.”
The first Facetime conversation with a fan also appeared to the manager Surreal
A few weeks ago, Barrois would not have believed this sentence himself. Fan Zhendong and Saarbrücken’s German national player Patrick Franziska understand each other well, they like to chat at international tournaments, and at some point fan probably dropped that he could imagine playing in Europe. This was reason enough for Barrois to arrange a Facetime conversation in China. “I play table tennis myself,” says Barrois, “Fan Zhendong is an icon for me, and when I had my first FaceTime conversation with him, it was very surreal for me.”
So fan actually wants to play in Europe, and the currently best team here is the 1. FC Saarbrücken. The main sponsor is the local table tennis supplier Tibhar, whose boss Erwin Berg operates in the club as sporting director. The Saarbrücken company Ursapharm, which has just led the SV Elversberg football club, is the main sponsor. There are certain funds. “Fan Zhendong gets more than a handshake, but we don’t have Saudi Arabia dimensions,” says Barrois.
Saarbrücken will soon be one of the best table tennis club teams in the world. To the Swedish world ranking list of Möregardh, to the Slovenian world rankings of Darko Jorgic and the German world rankings-14. Patrick Franziska is added to the years of world ranking fan Zhendong, who is currently no longer being managed in the world rankings because he does not deny international tournaments for the time being. He is probably still the best.
Barrois says, at least that is not primarily possible. The club clearly earns ticket and jersey sales and new, possibly international sponsors. But no one can really guess what economic consequences of the coup in Saarbrücken. The conditions for economic success are not exactly outstanding in German and European club table tennis. For the Champions League title, a club receives around 25,000 euros in the Champions League to play, costs more money than it brings them.
The Saarbrücken recently decided not to play their home games in the 2400-sparkling Arena named Joachim-Deckarm-Hall in the future, but in the approximately half as large sports campus. Of course, it was not yet foreseeable that the Olympic champion soon played along.
The Saarbrücker immediately felt the effect of fans in the first few days: The follower number of their Chinese Weibo account has tripled to 25,000 within 48 hours, and the Instagram message from fans is called 3.4 million times. One day the club will be able to calculate what such media values ultimately mean in euros. Now you are looking forward to fan Zhendong from China, who will immediately drive from the sky to play the table tennis in Saarbrücken.