1. FC Saarbrücken - TT superstar Fan Zhendong will transfer to Borussia Düsseldorf for the 2026-27 Table Tennis Bundesliga (TTBL) season, Saarbrücken announced in a press release on Monday.
Fan is expected to remain with Saarbrücken until the end of the 2025-26 TTBL season before transferring to Düsseldorf. He cited his friendship with Düsseldorf legend Timo Boll as a key reason for his transfer.
“Borussia Düsseldorf is one of the strongest forces in European and global table tennis,” Fan said, per the release, “And my close relationship with Timo Boll has also inspired me to take on a new challenge.”
Fan ranks as the Bundesliga’s No. 5 player with just a few weeks left in his first season with the league. He boasts an individual record of 13:3 and a ten-matchup winning streak dating back to Oct. 5, 2025.
Fan signed a one-year contract to play for Saarbrücken in June 2025 and has since won two Player of the Month awards (December and February) and guided Saarbrücken to the 2025-26 Liebherr Cup. Saarbrücken is now set to lose both Fan and fellow international superstar Darko Jorgic (No. 4).
“I would like to express my sincerest thanks to the Saarbrücken table tennis club for giving me this incredible opportunity,” Fan said, per the release. “It was a really special chapter of my career.”
Fan and Saarbrücken will have an amicable separation, according to Saarbrücken manager Nicolas Barrois, who also claimed that Fan’s decision had nothing to do with any discomfort with the club. Saarbrücken reportedly did not anticipate Fan’s contract to extend into the 2026-27 season, and the club has already worked toward replacing their departing superstars by signing World No. 3 Hugo Calderano to a one-year deal.
“It was clear to us from the beginning that this chapter is designed for one year,” Barrois said, per the release. “We are all the more grateful that we were able to experience this year together, and that we can continue to do so.”
Prior to his Bundesliga career, Fan established himself as one of the most successful table tennis players in the sport’s history. His resume includes three Olympic gold medals, eight World Cups and nine World Championships, and he is the 11th table tennis player ever to win Singles gold medals in all three events.
Fan will transfer to Düsseldorf, the current top seed in the Bundesliga. He will headline a club that currently rosters Anton Kallberg (No. 3), Kanak Jha (No. 7) and Dang Qiu (No. 8) for the 2026-27 season.
“I’m incredibly excited to have Fan Zhendong joining our team,” Jha told Table Tennis TV. “He’s one of the greatest players of this generation, and getting the chance to practice and compete alongside him is a huge opportunity. I think it’s going to push all of us to raise our level.”
Düsseldorf has won 34 Bundesliga championships in club history, most recently in 2023-24 with Boll leading the way.They finished as the record champions and Bundesliga runners-up the following year, which was Boll’s last season with the club.
Düsseldorf will play its next match on Tuesday against second-seeded BV Borussia 09 Dortmund. Saarbrücken will return on March 25 and face TTC OE Clarity-Tel.Syst.Bad Homburg.
