Table tennis: BVB reach the cup Final Four for the first time | OneFootball

One day after its first success in a knockout stage of the cup competition, in the round of 16 (3–0 against league rival TTC Zugbrücke Grenzau), the team coached by Borussia’s Evgeny Fadeev made its first major statement at the national elite level: qualification for the sporting and prestigious Cup Final4. Fadeev described the decision as “the happiest moment of my coaching career,” while department head Ulla Reitemeyer announced that she would immediately pass the good news on to club president Hans-Joachim Watzke.

Until now, Dortmund’s best cup results had been three appearances in the round of 16 (2020, 2024 and 2025). At the cup finals in Neu-Ulm (expected on January 3), the current fourth-placed Bundesliga side will now face treble winners 1. FC Saarbrücken-TT in the semifinals.

Almost as expected, Fadeev once again sent his top-50 trio to the table against the local favorites from Lower Franconia, just as he had the day before, but he reshuffled his lineup considerably. Compared with the previous day, world No. 13 Anders Lind moved from position two to one, while Joao Geraldo rotated from the top spot to three and Kristian Karlsson moved into the number-two slot for the opening singles match.

Match recap

Karlsson took responsibility in the first match against veteran Bastian Steger. In his four-set win, the left-handed Swede had the Bundesliga’s oldest regular player, now 45, under control almost throughout. The decisive moment in Karlsson’s favor came at 1–1 in sets on the way to winning the third game, when he produced two bursts of points to go 5–0 and 9–1 ahead. In the end, Dortmund’s former doubles world champion converted his third match point in the fourth set to give BVB an important lead.

Lind started cautiously against experienced Austrian Daniel Habesohn, but after the first set he worked his way more and more into the match and, in line with his class, steadily gained the upper hand, putting his team on course for the Final4.

Fadeev’s prediction of a “very tough and difficult match” also proved true for Geraldo. The Portuguese player had to overcome strong resistance from Hamm-born André Bertelsmeier before the new signing could seal his team’s fourth straight competitive win and with it the hoped-for semifinal place.

Ursula Reitemeyer (Head of Table Tennis Department): “I am unspeakably proud of this performance. At no point did any match become really close. It was a solid, serious and well-earned victory for us. Once we’re back in Dortmund, we’ll really have a good reason to celebrate.”

Evgeny Fadeev (Coach): “This is the happiest moment of my coaching career. We have achieved the first major goal in our club’s history, and that also reflects our development over the past few years. We can only thank the team; everyone could see how united our players were. We put Bad Königshofen under pressure from the very start and kept them under pressure all the way to the end. Thanks to an outstanding performance from all the players, including in terms of fighting spirit, we deserved to win. I hope this success can also give us another boost for the Bundesliga.”

Anders Lind: “I’m very happy and proud. We came here to reach the Final4 — and we did it. Every one of us handled his tasks superbly, whether at the table or on the bench.”

Joao Geraldo: “For us, this was the first step we had hoped for and set out to take. Everyone on our team is important and contributed to this success. It makes me proud to be part of this team.”

Outlook

After the cup comes the Bundesliga: BVB are back in league action as early as Thursday (7 p.m., Dyn) away to TTC OE Bad Homburg. A third straight league win against the fellow promoted side from 2024 in the Taunus region would consolidate Fadeev’s team’s place in the top section of the table, within striking distance of the summit. After the clash with the Hessians, against whom Dortmund have won three of their previous four top-flight league matches, the Borussians will have a Bundesliga break until their home game on September 21 (Monday, 6:30 p.m., Dyn) against TTC Fulda-Maberzell.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.