Pokal

Patrick Franziska and 1. FC Saarbrücken-TT are the big favourites to win their first title of the season at the Liebherr Cup Final Four in Neu-Ulm on 4 January. In this interview, the captain of the Champions League winners talks about the special features of the tournament, the increased pressure on his team following the signing of Olympic champion Fan Zhendong, and the line-up for the semi-final against champions and cup holders TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen.

Patrick Franziska, with your 1. FC Saarbrücken-TT, you have the chance to win the first title of the season at the Liebherr Cup Final Four on 4 January in Neu-Ulm. Are you feeling excited yet?

Yes, of course I'm excited. The Final Four at the beginning of the year is an event that you're always excited about. Admittedly, you do put your feet up during the holidays, but there's never much time for that, so you're already excited between Christmas and New Year.

You have already won titles and medals in all the major competitions, from the Olympics to the Champions League and the Bundesliga. How important is the cup in this series?

The Cup is always a very, very cool event and also the first title to be awarded in a season. In addition, Ulm has established itself as a venue over time, so that now the curtain can be opened and the entire hall can be used and filled. For all these reasons, the Cup has always been something very special for us in table tennis.

With a total of three victories and six further appearances in the final for a total of three clubs since 2013, you are the perennial favourite among all players in the Liebherr Cup Final Four. In your opinion, what factors make the tournament so fascinating?

The atmosphere at the Final Four is always something very special. The two semi-finals are played simultaneously on two tables, and each of the four teams has brought their own fans with them, with these four camps becoming increasingly larger in recent times. In addition, there are always a few neutral spectators, and all of this combined creates a cool but always fair atmosphere in the hall. With the two semi-finals running parallel at the start, there's almost always something happening on at least one table and very little downtime. With the grand final at the end, the Final Four is very, very special and very cool.

You've had different experiences in cup finals. What do you remember most?

From the recent past, I still have fond memories of winning the cup with Saarbücken in 2022. For Darko Jorgic and me, it was our first title together. In the semi-final against Post SV Mühlhausen, we were already 1:2 down, but after I was trailing badly against Daniel Habesohn, we managed to turn the whole match around and also won the final against Düsseldorf, even though we didn't really believe in it after the semi-final. That made the title very cool for me.

From your previous years with Saarbrücken and before that with Borussia Düsseldorf, you know all too well what it's like to be the favourites in the cup final. This time, however, after strengthening your team with Olympic champion and superstar Fan Zhendong, your team is more highly favoured than any other team in the competition's nearly 70-year history. Does that change anything for you?

We are, of course, the big favourites. But I don't know if we are the biggest favourites of all time – after all, Timo Boll was also unbeatable in the Bundesliga and the cup for a very, very long time, so it was always very, very difficult to beat Düsseldorf. But without question, the cup is now the big goal, which makes it even more special to go into such a tournament as the favourite. That hasn't been the case very often for us with Saarbrücken, but I notice that the anticipation is all the greater because we can prepare and adjust even better for this big goal.

Your team's goal for the season, along with the fans, is ‘as many finals as possible’. The cup is the first of three chances to win a title. How much pressure is there and how are you dealing with it?

The pressure is certainly greater than usual. We've noticed this as a team since the start of the season, when things were perhaps a little more “bumpy” at first and everyone had to get used to this completely new situation. But from my point of view, our whole team has adapted well to it in recent weeks and months and is drawing additional energy from it. Besides, we always put pressure on ourselves anyway, so now there's just a little bit more coming from outside. But that's what you do it all for, and it's also a very good thing. In any case, we try to take everything positively, and I think we've been very, very successful at that lately.

The end of the Christmas holidays marked the start of your team's targeted preparation for the Liebherr Cup Final Four. How is Fan Zhendong feeling about his first really big appearance? Is he aware of the significance of the cup in German table tennis?

Fan knows, of course, that the cup is the first of three titles to be awarded. But you don't necessarily notice that he's more nervous because of that. Fan has played in many, many important games and won many, many important games, so I think he's been relatively relaxed about it the whole time. I'm also sure that he'll be in top form for the Final Four.

Have Fan and your team gotten used to the enormous hype surrounding your matches?

Fan is already familiar with this from his home country, where it's much, much bigger. But for us as a team, our entire club and even our die-hard fans, it was very unusual at first and everything was a bit different. But at the latest during our top match against Düsseldorf shortly before Christmas in the completely packed Saarlandhalle, you could feel how much atmosphere and hype there is, how much is going on. That's only good for everyone – for table tennis, for our club, for the league. In any case, we see it as a positive thing and are happy about it.

Saarbrücken will face defending champions TTF Liebherr Ochsenhausen in the semi-finals. Despite the significant changes in both teams, is this a rematch of last season's final?

It's definitely a whole new game. We wouldn't see it as a rematch, even though we're particularly wary of Shunsuke Togami. Basically, we just hope that we can somehow win this difficult match and take the first step towards the cup.

In the TTBL, Saarbrücken won convincingly against Ochsenhausen shortly before Christmas. Can you draw any conclusions from this for the cup duel?

Both teams played somewhat tactically in that match. We put Fan and Ochsenhausen Togami at number two, which meant that both teams wanted to see what was possible with the line-up without revealing their cards. It's clear that it's important for us to choose a good line-up and go into the match with confidence.

If Saarbrücken reaches the final, would you prefer to face TTC OE Clarity Telefonie Systeme Bad Homburg or TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell?

I think Fulda is the slight favourite. But Bad Homburg did knock Düsseldorf out of the cup. Helmut Hampl, their head coach, always fires up his young wild ones, as I know from my own experience. But if it comes to a final, we'll take both teams from Hesse. For now, though, the focus is on the semi-final.

Thank you very much for talking to us, Patrick Franziska.

Interview: Florian Manzke