(by Steve Hopkins, photo ETTU)
For the second year in a row, the top seed in the European Champions League was perennial powerhouse Borussia Dusseldorf and they deep team with Dang Qiu, Timo Boll, and Anton Kallberg. And for the second year in a row, much of the hype in the Final Four went to newcomer Neu Ulm and their allstar team with Dimitrij Ovtcharov, Truls Moregardh and Quadri Aruna. But, for the second year in a row, the team that maneuvered past all others wasn’t the top seed or the allstars, it was Saarbrucken and their dangerous trio of Patrick Franziska, Darko Jorgic, and Eduard Ionescu.
In the semifinal matchup, Saarbrucken topped Neu Ulm 3-2. Neu Ulm’s Moregard topped Jorgic 3-1, Franziska evened the score with a 3-0 win over Ovtcharov, Ionescu eaked out a 3-2 win over Aruna, Moregard logged his second win 3-1 over Franziska, and then Jorgic upset Ovtcharov 3-0 to give Saarbrucken the win. Dusseldorf had little trouble with Wiener Neustadt, with Boll, Qiu, and Kallberg each winning one win in their 3-1 victory.
Because of Saarbrucken’s unexpected win a year ago, they hosted this year’s Final – and in this home environment, they matched up against Dusseldorf as underdogs. In the opening match, Darko Jorgic upset Dang Qiu, and in the second match Patrick Franziska upset Anton Kallberg. This gave the home team a 2-0 lead as Timo Boll faced Yuto Muramatsu. Boll topped the young Japanese player, and then Dang Qiu defeated Franziska to even the score 2-2. The deciding match was Jorgic against Kallberg – a match that was eventually tied 2-2 before the tie breaker went to Jorgic 6-3. Saarbrucken wins 3-2, taking their second title in as many years.
The top Champions League teams have been Germany’s top squads for several years (since the Russian leagues disbanded in response to the invasion of Ukraine). During that time, Dusseldorf and Saarbrucken have been the most consistent teams, with Ochsenhausen performing well one year, and Neu Ulm appearing in recent years. The landscape for these squads continues to change – with Boll handing over the reigns to the next generation in Dusseldof, and with rising rankings for Franziska and Ionescu both now providing better support for the ever-dangerous Darko Jorgic. And perhaps most interesting of all – Neu Ulm’s disagreements with the German League seems to have resulted in Neu Ulm dissolving – with Ovtcharov heading next year to TTC Fulda Maberzell (perhaps the next team on the rise as Ovtcharov and Kao Cheng-Jui have both signed on to join that squad next season).
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