Saarbrücken edge Montpellier 3-2 to win Champions League title again
Moregard beat Alexis Lebrun in the fifth match as Saarbrücken survived a 3-2 final in front of 3,459 fans to claim a fourth straight European crown.
1. FC Saarbrücken TT kept its hold on Europe with another night of pressure and poise, edging Alliance Nîmes/Montpellier 3-2 in a final that went all the way to the fifth and decisive match inside a packed Saarlandhalle.
In front of 3,459 spectators, the German club survived five swings of momentum to claim the HYLO ETTU Champions League Men title again and extend a remarkable run of dominance.
The win gave Saarbrücken a fourth consecutive Champions League crown, and it was the third time the club has lifted the trophy on home soil since the men’s Final 4 format was introduced in 2024. That is the clearest answer to why this team keeps winning in the biggest moments: the stage changes, the venue changes, the opponent changes, but Saarbrücken keeps arriving with the same core of elite players and the same habit of finishing the job when the title is on the line.
The road to the final only sharpened the sense of danger around the last match. Saarbrücken beat KS Orlen Bogoria Grodzisk Mazowiecki 3-0 in the semifinal, while Alliance Nîmes/Montpellier shocked Borussia Düsseldorf, the most decorated club in European table tennis history, to reach its first-ever Final 4 title match. Borussia had already owned six Champions League titles before that semifinal defeat, which made Alliance’s run a breakthrough and Saarbrücken’s defense of the title even more demanding.
Saarbrücken’s strength was on display again in a roster built for these nights. Fan Zhendong, the reigning Olympic champion, was part of the club’s core alongside Europe’s No. 1 Truls Moregard, Darko Jorgic and Patrick Franziska. When the final tilted toward its last, most dangerous point, Moregard delivered. He beat Alexis Lebrun in the decisive match to seal the 3-2 victory and was named Man of the Match for closing out the championship under maximum pressure.
Alliance still left Saarbrücken with something to build on. Head coach Vincent Avril called the campaign “an amazing tournament” and said the young side would take strength from the experience. Alexis Lebrun said it was “always a pleasure” to play Fan Zhendong, while Felix Lebrun said the club’s first Final 4 appearance was a milestone it hoped to build on. For Saarbrücken, though, the message was bigger than one tense final: the standard in European club table tennis still runs through Saarland.
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