Sudden out on June 1: Fan Zhendong joins the Bundesliga, which may be the quiet end of another era

In the early morning of June 1, 2025, the table tennis world ushered in a shocking news - Fan Zhendong, one of the most dominant names of the Chinese table tennis team in the past decade, officially joined the German Salbrücken Club and will compete in the new season of the Bundesliga (TTBL).

This is not just a simple transfer, but more like a declaration: an era is quietly ending.

For Saarbrücken, this was an extremely explosive signing.

has won the World Cup and World Table Tennis Championships many times, and finally achieved success in the Paris Olympics, winning the last fragment of the personal Grand Slam - the Olympic men's singles gold medal, Fan Zhendong is undoubtedly one of the most respected table tennis players on this planet.

His arrival made Saarbrücken stand directly at the center of global table tennis public opinion. What makes people even more talked about is that he will also fight side by side with Sweden’s most shining star Moregaard and Germany’s No. 1 Francesca to build a lineup of “transnational luxury warships”.

But for fans who are familiar with the tradition of Chinese table tennis, the meaning of joining this time is far more than just a "strong alliance".

For a long time, the top main players of the Chinese table tennis team rarely appear in overseas club lineups, especially like Fan Zhendong, who was once the core of Olympic team championships and long-term dominant of the world rankings, and is regarded as an important strategic resource for "closed training".

They represent not only individuals, but also sharp knives and aces in a complete national system.

In recent years, most of the people who went abroad to compete in the league are "marginal main players" such as Lin Gaoyuan and Liang Jingkun, or "sub-main" players like Zhou Qihao and Xiang Peng.

Real front-line players generally enter long-term closed training for preparations for the Olympics and World Table Tennis Championships, and do not participate in high-frequency overseas professional competitions.

Fan Zhendong's "going to sea" this time is obviously different.

At present, he has long been away from the main line of the Olympic points competition, has missed most WTT events since last year, and has not participated in the selection of key events in the new cycle.

Joining the Bundesliga this time means that he did not choose to return to the formal path to the Olympics, but turned to a "business league" route with higher professionalism and lower competitive pressure.

This is a choice, or it may be a silent farewell.

After all, at the Paris Olympics, Fan Zhendong was once the spiritual banner of the team. But now, Wang Liqin has served as the chairman of the China Table Tennis Association, and the theoretical threshold for "Fan Zhendong's return" no longer exists.

Joining Salbrücken is exactly how Fan Zhendong defines his career. He fulfilled his promise: "I am still me, and I will continue to work hard to participate in different arenas."

There are no Olympic points, no constraints of the WTT closed points system, but only the original driving force of stable appearance, club honors and love for table tennis.

Of course, Salbrücken and the Bundesliga will not become "retirement paradise" because of this.

From Moregaard and to Francesca, the most impactful group of European players gathered here, and is also one of the main battlefields of Europe in the 2028 Los Angeles cycle. Fan Zhendong's joining it also means that he is still eager to continue writing his own legend in another order.

But anyway, the competitive track has been diverted.

Unlike Wang Chuqin, Lin Shidong and other players who actively participate in the main competition of the Los Angeles Olympics, Fan Zhendong has taken on the identity of an "international traffic star" in the club. His appearance will help the Bundesliga attract more Asian attention and win a buffer period for himself.

Once, he was an Optimus Prime-like existence. Now, he continues to love in the way of "playing the league" and has also completed a decent exit.

is the curtain call? Is it a restart? Or the last turn, we can't judge.

But at least, we know: this time, he fought for himself.