Before Fan Zhendong s debut in the Bundesliga, the German table tennis interactive warm-up increased the attention of the league

Can a Chinese athlete who has not played a formal competition make the entire German table tennis world collectively "crazy"? Two months before Fan Zhendong's debut in the Bundesliga, the official website of the Dortmund Club suddenly said "You! Go and fight Fan Zhendong!" This novel of the novel turned the German Table Tennis League into a large-scale star-chasing scene. From lighting up the lighting of the training hall to teaching reversal rotation serving, opponents' operations are more and more similar. No wonder some fans joked: "This is not a professional league, it is clearly an offline activity of the German branch of Fan Zhendong's Global Fan Club." The editor of Dortmund Table Tennis Club is definitely a Chinese official. The promotional posters they posted on their official website in mid-July were silhouettes of Fan Zhendong slapped, and the bottom was written in bold Chinese: "You! Go and play Fan Zhendong!", and specially marked the match against Salbrücken on September 19 as "a showdown shining because of Fan Zhendong." This wave of operations directly made domestic fans furious. Some netizens took screenshots and posted on WeChat Moments: "This tone is very similar to the head teacher's name, I'm timid and want to try it."

What's even more amazing is the club's follow-up interaction. A fan asked in the comment section "Who is going to play Fan Zhendong?", and the editor actually replied "I am deciding to draw lots", and also equipped with a sweaty emoji pack. This self-deprecating marketing turns serious professional competitions into interesting topics, and even Dortmund football fans come to join in the fun: "Why would you lend our team's Haaland to try it? Anyway, they are all the 'East' generation (Haland is nicknamed 'Northern Demon,' and the German pronunciation contains 'East')."

Dortmund's "complete work" quickly aroused a chain reaction. At a press conference, Sascha Greber, general manager of Werder Bremen Club, called Fan Zhendong's away game on October 5 "the biggest event in the past 20 years". This sounds exaggerated, but you can tell that it is true by looking at the ticket sales data on their official website - VIP tickets sold out after 3 hours of launching, and sales of surrounding goods soared by triple. A local Chinese fan posted his ticket purchase record: "The ticket price has increased by 5 euros, but it is worth watching Fan Zhendong play on the spot!"

The daily preparations of various Bundesliga clubs have been around Fan Zhendong recently. Werder Bremen coach Cristian Tamas revealed that the team practices for two hours a day to specialize in studying Fan Zhendong's game video. "We even found his youth game video from ten years ago," he spread his notebook and said with a smile. "I found that his backhand pull was so fierce ten years ago, but now it is more accurate." The players are more realistic in private. A young player admitted in an interview: "The goal is to win him one game, and even if he loses 11:9, he can still play for the rest of his life." The operation of the Hamburg team is even more outrageous. Their official tweeted the article saying, "The lighting in the training hall has been lit up three times overnight." The picture shows a photo of the players practicing with sunglasses, and the picture shows "I am afraid that I can't catch Fan Zhendong's violent aesthetics." This is not an exaggeration. Fan Zhendong's forehand rushing ball speed can reach 170 km/h, which is equivalent to the speed of a car on the highway. Some fans have calculated: "Ordinary people have a reaction time of 0.3 seconds, and they don't have time to raise their hands. No wonder they have to turn on the light to make predictions in advance."

The most interesting thing is the "seeking teaching" of the Berlin Club. On social media, they posted a video of a player imitating a counter-rotating serve, with the caption "Please give me guidance, the child is about to cry." The player in the video threw the ball high, but the serve went out of bounds, and the comment area was instantly flooded with "haha". Chinese fans "Xiaopang Global Fan Club" also specially edited Fan Zhendong's teaching video to replies: "It is recommended to practice 1,000 basic serves first."

This interactive warm-up has soared the attention of the originally niche Bundesliga table tennis league. According to data from the German Table Tennis Association, the search volume for "Fan Zhendong" increased by 2,800% year-on-year in July, of which 60% came from non-table tennis enthusiasts. A sports marketing expert analyzed: "Fan Zhendong not only brings box office, but also a chance to break the circle for the entire project, just like Yao Ming's significance to the NBA back then."

Fans who are familiar with Fan Zhendong know that the nickname "Violent Panda" is not for nothing. His forehand attacking power is extremely powerful, and the ball will even bounce an abnormal arc after it lands. The professional term is "strong top spin". This is the biggest headache for the Bundesliga opponents this time - Dortmund's physical coach specially designed the "weight-bearing swing" training, allowing the players to tie a kilogram of sandbag to imitate the serve, but they could not lift their arms.

But Fan Zhendong's terribleness is not only power. Comparative charts produced by technical analysts at the Berlin Club show that his backhand pulling success rate is as high as 89%, 34 percentage points higher than the Bundesliga average. "What's even more terrifying is his ability to adapt," the analyst pointed out in the video analysis. "He can switch five ways to return the ball in 0.2 seconds when coming to the ball at the same position, which is impossible to defend in a targeted manner."

This dominance has long been the "top star" in the international table tennis world. After winning the 2024 Paris Olympics, his ins fans exceeded 5 million, of which 12% were German fans. This time, when signing a contract with Saarbrücken, the local Chinese community even prepared to organize the "Panda Square" to cheer on the spot. Even the mayor sent a congratulatory letter saying that this was a "milet event in the history of urban sports." There is a detail that can be particularly illustrative: Before Fan Zhendong arrived in Germany, the Saarbrücken Club has received cooperation intentions from more than 20 sponsors, including local pillar industry brands such as automobiles and beer. "What they value is not only the results, but also the attention brought by Fan Zhendong," the club manager said bluntly in the interview, "This is more commercial value than winning the league championship."

The collective "star chasing" of Bundesliga clubs is essentially a win-win marketing. As a small club, Salbrücken became the focus of the league by signing Fan Zhendong; other teams attracted traffic by using the topic of "challenging superstars". Even the Bad Koenigeshofen Club, which ranks at the bottom, relied on Salbrücken's official Weibo to leave a message "Who will play Fan Zhendong? Am I?" He got 100,000 likes.

This phenomenon actually has precedents in the international sports world. When Messi joined the FAF, every team treated the game against Miami International as a "Super Bowl". It was hard to get a double ticket price. The craze caused by Fan Zhendong in the Bundesliga has proved to some extent that table tennis can also replicate this model - as long as there are superstars with enough influence, niche projects can also create great value.

Chinese fans can see this clearly. Some netizens summarized: "In the past, we stayed up late to watch European football, but now it was their turn to stay up late to study Chinese table tennis; in the past, we chased foreign stars, but now it was their turn to ask for signatures. This wave of cultural output is worth it!" Some people even found that there were even "Same Model Fan Zhendong" table tennis rackets in German supermarkets. Although they are OEM products, their sales actually entered the top three of the sports goods list.

There are two months left before the debut of the German Cup on September 19, but this "favorable before the battle" drama is already exciting enough. When Dortmund players secretly watch Fan Zhendong's game videos during training, and when Werder Bremen's caddies can speak the Chinese pronunciation of "reverse spin serve", the cross-border charm of sports is fully displayed.

Fan Zhendong himself was as calm as ever. After the end of the Table Tennis Super League, he only said in the interview, "I will prepare for every game seriously." This kind of focus may be the reason why he can become a "phenomenon athlete" - speak with strength on the court and influence off the court to drive the development of the entire project.

When the game day, no matter what the result is, the "proud group" of these Bundesliga clubs will most likely continue to be active. After all, being able to compete with legends is a kind of glory in itself. For fans, it is a pleasure to see how Fan Zhendong "reduces dimensionality strikes", and it is also a wonderful thing to see how his opponents "fight hard" - this is probably the most touching part of sports, which has both the domineering spirit of a king and the courage of a challenger.