World Championships | 29 Nov 2019
Germany will bid for the 2023 World Championships in Düsseldorf
The German Table Tennis Association applies for hosting the 2023 Individual World Table Tennis Championships Finals together with the Sports City of Düsseldorf. After the DTTB had internally checked all the application conditions imposed by the International Table Tennis Federation ITTF, and had analyzed the extensive ITTF Manual and calculated the budget, on Thursday night the city council of Düsseldorf gave its approval for the application.
"We are very happy that the Sports City of Düsseldorf will support us once again as our partner in hosting the world's biggest indoor sports event in Germany", states DTTB President Michael Geiger. "Like in 2017 we want to present world-class sports in a world-class atmosphere. But this time it will be a whole new concept."
Unlike two years ago, when the state capital of North-Rhine Westphalia has already been the scene for World Championships, four years from now not Messe Düsseldorf, but the ISS Dome will be the venue. ISS Dome will also be the location to host the elite players at the Men's World Cup next fall for the second time after 2014. In 2023 all matches will be played in only one competition hall where a maximum of 4 tables will be set up. All players will have the same top playing conditions and they will get to enjoy competing in front of thousands of spectators on site and millions on TV and via livestream. Not only the centre court atmosphere which will be more intensive in the ISS Dome, but also the higher spectator capacity is another great advantage of the new venue. In 2017 on the final days the ticket requests exceeded the supply by far. Many enthusiastic table tennis fans could not purchase a ticket on the last five days of the WTTC. In 2023 with more than 2,000 additional seats available at ISS Dome the promoter will enable more visitors to attend this extra-ordinary tournament.
Düsseldorf's department head of sports and city director Burkhard Hintzsche: "With table tennis World Championships in Düsseldorf we can provide Borussia's nationally and internationally successful players once again with an extra-ordinary home game. Düsseldorf can present its excellent infrastructure with the ISS DOME as venue and the German Table Tennis Centre as training venue and can proof its high competence in organising and operating major sports events. By hosting table tennis World Championships in Düsseldorf we also support the application process of the Rhine-Ruhr-Region for the 2032 Olympic Games."
Prolonged Time Frame, Compact Game Format
As requested by the ITTF the World Championships will be prolonged from previously eight days to nearly two weeks now. The professional TV production will also be expanded. The new WTTC format developed by the ITTF will be applied for the first time in Houston, USA, in 2021. And the competitions will be more compact: with only 128 women's players and 128 men's players competing in singles as well as 64 doubles pairs each in men's, women's and mixed doubles the number of participants will be significantly reduced compared to the 2017 WTTC. The exact date of the championships has not been determined yet, but will most probably be in May and last until the long Pentecost weekend.
"The goal of the DTTB is to make the 2023 Individual World Table Tennis Championships Finals set new and highest standards and serve as a role model for all future events in table tennis", says DTTB President Geiger.
Another reason for optimism besides the decade-long experience of the DTTB and the Table Tennis Marketing Company in organising international major events is the huge success of the World Championships in 2017. Altogether 58,000 spectators visited Messe Düsseldorf on eight tournament days. On five days the venue was sold out. The feedback that the organisers from DTTB and Sports City of Düsseldorf got from the spectators as well as from the participants from more than 100 nations was only positive.
Like in 2017, the side events shall not fall short in 2023. The location around the ISS Dome will be a huge festival area for the worldwide table tennis family and all visitors. Already in 2017, the DTTB and the Sports City of Düsseldorf provided a great experience for participants and spectators. This shall be even topped in 2023.
Interesting Competitors for Germany in 2023
Besides Germany, Australia, Kuwait and South Africa expressed their interest in hosting the 2023 World Championships on time. All candidates have to submit their application documents including the name of the host city as well as the exact venue latest until November 30. From December 2019 until February 2020 the ITTF will do inspection visits. Afterwards, there will be the presentation of the candidates during the Team WTTC in Busan, South Korea, and the ITTF Annual General Meeting on March 23 will decide about the host allocation for the WTTC Finals.
WTTC: 360 Millions of Media Value, three Million ITTF Social Media Followers
The ITTF estimates the media value for the sponsors of table tennis World Championships at 360 million Euro (2018 WTTC). The International Federation with its 226 member nations alone has more than three million followers on various social media not including it-TV subscribers.
The three upcoming WTTC host cities have already been fixed. After the Team WTTC in Busan the Individual Championships in 2021 will take place in Houston, USA, followed by the next Team WTTC in Chengdu, China.
