BERLIJN - This year's German team competition in the highest league, the Bundeliga 1, will start on 14 October and plays a double weekend in the first two rounds. The champion BC Weywiesen opens the season against BSV Velberg and plays BCC Witten on Sunday. BC International opens against Elversberg and BC Nied. The league consists of eight teams: BC Weywiesen, BC International, BSV Velbert, BC Elfenbein Höntrop, BCC Witten, ATSV Erlangen. BC Elversberg and BC Nied.
The strong foreign players make the Bundesliga one of the best leagues in Europe. Just a sampling:
Torbjörn Blomdahl, Roland Forthomme, Sam van Etten (Weywiesen)
Eddy Merckx, Jean Paul de Bruijn, Barry van Beers, Raymund Swertz, Ismael Yasin (Velbert)
Nicos Polychronopoulos, Jean van Erp, Gökhan Salman (BC International)
Michael Nilsson, Jacob Haack Sörensen, Dave Christiani (Witten)
Adrian Tachoire, John Tijssens, Martin Spoormans (Elfenbein)
Peter Ceulemans, Glenn Hofman, Jef Philipoom, Carlos Crespo, Pierre Soumagne (Elversberg)
Sameh Sidhom, Robinson Morales, Jose Maria Mas, Rui Costa, Valentin Andaluz, Patrick Sofsky, Berkay Karakurt (BC Nied)
The eight teams for the league:
ATSV Erlangen
BC Elfenbein Höntrop
BC Elversberg
BC International
BC Nied
BC Witten
BSV Velbert
The selections and basic players:
Billiard Center Weywiesen
Torbjörn Blomdahl, Roland Forthomme, Sam van Etten, Maxime Panaia, Christian Rudolph, Jens Eggers
BSV Velbert:
Eddy Merckx, Jean Paul de Bruijn, Barry van Beers, Raymund Swertz, Ismael Yasin, Tom Löwe, Torsten Anders, Volker Simanovski
BC International:
Martin Horn, Nicos Polychronopoulos, Jean van Erp, Gökhan Salman, Cengiz Karaca, Norbert Roestel, Hakan Celik
BCC Witten:
Michael Nilsson, Ronny Lindemann, Jacob Haack Sörensen, Dave Christiani, Murat Gökmen, Volker Baten
BC Elfenbein Höntrop:
Adrian Tachoire, Dustin Jäschke, John Tijssens, Stefan Galla, Markus Galla, Martin Spoormans
BC Elversberg:
Volker Marx, Peter Ceulemans, Glenn Hofman, Jef Philipoom, Carlos Crespo, Pierre Soumagne, Klaus Bernhard Bosel, Lukas Stamm, Ruben Legazpi
BC Nied:
Sameh Sidhom, Robinson Morales, Jose Maria Mas, Rui Costa, Valentin Andaluz, Patrick Sofsky, Berkay Karakurt.