Luxembourg national football team

Luxembourg
Nickname(s) d'Roud Léiwen
Les Lions Rouges
Die Roten Löwen
(The Red Lions)
Association Luxembourg Football Federation
(Fédération Luxembourgeoise
de Football)
Confederation UEFA (Europe)
Head coach Luc Holtz
Captain Mario Mutsch
Most caps Jeff Strasser (98)
Top scorer Léon Mart (16)
Home stadium Stade Josy Barthel
FIFA code LUX
First colours
Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current 146 Decrease 1 (5 May 2016)
Highest 93 (April 1996)
Lowest 195 (August 2006)
Elo ranking
Current 154 (9 September 2015)
Highest 76 (28 July 1946)
Lowest 190 (October 2004 to January 2006, September 2007)
First international
 Luxembourg 1–4 France 
(Luxembourg City, Luxembourg; October 29, 1911)
Biggest win
 Luxembourg 6–0 Afghanistan 
(London, United Kingdom; July 26, 1948)
Biggest defeat
 Luxembourg 0–9 England 
(Luxembourg City, Luxembourg; October 19, 1960)
 England 9–0 Luxembourg 
(London, United Kingdom; December 15, 1982)

The Luxembourg national football team (nicknamed the Red Lions; Luxembourgish: Lëtzebuergesch Foussballnationalequipe, French: Équipe du Luxembourg de football, German: Luxemburgische Fußballnationalmannschaft) is the national football team of Luxembourg, and is controlled by the Luxembourg Football Federation. The team plays most of its home matches at the Stade Josy Barthel in Luxembourg City.

Luxembourg has participated in FIFA World Cup qualifiers since those for the 1934 World Cup and in UEFA European Championship qualifiers since those for Euro 1964. As of 2015, they never qualified for any of these major tournaments. The national side of Luxembourg did compete in six Olympic football events between 1920 and 1952.[1]

History

The Luxembourg national football team in 1920

Luxembourg played their first ever international match on 29 October 1911, in a friendly match against France; it resulted in a 1–4 defeat.[1] Their first victory came on 8 February 1914, also in a match against France, which they won 5–4.[1]

The national side of Luxembourg competed in six Olympic football events between 1920 and 1952, and survived the preliminary round twice (in 1948 and 1952).[1] In between, Luxembourg started participating at qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup, but as of 2014 they still never qualified.

Starting in 1921, the Luxembourg national A-selection would play 239 unofficial international matches until 1981, mostly against other country's B-teams like those of Belgium, France, Switzerland and West Germany, as well as a team representing South-Netherlands.[2]

After their last Olympic tournament in 1952, the national team also started playing in qualifying groups for UEFA European Championships, but could not reach the major European tournament end stages. The only time that the team was close to qualify was for a European or World Championship was for the Euro 1964. In the first qualification round they defeated the Netherlands with a score of 3–2 on aggregate after two matches. A Dutch newspaper commented this stunt after the second match with "David Luxembourg won with 2–1 [against Goliath Netherlands]".[3] In the round of eight, Luxembourg and Denmark fought for a spot in the final tournament. The winner was decided after three matches; Denmark was the winner with a total score of 6–5.

When the national team does win a competitive match, they are often celebrated by national media and fans, as was the case after a 2–1 win against Switzerland in 2008.[4]

Uniform

Traditionally, the badge on Luxembourg's team outfit displays a shield very similar to Luxembourg's lesser coat of arms, a red lion on a white-blue striped background - hence the team's nickname Red Lions. In modern times, the team played home games in entirely red strips, in accordance with their nickname, and wore white as away colour.

Home stadium

Stade Josy Barthel

The Luxembourg national team normally plays its home matches at the Stade Josy Barthel in Luxembourg City, the national stadium of Luxembourg. At this location, the national team played 235 games by August 2015, including unofficial games.[5] It is also used for rugby union and athletics.

Originally called Stade Municipal after its construction in 1928–1931, it was entirely rebuilt in 1990. Since July 1993, it has carried the name of Josy Barthel, the 1500m gold medalist at the 1952 Olympics and Luxembourg's only Olympic gold medal winner.[6] The stadium is also home to the biggest athletics club in the country, CAL Spora Luxembourg. The spectator capacity is 8,000;[7] some seats are under cover, some in the open air.

Management

The following managers have been in charge of Luxembourg's national squad:

Luxembourg's 'Golden Player' Louis Pilot training in 1963. Later he coached the national team.
Name[8] NationalityLuxembourg
career
Paul Feierstein Luxembourg1933–1948
Jean-Pierre Hoscheit
Jules Müller
Albert Reuter		 Luxembourg1948–1949
Adolf Patek Austria1949–1953
Béla Volentik Hungary1953–1955
Eduard Havlicek Austria1955
Nándor Lengyel Hungary1955–1959
Pierre Sinibaldi France1959–1960
Robert Heinz West Germany1960–1969
Ernst Melchior Austria1969–1972
Gilbert Legrand France1972–1977
Arthur Schoos Luxembourg1978
Louis Pilot Luxembourg1978–1984
Jozef Vliers Belgium1984
Josy Kirchens Luxembourg1985
Paul Philipp Luxembourg1985–2001
Allan Simonsen Denmark2001–2004
Guy Hellers Luxembourg2004–2010
Luc Holtz Luxembourg2010–present

Current staff

Current Luxembourg manager Luc Holtz

The crew that guides the Luxembourg national team includes following members:[9]

Position Name
ManagerLuc Holtz
Goalkeeping coachFrank Thieltges
Physical coachClaude Origer
Technical directorReinhold Breu
Team doctorsMarc Reuter
Robert Huberty
PhysiotherapistsYannick Zenner
Ben Moes

Players

Jeff Strasser holds the record for number of international appearances for Luxembourg; he earned 98 caps between 1993 and 2010.[10]

Léon Mart holds the record for number of international goals for Luxembourg; he scored 16 goals in 24 matches between 1933 and 1946.[11]

In 2004, the Luxembourg Football Federation selected Louis Pilot as their Golden Player, Luxembourg's greatest player of the past 50 years.[12]

Current squad

The following squad was named for the friendly match against Bosnia and Herzegovina on 25 March and Albania on March 29, 2016.[13]
Caps and goals as of 29 March 2016 after the match against Albania.

0#0 Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1GK Jonathan Joubert (1979-09-12) 12 September 1979 83 0 Luxembourg F91 Dudelange
1GK Anthony Moris (1990-04-29) 29 April 1990 3 0 Belgium Mechelen
1GK Ralph Schon (1990-01-20) 20 January 1990 0 0 Luxembourg Norden 02
2DF Tom Schnell (1985-10-08) 8 October 1985 48 0 Luxembourg F91 Dudelange
2DF Chris Philipps (1994-03-08) 8 March 1994 31 0 Germany Preußen Münster
2DF Maxime Chanot (1990-01-21) 21 January 1990 20 1 Belgium Kortrijk
2DF Kevin Malget (1991-01-15) 15 January 1991 12 0 Luxembourg F91 Dudelange
2DF Ricardo Delgado (1994-02-22) 22 February 1994 7 0 Luxembourg Jeunesse Esch
2DF Cédric Sacras (1996-09-28) 28 September 1996 1 0 France Metz
3MF Mario Mutsch (1984-09-03) 3 September 1984 86 4 Switzerland St. Gallen
3MF Ben Payal (1988-09-08) 8 September 1988 73 0 Luxembourg Fola Esch
3MF Lars Gerson (1990-02-05) 5 February 1990 53 4 Sweden GIF Sundsvall
3MF Laurent Jans (1992-08-05) 5 August 1992 30 0 Belgium Waasland-Beveren
3MF Dwayn Holter (1995-06-15) 15 June 1995 11 0 Luxembourg Fola Esch
3MF Christopher Martins (1997-02-19) 19 February 1997 11 0 France Lyon Reserves
3MF Sébastien Thill (1993-12-29) 29 December 1993 6 1 Luxembourg Progrès Niederkorn
3MF Vincent Thill (2000-02-04) 4 February 2000 1 0 France Metz
4FW Daniel da Mota (1985-09-11) 11 September 1985 70 4 Luxembourg F91 Dudelange
4FW Aurélien Joachim (Captain) (1986-08-10) 10 August 1986 61 8 Belgium WS Brussels
4FW Stefano Bensi (1988-08-11) 11 August 1988 36 4 Luxembourg Fola Esch
4FW Maurice Deville (1992-07-31) 31 July 1992 28 3 Germany 1. FC Kaiserslautern II
4FW David Turpel (1992-10-19) 19 October 1992 20 1 Luxembourg F91 Dudelange

Recent call-ups

The following players have also been called up to the Luxembourg squad during last 12 months.

Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up
GK Andrea Amodio (1997-07-13) 13 July 1997 0 0 Luxembourg Pétange v.  Slovakia, 12 October 2015
GK Joé Frising (1994-11-13) 13 November 1994 0 0 Luxembourg Rodange 91 v.  Ukraine, 14 June 2015
DF Massimo Martino (1990-09-18) 18 September 1990 17 0 Luxembourg Fola Esch v.  Slovakia, 12 October 2015
DF Ben Vogel (1994-12-22) 22 December 1994 0 0 Luxembourg Victoria Rosport v.  Ukraine, 14 June 2015
MF Mathias Jänisch (1990-08-27) 27 August 1990 42 1 Luxembourg Differdange 03 v.  Portugal, 17 November 2015
MF Ricardo Couto Pinto (1996-01-14) 14 January 1996 0 0 Germany FSV Salmrohr v.  Ukraine, 14 June 2015
MF Luca Duriatti (1998-02-11) 11 February 1998 1 0 Luxembourg Hesperange v.  Ukraine, 14 June 2015
FW Antonio Luisi (1994-10-07) 7 October 1994 6 0 Luxembourg Differdange 03 v.  Slovakia, 12 October 2015
FW Florian Bohnert (1997-11-09) 9 November 1997 0 0 Germany 1. FC Saarbrücken II v.  Ukraine, 14 June 2015

PRE Preliminary squad.

Previous squads

Most capped players

As of March 25, 2016.

# Player[14] Caps Period
1 Jeff Strasser 98 1993–2010
2 René Peters 91 2000–2013
3 Eric Hoffmann 89 2002–2014
4 Carlo Weis 87 1978–1998
5 Mario Mutsch 86 2005–
6 Jonathan Joubert 82 2006–
7 François Konter 77 1955–1969
8 Roby Langers 73 1980–1998
9 Ben Payal 72 2006–
10 Manuel Cardoni 69 1993-2004
= Daniel Da Mota 69 2007–

Top goalscorers

# Player[14] Goals Period
1 Léon Mart 16 1939–1945
2 Gustave Kemp 15 1938–1945
3 Camille Libar 14 1938–1947
4 Nicolas Kettel 13 1946–1959
5 François Müller 12 1949–1954
6 Léon Letsch 11 1947–1963

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

The Luxembourg team in 1969, before a World Cup qualifier
FIFA World Cup record FIFA World Cup Qualification record
Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA Pld W D L GF GA
Uruguay 1930 Did Not Enter
Italy 1934 Did Not Qualify 2 0 0 2 2 15
France 1938 2 0 0 2 2 7
Brazil 1950 2 0 0 2 4 8
Switzerland 1954 4 0 0 4 1 19
Sweden 1958 4 0 0 4 3 19
Chile 1962 4 1 0 3 5 21
England 1966 6 0 0 6 6 20
Mexico 1970 6 0 0 6 4 24
West Germany 1974 6 1 0 5 2 14
Argentina 1978 6 0 0 6 2 22
Spain 1982 8 0 0 8 1 23
Mexico 1986 8 0 0 8 2 27
Italy 1990 8 0 1 7 3 22
United States 1994 8 0 1 7 2 17
France 1998 8 0 0 8 2 22
South KoreaJapan 2002 10 0 0 10 4 28
Germany 2006 12 0 0 12 5 48
South Africa 2010 10 1 2 7 4 25
Brazil 2014 10 1 3 6 7 26
Russia 2018 To be determined
Qatar 2022
Total 0/20 124 4 7 113 61 407

UEFA European Championship

Luxembourg UEFA European Championship record
Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA
France 1960 Did not enter
Spain 1964 To France 2016 Did not qualify
European Union 2020 To be determined
Total — 0/15 — — — — — —

Summer Olympics

Hectic phase during the goal-rich Olympic defeat against Belgium in 1928 (5–3)
Summer Olympics record of the Luxembourg national football team[1]
Edition Round Pld W D L GF GA
Belgium Antwerp 1920Round 1100103
France Paris 1924Round 2100102
Netherlands Amsterdam 1928Round 1100135
Nazi Germany Berlin 1936Round 1100109
United Kingdom London 1948Round 1210176
Finland Helsinki 1952Round 1210165
Total—82061630

Minor tournaments

Luxembourg minor tournaments record[15]
Year Round Pos Pld* W D L GF GA
Indonesia 1980 Marah Halim Cup Semi-finals 4th7313811
*Two of these seven matches, played against the Indonesian clubs Pardedetex and NIAC Mitra (that ended in 1–0 and 2–1 wins for Luxembourg, respectively) are not regarded as full internationals by the Luxembourg Football Federation.

Results and forthcoming fixtures

As of August 2015, the Luxembourg national team played 353 official games which resulted in 25 wins, 41 draws and 287 losses, with 205 goals for and 1004 against.[1][upper-alpha 1]

Recent results and fixtures are as follows:

2014

2015

2016

2017

Euro 2016 campaign

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification Spain Slovakia Ukraine Belarus Luxembourg Republic of Macedonia
1  Spain 10 9 0 1 23 3 +20 27 Qualify for final tournament — 2–0 1–0 3–0 4–0 5–1
2  Slovakia 10 7 1 2 17 8 +9 22 2–1 — 0–0 0–1 3–0 2–1
3  Ukraine 10 6 1 3 14 4 +10 19 Advance to play-offs 0–1 0–1 — 3–1 3–0 1–0
4  Belarus 10 3 2 5 8 14 −6 11 0–1 1–3 0–2 — 2–0 0–0
5  Luxembourg 10 1 1 8 6 27 −21 4 0–4 2–4 0–3 1–1 — 1–0
6  Macedonia 10 1 1 8 6 18 −12 4 0–1 0–2 0–2 1–2 3–2 —
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Note that the friendly against Belgium on 26 May 2014 is not FIFA-recognised due to an excessive number of Belgian substitutions.[16]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Barrie Courney (4 Dec 2014). "Luxembourg - List of International Matches". RSSSF. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  2. ↑ Barrie Courtney (8 Mar 2005). "Luxembourg - List of Unofficial International matches". RSSSF. Retrieved 12 Sep 2015.
  3. ↑ "Schwartz' droombeeld werd nachtmerrie voor publiek". Nieuwsblad van het Noorden (in Dutch). 31 Oct 1963. Retrieved 23 Aug 2015.
  4. ↑ "RTL Lëtzebuerg". De Journal. 7 September 2008.
  5. ↑ "Stade Josy Barthel, Lëtzebuerg". eu-football.info. Retrieved 23 Aug 2015.
  6. ↑ "Unique person for a unique place" (PDF). GSSE News - The Official Newspaper of the Games of the Small States of Europe in Luxembourg 2013 (Luxembourg). 27 May 2013. p. 3. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  7. ↑ http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/FirstDiv/uefaorg/Publications/01/67/03/93/1670393_DOWNLOAD.pdf
  8. ↑ "Les entraîneurs nationaux du Luxembourg" (in French). profootball.lu. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  9. ↑ "Cadre". Fédération Luxembourgeoise de Football. Retrieved 12 Sep 2015.
  10. ↑ "Jeff Strasser - International Appearances". RSSSF. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  11. ↑ "Léon Mart - Goals in International Matches". RSSSF. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  12. ↑ "Golden Players take centre stage". UEFA. Archived from the original on 2008-05-19. Retrieved 2008-05-24.
  13. ↑ "Match amical international Luxembourg – Bosnie-Herzégovine : 0 - 3".
  14. 1 2 "Luxembourg - Record International Players". RSSSF. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
  15. ↑ "Marah Halim Cup (Medan, Indonesia)". RSSSF. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
  16. ↑ "Rules & Governance - Law 3: The number of players". The FA. Retrieved 25 Oct 2014.

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