Football in Luxembourg is governed by the
Luxembourg Football Federation
The Luxembourg Football Federation ( lb, Lëtzebuerger Foussballfederatioun; french: Fédération Luxembourgeoise de Football, FLF; german: Luxemburger Fußballföderation) is the governing body of football in Luxembourg. It organises the Luxembou ...
(FLF), which is a member of
FIFA and
UEFA
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...
. The FLF organises the
men's,
women's and
futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football.
Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is ...
national teams, in addition to the main domestic competitions, the
National Division and the
Luxembourg Cup
The Luxembourg Cup () is the national knockout cup competition in Luxembourgian football. It was first held in 1922, and has been held annually since, with the exception of the four seasons during the German occupation during Second World War
...
.
Despite football being so popular, Luxembourg has rarely had a club pass the second round of qualifying for the Champions League. However, in the
2018-19 Europa League,
F91 Dudelange
F91 Dudelange (; lb, F91 Diddeleng, italic=no, ) is a Luxembourger professional football club based in Dudelange which plays in the Luxembourg National Division.
It was formed in 1991 as a merger between three teams in the town: Alliance Dud ...
became the first team from
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
to qualify to the group stage of a major European Competition when they beat
CFR Cluj
Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ), is a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, which competes in the Liga I. It was founded in 1907 as ''Kolozsvári Vasutas Sport Club'', whe ...
of
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...
in the
Play-Offs
The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...
5-2 on aggregate.
The first match of the national team was played on 29 October 1911 (defeat 1–4 against France ), while the first women's game was a 0–4 defeat to
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
on 18 November 2006.
History
The oldest football club in Luxembourg is
Fola Esch, founded as the "Football and Lawntennis Club" on 9 December 1906 by English language teacher Jean Roeder. Being the oldest club in the country, they are also part of the
Club of Pioneers, a group set up by
Sheffield FC
Sheffield Football Club is an English football club from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, although now based in nearby Dronfield, across the county boundary in Derbyshire. They currently compete in the . Founded in October 1857, to join together the oldest clubs in each country.
It wasn't until 1908 that enough clubs had been created to form the
Luxembourg Football Federation
The Luxembourg Football Federation ( lb, Lëtzebuerger Foussballfederatioun; french: Fédération Luxembourgeoise de Football, FLF; german: Luxemburger Fußballföderation) is the governing body of football in Luxembourg. It organises the Luxembou ...
(FLF). The following year, in 1909, the FLF organised the first
National Division league, which would be won by
Racing Club Luxembourg. Racing were also the first team to win the
inaugural Luxembourg Cup 12 years later. The
women's league started in the 1971–73 season and was won by the
Atert Bissen women's team. A
women's cup competition started in 2001–02, where the
Progrès Niederkorn women's team won the trophy.
Luxembourg, as a nation, was affiliated with
FIFA in 1910, and then with
UEFA
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...
in 1954. The first match of the
national team
A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport.
The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...
was a 1–4 defeat at home to France on 29 October 1910. It was only in 2006 that the
national women's team played their first game, a 0–4 defeat to Slovakia at home in the
2009 UEFA Euro Qualifying stage. The country hosted their first, and so far only, national tournament in 2006 when they hosted the
Euro Under-17 Euro tournament, where they failed to progress beyond the group stage. Until 2017, Luxembourg were consistently ranked outside the top 100 teams by FIFA, but after some good results, namely in the
UEFA Nations League
The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body.
The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...
, they are now ranked 84th.
The national stadium, the
Stade de Luxembourg was opened in September 2021, replacing the outdated
Stade Josy Barthel
The Stade Josy Barthel is the former national stadium of Luxembourg, and the former home of the Luxembourg national football team. The stadium, which also hosted rugby union and athletics events, is located on route d'Arlon, in the Luxembour ...
, first inaugurated in 1931, as the home of the country's national team.
Since the turn of the century, the domestic league has been dominated by F91 Dudelange, having won 14 league titles as well as 7 Luxembourg Cup titles. This is still some way behind the most successful team in the country,
Jeunesse Esch
Jeunesse Esch (full name ''Association Sportive la Jeunesse d'Esch/Alzette'') is a football club, based in Esch-sur-Alzette, in south-western Luxembourg. The side play in the National Division, the highest league in the country, and have won th ...
, with 28 league titles, however Dudelange was only founded as recently as 1991. They added to this success by becoming the first Luxembourgish team to qualify for the group stage of the Europa League in 2018–19, after dropping out of the Champions League Qualification Stage.
Rankings
FIFA Ranking
UEFA Coefficient
League system
Seasons in Luxembourg Football
The
National Division started with the 1909–10 season, which was won by
Racing Club Luxembourg. The
Luxembourg Cup
The Luxembourg Cup () is the national knockout cup competition in Luxembourgian football. It was first held in 1922, and has been held annually since, with the exception of the four seasons during the German occupation during Second World War
...
was started twelve seasons later, with the 1921–22 edition being won by Racing Club Luxembourg. During the 1912–13 and 1940–41 to 1943–44 there were no competitive competitions held in Luxembourg.
Luxembourg National Division Seasons
Luxembourg Cup Seasons
Luxembourg Clubs in European Competitions
Luxembourg football clubs have participated in European football competitions since
Spora Luxembourg first took part in the
1956–57 European Cup
The 1956–57 European Cup was the second season of the European Cup, Europe's premier club football tournament. The competition was won for the second time by Real Madrid, who beat Fiorentina 2–0 in the final at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, ...
. In total, 23 different clubs have since represented Luxembourg in European competition. Of these, 14 are still in existence while the remaining 9 were merged into a new or existing team.
In the
2018–19 UEFA Europa League
The 2018–19 UEFA Europa League was the 48th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 10th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League.
The final was played at the Olympic Sta ...
,
F91 Dudelange
F91 Dudelange (; lb, F91 Diddeleng, italic=no, ) is a Luxembourger professional football club based in Dudelange which plays in the Luxembourg National Division.
It was formed in 1991 as a merger between three teams in the town: Alliance Dud ...
became the first Luxembourgish club to compete in the group stage of a modern European competition.
National team
The national team has had limited international success and has never qualified for a
European Championship or
World Cup
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...
. According to the
FIFA World Ranking
The FIFA Men's World Ranking is a ranking system for men's national teams in association football, led by Brazil . The teams of the men's member nations of FIFA, football's world governing body, are ranked based on their game results with the ...
, the national team is currently ranked 98th (June 2020).
References
External links
flf.lu- Luxembourg football federation
worldfootball.net- Luxembourg
{{DEFAULTSORT:Football In Luxembourg