Luxembourg national football team
The Luxembourg national football team 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 every FIFA World Cup qualifiers since those for the 1934 World Cup and in UEFA European Championship qualifiers since those for Euro 1964. As of 2018, they never qualified for any of these major tournaments. Luxembourg is the nation with the most qualifying campaigns in both of these competitions without ever making it to the finals. However they did compete in six Olympic football events between 1920 and 1952.
History
Luxembourg played their first ever international match on 29 October 1911, in a friendly match against France; it resulted in a 1–4 defeat. Their first victory came on 8 February 1914, also in a match against France, which they won 5–4.The national side of Luxembourg competed in six Olympic football events between 1920 and 1952, and survived the preliminary round twice. In between, Luxembourg started participating at qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup, but as of 2018 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.
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 ". 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 aggregate 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.
On 3 September 2017, Luxembourg held France to a 0–0 draw at Stadium Municipal in Toulouse, France. It was the first time France had failed to win against Luxembourg since 1914, when Luxembourg won 5–4. On 10 November 2017, Luxembourg pulled off an upset by defeating Hungary 2–1 in a friendly.
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
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. 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. The stadium is also home to the biggest athletics club in the country, CAL Spora Luxembourg. The spectator capacity is 8,000; some seats are under cover, some in the open air.
Management
The following managers have been in charge of Luxembourg's national squad:| Name | Nationality | Luxembourg career |
| Paul Feierstein | 1933–1948 | |
| Jean-Pierre Hoscheid Jules Müller Albert Reuter | 1948–1949 | |
| Adolf Patek | 1949–1953 | |
| Béla Volentik | 1953–1955 | |
| Eduard Havlicek | 1955 | |
| Nándor Lengyel | 1955–1959 | |
| Pierre Sinibaldi | 1959–1960 | |
| Robert Heinz | 1960–1969 | |
| Ernst Melchior | 1969–1972 | |
| Gilbert Legrand | 1972–1977 | |
| Arthur Schoos | 1978 | |
| Louis Pilot | 1978–1984 | |
| Jozef Vliers | 1984 | |
| Josy Kirchens | 1985 | |
| Paul Philipp | 1985–2001 | |
| Allan Simonsen | 2001–2004 | |
| Guy Hellers | 2004–2010 | |
| Luc Holtz | 2010–present |
Current staff
The crew that guides the Luxembourg national team includes following members:| Position | Name |
| Manager | Luc Holtz |
| Goalkeeping coach | Frank Thieltges |
| Physical coach | Claude Origer |
| Technical director | Reinhold Breu |
| Team doctors | Marc Reuter Robert Huberty |
| Physiotherapists | Yannick Zenner Ben Moes |
Players
In 2004, the Luxembourg Football Federation selected Louis Pilot as their Golden Player, Luxembourg's greatest player of the past 50 years.Current squad
The following players were called up for the Euro 2020 qualifying matches against Serbia on 14 November 2019 and Portugal on 17 November 2019.Recent call-ups
The following players have also been called up to the Luxembourg squad during last 12 months.RET Player retired from the national team.
Previous squads
As of 17 November 2019 after the match against Portugal.| # | Player | Caps | Period |
| 1 | Mario Mutsch | 102 | 2005–2019 |
| 2 | Daniel da Mota | 99 | 2007– |
| 3 | Jeff Strasser | 98 | 1993–2010 |
| 4 | René Peters | 93 | 2000–2013 |
| 5 | Jonathan Joubert | 90 | 2006–2017 |
| 6 | Eric Hoffmann | 89 | 2002–2014 |
| 7 | Carlo Weis | 87 | 1978–1998 |
| 8 | Aurélien Joachim | 80 | 2005– |
| 9 | François Konter | 77 | 1955–1969 |
| 10 | Lars Krogh Gerson | 75 | 2008– |
Top goalscorers
As of 17 November 2019 after the match against Portugal.| # | Player | Goals | Period |
| 1 | Léon Mart | 16 | 1933–1945 |
| 2 | Gustave Kemp | 15 | 1938–1945 |
| 2 | Aurélien Joachim | 15 | 2005– |
| 4 | Camille Libar | 14 | 1938–1947 |
| 5 | Nicolas Kettel | 13 | 1946–1959 |
| 6 | François Müller | 12 | 1949–1954 |
| 7 | Léon Letsch | 11 | 1947–1963 |
| 8 | Gilbert Dussier | 9 | 1971–1978 |
Competitive record
FIFA World Cup
UEFA European Championship
Olympic Games
Minor tournaments
Results and forthcoming fixtures
As of 17 November 2019 after the match against Portugal, the Luxembourg national team playing record is as follows:| Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against |
| 403 | 36 | 49 | 318 | 250 | 1105 |
Recent results and fixtures are as follows:
2019
2020
Head to head records
As of 17 November 2019 after the match against Portugal.| Opponent | P | W | D | L |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | |
| 12 | 2 | 4 | 6 | |
| 19 | 1 | 3 | 15 | |
| 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| 14 | 0 | 1 | 13 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 7 | 0 | 1 | 6 | |
| 11 | 0 | 2 | 9 | |
| 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 9 | 0 | 0 | 9 | |
| 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | |
| 18 | 1 | 1 | 16 | |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 13 | 1 | 0 | 12 | |
| 9 | 1 | 0 | 8 | |
| 10 | 1 | 0 | 9 | |
| 7 | 0 | 3 | 4 | |
| 9 | 0 | 0 | 9 | |
| 9 | 0 | 1 | 8 | |
| 7 | 0 | 1 | 6 | |
| 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 18 | 2 | 1 | 15 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | |
| 11 | 2 | 1 | 8 | |
| 7 | 0 | 1 | 6 | |
| 17 | 1 | 1 | 15 | |
| 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
| 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 | |
| 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | |
| 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | |
| 12 | 1 | 1 | 10 | |
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | |
| 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| 9 | 0 | 1 | 8 |