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Luxembourg national football team facts for kids

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This page is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Luxembourg women's national football team.
Quick facts for kids
Luxembourg
Shirt badge/Association crest
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 Laurent Jans
Most caps Mario Mutsch / Laurent Jans (102)
Top scorer Gerson Rodrigues (21)
Home stadium Stade de Luxembourg
FIFA code LUX
First colours
Second colours
Third colours
FIFA ranking
Current 87 Decrease 1 (7 February 2019)
Highest 82 (September 2018)
Lowest 195 (August 2006)
Elo ranking
Current 118 Increase 6 (3 March 2019)
Highest 69 (13 May 1945)
Lowest 190 (12 October 2005)
First international
 Luxembourg 1–4 France 
(Luxembourg, Luxembourg; 29 October 1911)
Biggest win
 Luxembourg 6–0 Afghanistan 
(Brighton, England; 26 July 1948)
Biggest defeat
 Germany 9–0 Luxembourg 
(Berlin, Germany; 4 August 1936)
 Luxembourg 0–9 England 
(Luxembourg, Luxembourg; 19 October 1960)
 England 9–0 Luxembourg 
(London, England; 15 December 1982)
 Portugal 9–0 Luxembourg 
(Almancil, Portugal; 11 September 2023)

The Luxembourg national football team (nicknamed the Red Lions; Luxembourgish: Lëtzebuergesch Foussballnationalekipp, 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 de Luxembourg 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 2024, they have 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

The Luxembourg national football team in 1920 (above), and in 2015

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 1948 and 1952). In between, Luxembourg started participating at qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup, but as of 2022 they have never qualified.

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

Voorronde van Wereldkampioenschap voetbal te Rotterdam, Nederland tegen Luxembur, Bestanddeelnr 922-2390
The Luxembourg team in 1969, before a World Cup qualifier

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]". 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.

On 28 March 2021, Luxembourg beat the Republic of Ireland in a 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification match with a goal from Gerson Rodrigues in the 85th minute. In 2023, Luxembourg achieved some of their best results in European Championship qualifying, finishing third in their group (of six teams) and qualifying for a play-off for a finals berth (only to lose 2-0 to Georgia. Rodrigues also became the top goalscorer in the history of the national team, surpassing the 16-goal tally by Léon Mart, by scoring 5 goals during the qualifying process (also a record for a Luxembourgish player).

Kit

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.

Kit provider Period
Germany Adidas 1976–2005
Italy Erreà 2005–2007
Germany Jako 2008–2013
Germany Adidas 2014–2018
Italy Macron 2018–2022
Italy Erreà 2022–present

Home stadium

As of 1 September 2021, the Luxembourg national team adopted Luxembourg City's, Stade de Luxembourg the country's national stadium, as its home venue. Formerly, the team played at the Stade Josy Barthel, where, at counting in August 2015, it had played 235 games, including unofficial matches. It is also used for rugby union and athletics.

Results and fixtures

Main page: Luxembourg national football team results

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

      Win       Draw       Loss       Fixture

2023

2024

Current staff

Luc Holtz
Luc Holtz, the current Luxembourg manager

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

Position Name
Technical Director Luxembourg Manuel Cardoni
Head coach Luxembourg Luc Holtz
Assistant coach Luxembourg Mario Mutsch
Goalkeeping coach Luxembourg Rui Forte
Fitness coach Luxembourg Claude Origer
Doctor Luxembourg Dr. Patrick Dang
Luxembourg Dr. Lara Heinz
Physiotherapists Luxembourg Erwan Deshoux
Luxembourg Gilles Hoffmann
Germany Alexander Kähler
Video analyst France Clément Gonin
Equipment manager Luxembourg Léon Huss
Luxembourg Jos Koecher
Luxembourg Romain Sailer

Coaching history

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

  • Luxembourg Paul Feierstein (1933–1948)
  • Luxembourg Jean-Pierre Hoscheid, Jules Müller, & Albert Reuter (1948–1949)
  • Austria Adolf Patek (1949–1953)
  • Hungary Béla Volentik (1953–1955)
  • Austria Eduard Havlicek (1955)
  • Hungary Nándor Lengyel (1955–1959)
  • France Pierre Sinibaldi (1959–1960)
  • West Germany Robert Heinz (1960–1969)
  • Austria Ernst Melchior (1969–1972)
  • France Gilbert Legrand (1972–1977)
  • Luxembourg Arthur Schoos (1978)
  • Luxembourg Louis Pilot (1978–1984)
  • Belgium Jozef Vliers (1984)
  • Luxembourg Josy Kirchens (1985)
  • Luxembourg Paul Philipp (1985–2001)
  • Denmark Allan Simonsen (2001–2004)
  • Luxembourg Guy Hellers (2004–2010)
  • Luxembourg Luc Holtz (2010–present)

Players

Main page: List of Luxembourg international footballers

Current squad

The following players were called up for the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying play-offs match against Georgia on 21 March 2024 and the play-offs or friendly match on 26 March 2024.

Caps and goals as of 26 March 2024 after the match against Kazakhstan.

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1 1GK Anthony Moris (1990-04-29) 29 April 1990 (age 33) 65 0 Belgium Union SG
12 1GK Ralph Schon (1990-01-20) 20 January 1990 (age 34) 18 0 Luxembourg Wiltz 71
23 1GK Tiago Pereira Cardoso (2006-04-07) 7 April 2006 (age 18) 1 0 Germany Borussia Mönchengladbach U19
3 2DF Enes Mahmutović (1997-05-22) 22 May 1997 (age 26) 31 0 Bulgaria CSKA Sofia
13 2DF Vahid Selimović (1997-04-03) 3 April 1997 (age 27) 11 1 Bosnia and Herzegovina Željezničar
14 2DF Seid Korać (2001-10-20) 20 October 2001 (age 22) 6 0 Serbia Vojvodina
18 2DF Laurent Jans (Captain) (1992-08-05) 5 August 1992 (age 31) 102 1 Germany Waldhof Mannheim
20 2DF Eldin Džogović (2003-06-08) 8 June 2003 (age 20) 4 0 Germany 1. FC Magdeburg
22 2DF Marvin Martins (1995-02-17) 17 February 1995 (age 29) 34 3 Austria Austria Wien
2DF Maxime Chanot (1989-11-21) 21 November 1989 (age 34) 69 4 United States Los Angeles FC
2DF Mica Pinto (1993-06-04) 4 June 1993 (age 30) 32 1 Netherlands Vitesse
4 3MF Florian Bohnert (1997-11-09) 9 November 1997 (age 26) 45 1 France Bastia
7 3MF Lars Gerson (1990-02-05) 5 February 1990 (age 34) 97 4 Norway Kongsvinger
8 3MF Christopher Martins (1997-02-19) 19 February 1997 (age 27) 66 1 Russia Spartak Moscow
15 3MF Olivier Thill (1996-12-17) 17 December 1996 (age 27) 43 3 Ukraine LNZ Cherkasy
16 3MF Leandro Barreiro (2000-01-03) 3 January 2000 (age 24) 56 2 Germany Mainz 05
19 3MF Mathias Olesen (2001-03-21) 21 March 2001 (age 23) 20 1 Switzerland Yverdon
21 3MF Sébastien Thill (1993-12-29) 29 December 1993 (age 30) 36 2 Poland Stal Rzeszów
2 4FW David Jonathans (2004-01-26) 26 January 2004 (age 20) 2 0 Germany Bayern Munich II
5 4FW Alessio Curci (2002-02-16) 16 February 2002 (age 22) 10 1 Belgium Francs Borains
6 4FW Edvin Muratović (1997-02-15) 15 February 1997 (age 27) 15 1 Poland Resovia
9 4FW Danel Sinani (1997-04-05) 5 April 1997 (age 27) 62 13 Germany FC St. Pauli
10 4FW Gerson Rodrigues (1995-06-20) 20 June 1995 (age 28) 61 21 Slovakia Slovan Bratislava
11 4FW Yvandro Borges Sanches (2004-05-24) 24 May 2004 (age 19) 25 3 Netherlands NEC
17 4FW Aiman Dardari (2005-03-21) 21 March 2005 (age 19) 2 0 Germany Mainz 05 U19

Recent call-ups

The following players have also been called up to the Luxembourg squad during last 12 months and are still eligible for selection.

Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up
GK Timothy Martin (2000-02-06) 6 February 2000 (age 24) 0 0 Belgium Virton v.  Malta, 9 June 2023
DF Dirk Carlson (1998-04-01) 1 April 1998 (age 26) 53 0 Austria St. Pölten v.  Liechtenstein, 19 November 2023
DF Sofiane Ikene (2005-02-27) 27 February 2005 (age 19) 1 0 Germany 1. FC Nürnberg v.  Portugal, 11 September 2023
DF Tim Hall (1997-04-15) 15 April 1997 (age 27) 4 0 Vietnam Hanoi v.  Malta, 9 June 2023
DF Fabio Lohei (2005-04-12) 12 April 2005 (age 19) 2 0 France Metz v.  Malta, 9 June 2023
DF Miguel Gonçalves (2004-08-18) 18 August 2004 (age 19) 0 0 Portugal Gil Vicente v.  Malta, 9 June 2023
MF Vincent Thill (2000-02-04) 4 February 2000 (age 24) 53 3 Azerbaijan Sabah v.  Liechtenstein, 19 November 2023
MF Timothé Rupil (2003-06-12) 12 June 2003 (age 20) 10 0 Germany Mainz 05 II v.  Liechtenstein, 19 November 2023
MF Rayan Berberi (2004-03-18) 18 March 2004 (age 20) 0 0 Belgium Standard Liège v.  Malta, 9 June 2023
FW James Alves Rodrigues (2004-05-06) 6 May 2004 (age 19) 0 0 Italy Venezia v.  Liechtenstein, 19 November 2023
FW Leon Elshan (2004-09-22) 22 September 2004 (age 19) 0 0 Netherlands Fortuna Sittard v.  Portugal, 11 September 2023
FW Jayson Videira (2005-02-17) 17 February 2005 (age 19) 0 0 Germany Hannover 96 v.  Iceland, 8 September 2023INJ
FW Dejvid Sinani (1993-04-02) 2 April 1993 (age 31) 3 0 Luxembourg F91 Dudelange v.  Bosnia and Herzegovina, 20 June 2023

RET Player retired from the national team.

Player records

Players in bold are still active with Luxembourg.

Most capped players

Rank Player Caps Goals Years
1 Mario Mutsch 102 4 2005–2019
Laurent Jans 102 1 2012–present
3 Daniel da Mota 100 7 2007–2021
4 Jeff Strasser 98 7 1993–2010
5 Lars Krogh Gerson 97 4 2008–present
6 René Peters 92 3 2000–2013
7 Jonathan Joubert 90 0 2006–2017
8 Eric Hoffmann 88 0 2002–2014
9 Carlo Weis 85 1 1978–1998
10 Aurélien Joachim 80 15 2005–2019

Top goalscorers

Rank Player Goals Caps Ratio Career
1 Gerson Rodrigues 21 61 0.34 2017–present
2 Léon Mart 16 24 0.67 1933–1945
3 Gustave Kemp 15 20 0.75 1938–1945
Aurélien Joachim 15 80 0.19 2005–2019
5 Camille Libar 14 24 0.58 1938–1947
6 Nicolas Kettel 13 56 0.23 1946–1959
Danel Sinani 13 62 0.21 2017–present
8 François Müller 12 27 0.44 1949–1954
9 Léon Letsch 11 48 0.23 1947–1963
10 Gilbert Dussier 9 39 0.23 1971–1978

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup record Qualification record
Year Round Position Pld W D* L GF GA Pld W D L GF GA
Uruguay 1930 Did not enter Declined invitation
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 Korea Japan 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 10 1 3 6 8 26
Qatar 2022 8 3 0 5 8 18
Canada Mexico United States 2026 To be determined To be determined
Morocco Portugal Spain 2030
Saudi Arabia 2034
Total — 0/22 — — — — — — 142 8 10 124 77 451

UEFA European Championship

UEFA European Championship record Qualifying record
Year Round Position Pld W D* L GF GA Pld W D L GF GA
France 1960 Did not enter Declined participation
Spain 1964 Did not qualify 5 1 3 1 8 8
Italy 1968 6 0 1 5 1 18
Belgium 1972 6 0 1 5 1 23
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 1976 6 0 0 6 7 28
Italy 1980 6 0 1 5 2 17
France 1984 8 0 0 8 5 36
West Germany 1988 8 0 1 7 2 23
Sweden 1992 6 0 0 6 2 14
England 1996 10 3 1 6 3 21
Belgium Netherlands 2000 8 0 0 8 2 23
Portugal 2004 8 0 0 8 0 21
Austria Switzerland 2008 12 1 0 11 2 23
Poland Ukraine 2012 10 1 1 8 3 21
France 2016 10 1 1 8 6 27
European Union 2020 8 1 1 6 7 16
Germany 2024 11 5 2 4 13 21
United Kingdom Republic of Ireland 2028 To be determined To be determined
Italy Turkey 2032
Total — 0/17 — — — — — — 128 13 13 102 64 340

UEFA Nations League

UEFA Nations League record
Season Division Group Pos Pld W D L GF GA P/R RK
2018–19 D 2 2nd 6 3 1 2 11 4 Rise 44th
2020–21 C 1 2nd 6 3 1 2 7 5 Same position 39th
2022–23 C 1 2nd 6 3 2 1 9 7 Same position 37th
2024–25 C 3 To be determined
Total 18 9 4 5 27 16 37th

Olympic Games

BEL-LUX SO1928
Hectic phase during the goal-rich Olympic defeat against Belgium in 1928 (5–3)
Olympic Games record
Year Round Pld W D L GF GA Squad
Belgium 1920 Round 1 1 0 0 1 0 3 Squad
France 1924 Round 2 1 0 0 1 0 2 Squad
Netherlands 1928 Round 1 1 0 0 1 3 5 Squad
Nazi Germany 1936 1 0 0 1 0 9 Squad
United Kingdom 1948 2 1 0 1 7 6 Squad
Finland 1952 2 1 0 1 6 5 Squad
Total 8 2 0 6 16 30 —

All-time record

As of 26 March 2024 after the match against Kazakhstan, the Luxembourg national team playing record is as follows:

Luxembourg's all-time international record, 1908–2024
Opponents Played Won Drawn* Lost GF GA GD  % Won
 Albania 7 2 1 4 4 10 -6 29%
 Algeria 1 0 1 0 0 0 0

0%
 Armenia 1 0 1 0 0 0 0

0%
 Austria 11 0 0 11 10 46 −36 0%
 Azerbaijan 7 3 3 1 8 6 +2 43%
 Belarus 12 2 4 6 5 13 -8 17%
 Belgium 93 8 14 71 - - - 9%
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 9 2 0 7 7 18 -11 22%
 Bulgaria 15 0 2 13 9 35 −26 0%
 Cameroon 1 0 0 1 0 2 -2 0%
 Canada 2 0 0 2 0 3 -3 0%
 Cape Verde 4 0 3 1 1 3 -2 0%
 Cyprus 5 1 0 4 4 8 -4 20%
 Czechoslovakia 10 0 2 8 7 36 −29 0%
 Czech Republic 2 1 0 1 1 3 −2 50%
 Denmark 11 0 2 9 8 33 −25 0%
 Egypt 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0%
 England 13 2 0 11 12 55 −43 15%
 Estonia 3 0 1 2 1 7 -6 0%
 Faroe Islands 6 1 2 3 5 9 -4 17%
 Finland 5 1 0 4 4 12 -8 20%
 France 63 8 9 46 - - − 13%
 Gambia 1 1 0 0 2 1 +1 100%
 Georgia 5 1 1 3 2 7 -5 20%
 Germany 22 3 1 18 - - − 14%
 Greece 9 1 0 8 3 17 −14 11%
 Hungary 11 1 1 9 12 43 −31 9%
 Iceland 9 1 4 4 7 11 -4 11%
 Israel 9 0 0 9 3 34 -31 0%
 Italy 19 1 1 17 8 71 −63 5%
 Japan 1 0 0 1 0 1 -1 0%
 Kazakhstan 1 1 0 0 2 1 +1 100%
 Latvia 7 0 1 6 4 20 −16 0%
 Liechtenstein 6 2 1 3 7 12 -5 33%
 Lithuania 6 4 1 1 8 4 +4 66%
 Madagascar 1 0 1 0 3 3 0 0%
 Malta 7 3 2 2 5 5 0 43%
 Mexico 1 1 0 0 2 1 +1 100%
 Moldova 6 1 4 1 6 3 +3 17%
 Montenegro 3 1 0 2 2 6 -4 33%
 Morocco 3 0 0 3 1 6 -5 0%
 Netherlands 24 2 2 22 - - − 8%
 Nigeria 1 0 0 1 1 3 -2 0%
 Macedonia 4 2 0 2 6 8 -2 50%
 Northern Ireland 5 1 1 3 6 10 -4 20%
 Norway 13 3 1 9 10 26 -16 23%
 Poland 7 0 1 6 5 26 −21 0%
 Portugal 22 1 1 20 - - − 5%
 Qatar 2 0 1 1 1 2 -1 0%
 Republic of Ireland 7 1 0 6 3 17 -14 14%
 Romania 6 0 0 6 1 21 -20 0%
 Russia 11 0 0 11 4 38 −34 0%
 San Marino 2 2 0 0 6 0 +6 100%
 Saudi Arabia 1 0 0 1 1 2 -1 0%
 Scotland 5 0 1 4 1 12 −11 0%
 Senegal 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0%
 Serbia 4 0 0 4 5 11 −6 0%
 Slovakia 7 1 1 5 5 16 -11 14%
 Slovenia 4 0 0 4 1 9 -8 0%
 South Korea 2 1 0 1 3 3 0 50%
 Spain 10 0 1 9 2 27 −25 0%
 Sweden 6 0 1 5 1 16 −15 0%
 Switzerland 35 5 8 22 - - − 14%
 Togo 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0%
 Turkey 9 1 1 7 9 18 -9 11%
 United States 1 0 0 1 0 2 -2 0%
 Ukraine 5 0 0 5 1 13 −12 0%
 Uruguay 1 0 0 1 0 1 −1 0%
 Wales 6 0 0 6 2 17 −15 0%
 Yugoslavia 10 0 1 9 5 30 −25 0%

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Selección de fútbol de Luxemburgo para niños

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