Football in Luxembourg has grown by leaps and bounds. The tiny European state was at the bottom of the UEFA rankings just over ten years ago. Even behind San Marino, considered the worst European team. Progress and investment in recent seasons have allowed Luxembourg football to develop.
Many factors have played a role in this growth. The best crop of national players, the heavy investment of clubs such as Dudelange and the birth of the UEFA Nations League. This competition has seen the best results in Luxembourg football.
BGL League
The BGL League is the top division of football in Luxembourg. It is home to the vast majority of Luxembourg’s most highly rated players. Although it is a very small state, its football history dates back to 1909, when it was first played in the BGL.z.
Teams and format of the BGL League
The Luxembourg first division is made up of 16 teams, an astonishing number for such a small country. Dudelange are the current dominators of the competition. Their monopoly has now lasted 20 years, with the exceptions of the Grevenmacher, Fola and Jeunesse Esch championships.
The first-placed team advances to the Champions League, the second-placed to the Europa League, and the third-placed to the Conference League. The bottom two are relegated to the Second Division, while the second last team plays a play-off against the third-placed team in the Second Division.
Dudelange recently made history by reaching the group stage of the Europa League in 2019. They were the first Luxembourg team to do so. They even managed to compete toe-to-toe with Real Betis and managed a goalless draw at home.
Historical track record
The BGL League has two clubs that have lifted the vast majority of titles: Jeunesse d’Esch, with 28 championships; and Dudelange, with 15 titles (all since the 2000s). Fola Esch and Avenir Beggen follow with seven and six titles respectively.
It is worth noting that the clubs Spora Luxembourg and Stade Dudelange had 11 and 10 leagues respectively, but disappeared. In fact, nine of the 15 clubs that managed to win a league no longer exist.
Luxembourg national team
The Luxembourg national team is the cotton wool test. The higher level of Luxembourg’s best players has enabled the small country to get itself on everyone’s lips. Despite not qualifying for a World Cup or a European Championship, they have been the talk of the town in recent months.
Nations League success
The Luxembourg national team was promoted from D to C league in the Nations League during its first edition. Quite an achievement for a national team that summarises its matches in defeats for a large part of the official matches. In last year’s edition they could even have been promoted to the B league, but Montenegro avoided it on the last matchday.
In international competitions, he has only participated in the Olympic Games. It has done so on five occasions. Luxembourg’s best results are the Round of 16 in 1924 and 1948. In the latter, they achieved the biggest win in their history, a 6-0 thrashing of Afghanistan.
Luxembourg players in Spain
Luxembourg is a very small state. Despite having a large established league with numerous clubs, opportunities are scarce. Thus, the best football players from Luxembourg travel to Spain in search of opportunities to become professional players.
They travel to international football academies to maximise their talent. SIA Academy is one of the favourite places for Luxembourg players. They train, compete and live in a high-performance environment so that they can return home as sports stars.
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