All Day Long in the Dudelange: A Sunday at Luxembourg’s Most Successful Club

Though the bulk of these blogs will look at trips within the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Austria, there will be times when I venture beyond these four beautiful countries, especially given that I haven’t actually moved to Brno just yet. One of those occasions finds me in the beautiful commune of Dudelange.

 

The Trip to Dudelange

I paid more for my train from Stansted to Stevenage on the way home than a return flight to an entirely different country, but enough about the frankly abysmal and extortionate UK railway system. It was only  £17 for a return thanks to Skyscanner’s Explore feature, which allows you a look at some of the cheapest return flights from anywhere. A glimpse at Luxembourg as one of the options offered something unique to sink my teeth into.

 

I landed at Luxembourg airport, taking the free public transport (yep, that’s right) toward my hotel in Dudelange, arriving late on a Saturday night. I took more pride than necessary in the fact I managed to order some food in French before heading back to the hotel for some much needed rest. F91 Dudelange’s home fixture against RM Hamm Benfica was set to take place on the Sunday.

First impressions of Dudelange were very good. The view from my hotel room in particular was pretty special. 

What is the ground like?

As well as being situated in the calm and scenic Dudelange, being on the border with France allowed to take a walk over into another country in the morning. Rather confusingly, a lady honked her horn at me when driving past. It seemed doubtful that someone could recognise me at the Franco-Luxembourgish border, but who knows?

 

As it’s a small town, you’re unlikely to ever be far from Luxembourg’s most successful club. The open seating opposite the main stand was bathed in sunshine, with butterflies fluttering aplenty. On the other side is the covered main stand, with standing also an option behind one of the goals. I chose to stand in the second half, avoiding the heat and butterflies.

 

The Dudelange fans create a pretty fun atmosphere in the modest Stade Jos Nosbaum, with the stadium only boasting 2,558 capacity. The drum was pounding all game, which wasn’t too surprising given the resounding 7-0 score line in today’s title deciding game. RM Hamm Benfica were pretty hapless, having amassed a mere 4 points all season. Their final fixture being away to the prospective champions meant the result was basically a foregone conclusion.

 

For those that enjoy a good backdrop, F91 haven’t done too badly with the commune’s water tower visible above the main stand. Toward the French border of the south, seemingly endless forestry. Simply put, it’s a pretty stunning place to take in a game of football.

Who are ya?

It's fair to say Luxembourg itself is a little off the radar, let alone F91 Dudelange. That said, the National Team have made strides, with the likes of Norwich’s Daniel Sinani becoming household names. Victories over the likes of Greece and Slovakia also mark huge improvements over the last decade.

 

As for F91 Dudelange, this moniker stems from the club’s formation in 1991. The club was built from a merger of three Dudelange clubs, namely Alliance, Stade and US Dudelange respectively. The domestic success since formation has been monumental, with 15 league titles and 8 Luxembourg Cups won in just over three decades.

 

Though success took a while to build, the club started on the right foot, getting promoted from the 2^nd tier in their first season. Their first title wouldn’t come for another 8 years, though they impressively curtailed Jeunesse Esch’s dominance of the Luxembourgish game.

 

Five successive titles followed, and Dudelange were clearly becoming a domestic monster. In Europe, 2005-06 became a historic season for Luxembourgish football, with Dudelange’s win over Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Zrinjski Mostar marking a first instance of a Luxembourg side winning in a European qualifying round. Even heavy defeat to Rapid Wien in the next round wouldn’t take that achievement away.

 

The same old domestic dominance continued rarely abated, with 2012-13 finding F91 closer to group stage football than ever. They saw off Tre Penne and RB Salzburg, before loss to Maribor consigned them to a Europa League play off against Hapoel Tel Aviv, which they lost heavily.

 

Just as Europe was beginning to look like a closed shop for those from Luxembourg, 2018-19 proved otherwise with something truly historic. Defeat to Hungarian side MOL Vidi saw them drop into Europa League qualification, where victories over Drita, Legia Warsaw and a famous one over CFR Cluj saw them reach a first ever group stage with the giants of Olympiacos, Milan and Real Betis. Though a 0-0 against Betis was the high point, it was still a gargantuan achievement.

 

They did it again a couple of years later, this time losing to Valletta, only to beat Shkendija, Nomme Kalju and Ararat-Armenia on their way to another Europa League group stage with Sevilla, APOEL and Qarabag. They even picked up a famous 4-3 win in Cyprus against APOEL.

 

With the Europa Conference League opening more doors for the likes of F91, it’s a shame they missed out to Lech Poznan for a place in the group stages this season, but it’s clear that Luxembourg’s stock is most certainly rising and will continue to do so for a while yet. F91 Dudelange are certainly doing their part in allowing it to.