The Luxembourg national football team (nicknamed the Red Lions; , , ) 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 2026, 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
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 participated in qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup, but has 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.
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 qualifying 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 called the shock after the second match "David Luxembourg beat Goliath Netherlands 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 faced France in a goalless 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 defeated Hungary 2–1 in a friendly victory.
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, but they lost 2–0 against Georgia. Rodrigues also became the top goalscorer in the history of the national team, surpassing the 16-goal tally by Léon Mart, by scoring five goals during the qualifying process, a record for a Luxembourgian footballer.
On 22 March 2025, Luxembourg showed improvement with a convincing victory against Sweden in a friendly match.
Kit Kit provider Period Adidas 1976–2005 Erreà 2005–2007 Jako 2008–2013 Adidas 2014–2018 Macron 2018–2022 Erreà 2022–2026 Jako 2026–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.
Supporters
The M-Block Fanatics is a non-profit football supporters' association for the Luxembourg national football team. M-Block Fanatics was founded in 1995 and derives its name from the fact that originally they used to occupy the M-Block of the former National Stadium.
Results and fixtures
The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.
2025
2026
Staff
As of 2025, the staff of the Luxembourg national team includes the following members:
PositionNameTechnical director Manuel CardoniHead coach Jeff StrasserAssistant coach Mario MutschGoalkeeping coach Rui ForteFitness coach Claude OrigerDoctors Patrick Dang Lara HeinzPhysiotherapists Alexander Kähler Erwan Deshoux Gilles HoffmannVideo analyst Clément GoninEquipment manager Léon Huss Jos Koecher Romain Sailer
Coaching history The following managers have been in charge of Luxembourg's national squad:
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 (2010–2025) Jeff Strasser (2025–)
Players
Current squad The following players were called up for the 2026–27 UEFA Nations League matches against Bulgaria on 26 September, Iceland on 29 September, Estonia on 3 October, and Bulgaria again on 6 October 2026.
Caps and goals as of 6 October 2026 after the match against Bulgaria.
Recent call-ups The following players have been called up for the team within the last 12 months and are still available and eligible for selection.
INJ
U21
INJ
Notes PRE = Preliminary squad/standby. INJ = Not part of the current squad due to injury. WD = Player withdrew from the current squad due to non-injury issue. U21 = Player joined under-21 team after opening game of window.
Player records
Players in bold are still active with Luxembourg.
Most capped players
RankPlayerCapsGoalsYears1Laurent Jans12612012–present2Mario Mutsch10242005–20193Daniel da Mota10072007–2021Lars Gerson10042008–present5Jeff Strasser9871993–20106René Peters9232000–20137Jonathan Joubert9002006–20178Eric Hoffmann8802002–20149Anthony Moris8602014–present10Carlo Weis8511978–1998
Top goalscorers
RankPlayerGoalsCapsRatioCareer1Gerson Rodrigues23722017–20252Léon Mart16241933–1945Danel Sinani16832017–present4Gustave Kemp15201938–1945Aurélien Joachim15802005–20196Camille Libar14241938–19477Nicolas Kettel13561946–19598François Müller12271949–19549Léon Letsch11481947–196310Gilbert Dussier9391971–1978
Competitive record FIFA World Cup FIFA World Cup recordQualification recordYearRoundPosition* 1930Did not enterDeclined invitation 1934Did not qualify2002215 1938200227 1950200248 19544004119 19584004319 19624103521 19666006620 19706006424 19746105214 19786006222 19828008123 19868008227 19908017322 19948017217 19988008222 2002100010428 2006120012548 201010127425 201410136726 201810136826 20228305818 20266006113 2030To be determinedTo be determined 2034Total———————14881013078464
UEFA European Championship UEFA European Championship recordQualifying recordYearRoundPosition* 1960Did not enterDeclined participation 1964Did not qualify 5 1 3 1 8 8 1968 6 0 1 5 1 18 1972 6 0 1 5 1 23 1976 6 0 0 6 7 28 1980 6 0 1 5 2 17 1984 8 0 0 8 5 36 1988 8 0 1 7 2 23 1992 6 0 0 6 2 14 1996 10 3 1 6 3 21 2000 8 0 0 8 2 23 2004 8 0 0 8 0 21 2008 12 1 0 11 2 23 2012 10 1 1 8 3 21 2016 10 1 1 8 6 27 2020 8 1 1 6 7 16 2024 11 5 2 4 13 21 2028To be determinedTo be determined 2032Total—0/17——————128131310264340
UEFA Nations League UEFA Nations League recordLeague phasePromotion/Relegation play-offsSeasonDivisionGroup2018–19D2 2nd 6 3 1 2 11 4 44th–2020–21C1 2nd 6 3 1 2 7 5 39th2022–23C1 2nd 6 3 2 1 9 7 37th2024–25C3 4th 6 0 3 3 3 7 46th 2 2 0 0 5 02026–27C4 4th 4 1 0 3 2 7 TBDTo be determinedTotal 28 10 7 11 32 30 37th220050
Olympic Games
Olympic Games recordYearRoundSquad 1920Round 1100103Squad 1924Round 2100102Squad 1928Round 1100135Squad 1936100109Squad 1948210176Squad 1952210165SquadTotal82061630—
Head to head record As of 6 October 2026 after the match against Bulgaria, the Luxembourg national team playing record is as follows: OpponentPWDL1100831410101010700773311425720131692071913151001200240315104210170161102950051010900940136123510419111711005113151014910811119101459009100191001110070166213641110109522110061413102300310011821151001912642021221970162111192011811660061000102200100150141010400420029117500521011001600671151311111010911750051001100160069018
Footnotes
See also
Luxembourg men's national under-21 football team Luxembourg men's national under-19 football team Luxembourg men's national under-17 football team Luxembourg women's national football team
References
External links
Official website Luxembourg at FIFA Luxembourg at UEFA Results (1911–present) at RSSSF Results from unofficial games (1921–present) at RSSSF