The early rounds of European competitions are, for me, the embodiment of what international club football should all be about. Even allowing for the vacuum packed nature of these competitions these days, which is quite nauseating, at least the wee man gets to have a go. Those lands in the higher echelon of co-efficiencies, even if the club has never played European football before, means they can go straight to group football, should that be right? The one that always sticks in my throat was in 2015, when my side Inverness CT qualified for our first and quite possibly only time. We were unseeded, I get that, but Augsburg, a Bavarian city, bizarrely twinned with the capital of the Scottish Highlands, also debuted in European football that year, and went straight into group action. My attempt to get the two clubs fans closer fell on deaf ears, which is unusual. My experience of German fans is that they have a need to feel associated with others, and fan ‘twinning’ is their thing. Inverness are probably not ‘cool’ enough!
An even more dreadful tennis ladder of a competition is the Coppa Italia. It sees limited sides from outside the top two leagues involved, and invariably, they are all out before the season starts. Ancona in 1994 were the last non Serie A side to make the final. The joy of teams in a hat is alien in Italy, and seemingly in UEFA too. Even in the early rounds of UEFA competitions, pots of teams are separated into those seeded versus the non seeds. Especially in the Conference League, why not just put all the names in a pot and draw it.
I was primed and ready for my opening game of the 2025/26 competitive season to be a European tie, and my enthusiasm for Kairat Almaty had me hoping to go and see them, but before the draw was made, their four potential opponents were all relatively far out east. They drew Olimpia Ljubljana, the nearest option, but ultimately with no direct flights from Edinburgh to anywhere vaguely close, it meant a 3-4 nighter would have been needed, and I wasn’t looking to be away that long. That was a Champions League First Round gig, but two hours later, my other “wish” was a nice tie for Racing Union Luxembourg from another league I follow closely. They are in the Conference League, and they drew the Georgian side Dila Gori. This was the one for me, and I immediately got onto booking flights, trains, and accommodation for a 2 night skip.
A few years ago, I had flown directly to Luxembourg City from Edinburgh for three European games in the Grand Duchy, lined up perfectly one after the other, Tuesday to Thursday. There would be no repeat, and I was also aware that direct flights no longer exist from Edinburgh. The nearest airport is Charleroi in Belgium, then a few trains into the Luxembourg capital. Within an hour of that draw, I was all organised.
I need to put my hands up and say, “I am a Racing boy” (Yo soy de Racing). A near lifetime of devotion to the Avellaneda side, even before seeing them for the first time in 2000 versus Boca in El Cilindro. It merely supercharged my enthusiasm. That passion has introduced me to lifelong friends. One of whom an extraordinary, larger than life character, Dr Jorge, who had been at the 1967 World Club matches in Avellaneda and Montevideo for the ‘fight club’ rehearsals with Celtic. The myth of those matches and the feeling that another side of the tale existed was probably where my interest grew. Jorge visited Scotland a number of years ago with his wife, and we went to Hampden, where the first leg had been played. In the museum is a display of memorabilia from the occasion. The pride, the joy, it got too much for him, and tears flowed. It was a proud moment for me, too, sharing that experience with him. It closed a circle for such a passionate fan, who sadly is no longer with us.
My triumvirate of matches in 2019 lit the touch paper for following the Luxembourg league closely. One of my articles spawned from that trip was about Fola Esch, who were amongst the leading clubs in the country at the time. Post Covid, having twice survived by the skin of their teeth, where even the promotion/relegation one off matches are heavily weighted in favour of the top flight team, with the game on their own pitch. Eventually, the ills of Fola were beyond saving, and they were automatically relegated in May. It probably didn’t make many waves in the media anywhere else, but in Luxembourg, this was big news.
The nature of football in a small land means that UEFA competition monies and/or a sugar daddy can catapult a team to quick success. Swift Hesperange are a case in point in Luxembourg, but even after an initial woosh at the title, and the loss of their money man, even they must joust with the more old school F91 Dudelange and this season’s successful defending Champions, the Red Boys of old, now known as Differdange 03.
Bobbing along in the second vanguard, you will find Racing Union Luxembourg, the only team from the capital in the top flight these days. This was a multiple side merger a number of years ago, where it was felt that the sum of the various parts could make a greater fist of it. Racing Club Luxembourg merged with Union Sportive Luxembourg, who had already brought into a “union”, Spora and Aris Bonnevoie, two of the four constituent parts that you might have come across previously. Spora may well ring a bell with Sheffield Wednesday fans, as they met in European competition back in 1991/92, getting whacked 8-1 at Hillsborough, although they did have the joy of equalising after Chris Waddle had put the Owls in front.
Football in Luxembourg has always been largely a small-time affair. Even the national side weren’t great for many decades, but they have recovered a lot of lost ground and are now a lot more competitive and can on their day get a famous old win, just ask the Republic of Ireland a few years ago, stunned 1-0 in Dublin. The level that their international players now are coming from is getting higher, with one Luxembourg lad getting involved in the Club World Cup playing for Benfica, Leandro Barreiro. If the name sounds distinctly Portuguese, keep in mind that a large diaspora of that nation is in Luxembourg (per head of population maybe the largest in Europe), with RM Hamm Benfica, a lower tier club in the Grand Duchy, suitably named. However, just recently, following the clubs last relegation from the top flight, they have endeavoured to open the club to a wider audience and are now called Luxembourg City.
On my previous visit to Luxembourg, I spent a couple of days dotting around stadia in Petange, Niedercorn, Differdange and Dudelange to do a generic country guide to Luxembourg for the magazine, and that all started with a relatively straightforward walk down from my hotel to the well appointed Achille Hammerel stadium in the capital, home of Racing Union Letzebuerg (they prefer to use the Luxembourgish name). It has a fabulous old, beautifully preserved stand, with an overall capacity just shy of 6,000. I was delighted to learn that it was UEFA approved for the early rounds, and while a game at the new National stadium on the outskirts of the city would have been acceptable too, it made this tie all the more special seeing them play at home.
If Luxembourg football is open to the vagaries of men with money, it’s even worse in Georgia, where attendances are low, and largely entry is free! In 2019, when Fola Esch entertained a Georgian side, FC Chikhura Sachkhere, the winner was going to play Aberdeen. I duly did a programme story for the Dons about the Georgians, who had won both legs 2-1 versus Fola. I had noted the club had dropped off the top flight listings, and in researching for this article discovered that since 2020 they have been in a tailspin with relegation 4 out of 5 campaigns now seeing them reside in the regional fifth tier. Commendably, they didn’t go bust, but my goodness, a classic example of being unable to arrest a downward momentum that will cheer up any Northampton Town fans of yesteryear. It is fair to say that it will be a long time before the name Chikhura graces European football again. Georgia has a fifth level, who knew!
By contrast, Dila Gori are perhaps the Racing Union equivalent of the Georgian league. They are always competitive, and while winning trophies was limited (just one, the Georgian Cup of 2012), just days before heading to Luxembourg, they won the Georgian Super Cup for the first time beating Spaeri in the final.
Third place is a favourite finishing position for Dila, which translates as “morning”. The name emanates from a poem written by Joseph Stalin, who lived out his childhood in Gori, before becoming Supreme Leader of the Soviet Union, with more than a penchant for coming down hard on his own Georgian brethren. I have been to Georgia twice but never ventured to Gori, where his childhood home has been turned into a museum. I was informed by Steph, one of my RWDM buddies, that the tour guides are full of extolling the virtues of the man, with not as much as a faint whiff of the tyrant that he would become. This largely goes against the grain of the Georgians I have met, but in hometown Gori, keeping up a romantic notion of the man is maybe good for tourism. It does beg the question, though, were the Gallagher brothers really meaning, ‘what’s the story morning Gori’, when they coined that classic anthem?!
This was the ninth European adventure for Dila, as opposed to just the fifth for the merged Luxembourgers, who have lost 7 (all 4 home matches) and drawn one of the 8 games they have played in UEFA competitions. Their solitary European coefficient point came in a 0-0 draw in Romania at Viitorul Constanta. A trip to Luxembourg City would be the furthest West on mainland Europe Dila have ever been in their 15th ties, albeit they did once have to fly to Madeira to play Maritimo in Funchal, in a Play Off round match up, a stage they have reached twice, but as yet have failed to make the group stages. The portents were all pointing towards an away win, but could Racing make history and send their fans’ home happy for the first ever time in Europe? Well, I was about to discover.
Luxembourg City is a lovely place, with a population of just under 135,000. The old town area down in the gorge is a true escape from the traffic and bustle of a big EU hub city, where the proximity of so many neighbouring countries sees many commute from outside Luxembourg, or if staying for work during the week, by the weekend many have headed home. This transient nature of the population makes it difficult for Racing or any city based team to get a good number of fans in the door.
It’s an expensive and sophisticated city, the heartland of a relatively small but very rich country. All transport, buses, and trains are free all over the country, an enticement for everyone, not just those residing in the Grand Duchy, even if it takes a bit of getting used to. Not having to fret about where to buy a ticket, though, is an absolute winner. If you step off a plane at Findel Airport, Luxembourg, a tram will whisk you straight to the National Stadium at the other end of the line if you are tight for time and headed straight to a game. The new National Stadium is a gem.
I had thought the free transport situation was borne of a high tax structure like in Scandinavia, but it transpires the opposite is true. Luxembourg is a low tax land, a handy incentive to get those from neighbouring lands across the non-existent border to work. The monies appear to come from corporation taxes, but not sufficient to put business off setting up here in the first place.
As the match started ticking around, it did become apparent that for this match, UEFA rules would restrict Racing to only using their seated capacity. About three weeks before the match, Racing put out an invitation for fans to ‘reserve’ their tickets to guarantee entry. I wrote to them to enquire what this meant and how I could purchase from abroad. In a very old style way, as well as being extremely trusting, once you had committed to reserving seats, those briefs would be put aside, with payment to be made when collected! I was just delighted that any fretting about getting in was taken away, although friends didn’t think it would sell out, even with a reduced capacity, and they were right.
It had been a hot day, but thankfully, by the 18,30 kick-off, a morsel of cloud had taken the edge off the heat. The opening exchanges were sedentary. With a few pre-season friendlies under my belt, this was doing nothing to jolt me into the competitive world again. In the first half, Racing maybe had the better possession, but passed up a couple of useful situations to take the lead. Dila, who are a summer league side, had offered very little, but shortly before the interval, they did fashion two or three efforts, one a gifted wrap confusion scenario at the back by Racing, but it remained as you were at the turn.
Minutes after the break, a melee in the Gori boxed saw Racing poke the ball home to take the lead. Stolz, the ageing German journeyman scorer, still has what it takes to cut the mustard in Luxembourg. Given that Racing hadn’t even managed a European home draw, was history about to be made? Dila still didn’t unduly awaken from their slumber, and Racing looked comfortable. Alas, a free-kick conceded on the hour mark, still a number of yards from the box, was exquisitely whacked into the top corner of the Racing goal. Andronikashvili gave the keeper no chance. It really was a piece of top-class artistry.
The pace of the match never livened up, but Racing were visibly wilting, and just being that half yard switch off, it led to an unmarked header putting Dila in front. There would be no more scoring, but if anyone was going to get a third, I suspect it would have been the Georgians.
Racing have a week to get more fitness into their legs. The tie isn’t over, but it won’t be easy.
It was a nice crowd, on a warm evening, in the relaxed surroundings of Ville de Luxembourg. In many ways the perfect place to start the competitive roster for 25/26. I like this land, and especially its capital city, where I will continue to monitor the progress of Racing, with all liklihood of a return one fine day.
Football Adventures with James Rendall 