A Luxembourg Euro 2024 squad would have seemed fanciful a few years back. Between 1938 and 2006, they were one of the real whipping boys of World Cup and European Championships qualification campaigns. Their record over those 98 years: 181 games played; six wins; 10 draws; 165 losses.
Gradually, though, things began to change. The introduction of even smaller minnows meant Luxembourg began to routinely win one of their qualifying games, with a few draws sprinkled in for good measure.
Over the past few years, that has become a veritable glut of victories by Luxembourgish standards. Luc Holtz's side won three of their eight qualification games for the 2022 World Cup, and the dramatic improvement continued into Euro 2024 qualifying as they finished a strong third place in their group by winning half of their ten matches.
That has deservedly put Luxembourg in with a real chance of qualifying for a major tournament finals for the first time in their history. Standing in their way is a play-off campaign that will see them take on Georgia in the semi-finals in Tbilisi later this month – then, if successful, either Kazakhstan or Greece at home in one of the three play-off finals just a few days later.
The bad news: if they do book passage to neighbouring Germany, they will find themselves in the same group as Portugal, who beat them 9-0 and 6-0 in qualifying.
Luxembourg's squad
Luxembourg's Euro 2024 squad: The squad for the play-offs
Squad numbers are yet to be confirmed for Euro 2024.
Luxembourg manager: Luc Holtz
(Image credit: Getty Images)
A former Luxembourgian Footballer of the Year, Luc Holtz's entire playing and managerial career has been spent in Luxembourg – and the two have significant overlap.
Get FourFourTwo Newsletter
The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.
That's because Holtz was player-manager for Etzella Ettelbruck for eight years from 1999 to 2007, twice helping them gain promotion to the top flight and leading them to three domestic cup finals, the first of which ended in victory.
Holtz has been in the Luxembourg national set-up since 2008, coaching the U21s before taking over as senior boss in 2010.
Luxembourg's star player
Gerson Rodrigues
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Luxembourg's all-time top scorer with 20 goals, Gerson Rodrigues has had an itinerant club career that has taken him from Luxembourg to the Netherlands, Moldova, Japan, Ukraine, Turkey, France, Saudi Arabia, and now Slovakia, where he plies his trade for Slovan Bratislava.
The winger has made a superb start to life at his current club since making the move in the January transfer window in his sixth loan spell away from Dynamo Kyiv.
He was also been in brilliant form for his country in qualifying, picking up from where he left off with an equally-impressive run in the Nations League in 2022.
FAQs
How many players are Luxembourg allowed to take to Euro 2024?
UEFA confirmed in February that each competing nation will be able to name a final squad of 23 players in their Euro 2024 squads, including a mandatory three goalkeepers.
After a couple of tournaments featuring 26-player teams, UEFA have now reverted from the expanded squad.
National managers were allowed to bring 26 players to 2021's European Championship for the first time at a major tournament, as a special measure brought in due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the fixture congestion, the expanded squads returned for the World Cup. Without those same issues, 23-player squads have made a return.
Thank you for reading 5 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access
Steven Chicken has been working as a football writer since 2009, taking in stints with Football365 and the Huddersfield Examiner. Steven still covers Huddersfield Town home and away for his own publication, WeAreTerriers.com. Steven is a two-time nominee for Regional Journalist of the Year at the prestigious British Sports Journalism Awards, making the shortlist in 2020 and 2023.
