The biggest winners and losers of the transfer window

The mid-season transfer window presents an opportunity for every team to reshape their squads after drawing conclusions of the first half-term, refreshing their rosters with a limited amount of signing to ensure no major overhaul goes through. The league limits the number of newly-registered players from February onwards, and the current cap was drawn at one goalkeeper and three outfielders for each team.

Naturally, in a semi-professional league, other reasons can also enforce (often unplanned) changes to squads. Since most players switch clubs without any transfer fee involved, the length of their contract plays a much smaller role in their valuations than at the professional level, where the best sporting directors can easily tie their superstars down with lengthy contracts.

The combination of players wishing to leave, clubs forced to sell by financial restrictions and investors trying to reach their pre-season objectives with a few new additions has produced a rather busy winter for most of the 16 BGL Ligue-outfits as well. Some of them suffered almost irreplaceable losses, while others have pulled off impressive moves. But who might be the biggest winner of it all?

FC Differdange 03

The current table-toppers are still unbeaten after their first 15 outings as they find themselves four points above second-placed F91 Dudelange. Chasing their first league title since their merger in 2003, owner Fabrizio Bei used his best efforts to strengthen the depth in his team ahead of a demanding spring schedule.

With no notable departures, any additions will surely only be considered a bonus by manager Pedro Resende and his coaching staff. In the end, there turned out to be not only one but two such bonuses.

Austrian-Dominican Christian Schoissengeyr was the first arrival, having been without a club for the past 11 months. However, the 29-year old centre-back still has bags of experience in the Austrian Bundesliga (with two big-hitters in Sturm Graz and Austria Wien), in the Slovenian top flight (with Domzale) and even some European qualifiers. A three-time Dominican international, his leadership and composure in central defence will be invaluable as FCD prepare to maintain their strong claim for the title.

The other new signing could potentially make even more of an instant impact with his creativity and flashes of technical brilliance. It is no other than Artur Abreu, a player who once grew up at FCD’s youth teams but who was ultimately never given a sustained run of games at senior level. Off to Union Titus Pétange he went, where he transformed a newly-formed club in the second division into regular top-half finishers with half an eye on European qualification at all time. After eight years at UTP, he leaves as the captain and main leader of his former team on and off the pitch.

Thus, Differdange managed to strengthen themselves while weakening a rival. Elite job from the directors.

Swift Hesperange

Hesper’s main objective after a turbulent opening half to their campaign was to trim the squad as much as possible, to reach an acceptable size where the players don’t have to train in two separate groups for every game.

Eventually, that goal was more or less achieved, albeit with admittedly fewer (and sometimes unwanted) departures than expected.

Homegrown goalkeeper Youn Czekanowicz and fringe players Paul Ayongo, Dāvis Sprūds and Ken Corral were swiftly passed on as expected, with Ayongo earning a professional move and the others staying in the Grand Duchy. Furthermore, Swift also had to settle for a last-minute loan deal to let Karim Zedadka join Ascoli in the Italian Serie B. Zedadka, a Serie A-winner with Napoli in 2023, has now returned to Italy and whether he ever plays at Holleschbierg again depends on whether Ascoli decide to activate their clause to buy him in the summer.

Having gotten into a perhaps unexpected situation with Zedadka’s farewell, Hesper came up with a quick fix before the window’s closure: they announced the arrival of former Austria international Raphael Holzhauser. Holzhauser left Belgian top-tier side OH Leuven, only 3 years after he notably contributed to 32 goals in 34 games for Beerschot in the same division.

Holzhauser, a former Europa League player with Austria Wien in his homeland, will now try to fire Hesper into title contention from his attacking midfield position. Linking up effectively with the team’s on-pitch leader Dominik Stolz is seen as crucial if Hesper are serious about bridging the five-point gap to Differdange and defend their title.

Racing Luxembourg

Players who leave their Luxembourgish clubs to go abroad do not lose their FLF licenses to play for their last Luxembourgish club until their original contract was supposed to expire. This results in many clubs tracking their ‘alumnis’ who had gone on to play in neighbouring countries’ lower divisions, to spot any opportunity to lure them back without having to give up a squad registration slot. This ploy was masterfully exploited by RFCUL this winter, who were able to make two significant additions to their squad even among monetary issues.

Hugo Do Rego was raised at Metz’s academy in France before making a move to Rouen in search of more opportunities. However, the chances he got were few and far between, and as a goalkeeper, he knew he had to find a place where he can consolidate his position as the first-choice number one on the team sheet. Hence why RFCUL was a tempting offer for him and he ended up returning to the capital, thus making his predecessor Killian Le Roy effectively redundant.

The other comeback story is that of Loris Tinelli, who left Japanese club YSCC after the expiry of his contract in January. The French winger is said to have contemplated a professional career abroad, but due to a lack of offers from elsewhere, he’s back with Racing for a foreseeable future. The two arrivals will undoubtedly be a major help in bolstering this young, inexperienced squad.

The headliners

Besides the aforementioned Holzhauser and Schoissengeyr, two internationally-renowned players chose Luxembourg as their destination in the winter, joining two teams with contrasting fortunes so far.

Nabil Dirar was the first globally known player to arrive, coming out of retirement to reunite with childhood friend Ismaël Bouzid, currently manager of Schifflange 95. Dirar might be 37 years old now, with his last stint in the Danish regional leagues, it would be foolish to forget about the heights he has seen over his career.

The Moroccan has 157 Belgian Pro League games under his belt with Club Brugge, 79 appearances in the Turkish Süper Lig (the majority of them with serial winners Fenerbahçe), 76 Ligue 1 games in France, and 36 games in European competitions, involving the 2016/17 UEFA Champions League semi-final with a Monaco team including names such as Bernardo Silva or Kylian Mbappé. His 46 caps also involved an Africa Cup of Nations and a World Cup with the Northern African nation.

The other major move by a Luxembourgish team was revealed shortly afterwards. Progrès Niederkorn, chasing a podium finish, have announced the signing of Jonathan Schmid, the Frenchman with most appearances in Bundesliga history (yes, ahead of Franck Ribéry). Schmid spent over a decade in Freiburg, Hoffenheim and Augsburg in a career that involved several European campaigns, before he finally left Germany to play for Austria Lustenau. After only four months, his next stop will be the Wasps of Luxembourg.

Although both are past the best years of their career, players of such calibre will definitely inspire their teammates in the training pitches every day, and might even drive some extra revenue through higher attendances or increased interest in customised merchandise.

The window’s biggest losers

Two teams stand out as demonstrable losers of the winter so far, even if one of them can eventually win their critics over if their signings do pay off.

Union Titus Pétange endured a challenging four weeks that they couldn’t previously have foreseen. In the absence of striker Kai Merk who was at the Asian Cup with the Kyrgyzstan national team, UTP’s attacks often looked rather blunt at pre-season warm-up friendlies with only Abreu and Kempes Tekiela to call on.

Two weeks on, and the situation has changed completely. Merk is now back, but Abreu is off to Differdange after personally wishing to leave, while Tekiela has received a professional offer from the United States he felt he could not refuse. The two men were replaced in one by Belmin Muratović, who arrived on Deadline Day after a prolific spell in Niederkorn, but it remains to be seen if he is capable of filling in for the lack of a real number 9 in attack.

The other team to make sacrifices in the window are an easier guess. Fola Esch were forced to further tighten their belts financially after already starting the season on a shoestring budget. This time around, the departure list consisted of 2023/24 in-house top scorer Yanis Lahrach, 18-year old Liège graduate Nathan Rooms and Luxembourg international striker Michael Omosanya.

Omosanya crosses the French border to sign for nearby Thionville, while Rooms travelled back to Belgium and Lahrach was snapped up by mid-table Strassen. No replacements were recruited, with a toothless-looking attack now required to gain four points more than fellow stragglers Käerjéng and Jeunesse Esch in the second half of the season, if they are to avoid the embarrassment and financial turmoil that would be caused by a relegation.