How will the newcomers fare?

Plenty of excitement to be had in the next ten months, but the first fixtures could already give us an indication of what to expect from each team. Let's dissect what has happened!

Everyone was looking forward to the initial set of games, but perhaps none more so than SC Bettembourg's fans. Their team had spent more than half a century in the lower divisions since their last relegation in 1973, and are now back with the intention of spending two consecutive years at the top table for the first time ever.

As the first day showed them, they will not have it easy. They kicked off their campaign with a particularly one-sided 3-0 loss to F91 Dudelange, which exposed many of their weaknesses. As they will urge to remind everyone though, a season is a marathon, not a sprint, and a heavy defeat to a team of F91's status was always on the cards. SCB also have a few other reasons for hope.

Firstly, as the only team in the playing field with an artificial pitch, they are bound to cause problems for every visitor throughout the year. Unlike last year's situation with Schifflange, whose playing surface was so uneven and unplayable it disrupted both sides equally, Bettembourg's unique conditions can offer them an upper hand at all 15 of their home games. Yes, Dudelange still managed to beat them heavily, but let's not forget the fact they had to play on the same surface against Swedish BK Häcken last week and thus have been practicing for such circumstances not long ago. The same applies for Niederkorn, Strassen, and Differdange, who all faced Nordic opponents in July, but against the majority of the competitors, the advantage will be clear.

Secondly, if anyone can be described as 'unknown quantity' in an age with video analysts and scouts working devoting days to preparing every little detail of each opponent, it is the Beetebuergers. Besides the club's lack of experience at this level, their playing squad also has notably less players with the BGL Ligue on their CVs. The ones that do have often only played bit-part roles for fellow top-tier sides in the past, such as Ricardo Couto, who failed to make a breakthrough at Mondorf or Differdange, or former Racing Union second-choice goalkeeper Boris Bassene.

Last, but not least, the consistency and stability with which SCB operate is second to none in the bottom half of the league. Of the most valuable assets of their title-winning campaign last year, only two have been sold: Yannick Bour remains on an amateur contract in Belval while in-house top scorer Brian El Hamer will continue in Rumelange. The rest of the winning team stayed, with very few notable arrivals. The exception is Abdoul Kaboré, who has 49 Ligue 2 appearances under his belt and is a Burkina Faso international.

With Kaboré's leadership and a coaching staff that decided not to change the winning formula, could Bettembourg survive in the BGL Ligue for the first time in history? If we look at how close Marisca Mersch came last season, we can realistically conclude that they might as well.

Rodange and Hostert back in the thick of it

Both of the other two promoted teams made sure to drastically change their squad in an attempt to bridge the sizeable gap in quality between the Ehrenpromotion and the National Division. Coincidentally, both of them were already better-equipped to do so than Bettembourg.

US Hostert gained promotion at the first time of asking and therefore returned to the first division after a single year in the purgatory. Efforts were made to compensate for any departures and reduce the average age of the squad, but on a managerial level, there were no breaking news: it is Marc Thomé who can try and keep the Greens in the division despite coming close to throwing away their promotion chance last year.

With the manager's expertise and experience, Hostert feel prepared. If there was any emergency to be dealt with, they know just the man to turn to: Henri Bossi has recently returned to the club in a sporting director role, having had three spells as a head coach in the past decade, overseeing some of the club's glory days, including a domestic cup final.

Hostert focused on bringing in players who have already racked up a few seasons at the top level to help them hit the ground running in a long and challenging season. The best pick of the bunch might well be Mauritius international goalkeeper Dorian Chiotti, who will be sorely needed by a leaky defence. Their first matchday resulted in a 3-4 loss to Wiltz, pointing to the importance of an elite goalkeeping performance that could even decide the team’s fate at the end of the season.

Rodange's picture could hardly be more different to Hostert's. On the transfer market, R91 have proved much more raucous to date, bringing in players from numerous different countries, mostly focusing on youth players yet to hit their prime or former prodigies who have lost their way in a sense.

Yohann Torres is the most eye-catching addition in that regard, a Luxembourg U21 international who seemed to have a future at VfB Stuttgart, until he decided his career would benefit from more regular first-team minutes. The same conclusion was reached by Gianni Monteiro, whose role in Differdange's maiden league title last season was not integral enough by his own admission.

Monteiro did pay back the faith in him by scoring the first goal of the 2024/25 season as he opened his account for Rodange against Racing Union. Although the club from the capital later found a way to equalise, Monteiro was pulling the strings in midfield during his 56 minutes on the pitch, and showed his worth in a team that will need to rely on his technical qualities and playmaking skills if they are to play on the front foot as they did against RFCUL.

Hostert's uncomfortable night in defence and their inability to stop Benjamin Romeyns from recording two goals and two assists each summoned some of the old demons of their past tenures in the BGL Ligue, and so did Rodange's own failure in holding onto their lead. However, these opening fixtures are the perfect environment for both clubs to go through the positive and the negative ends of the scale as quickly as possible, to gain all the important takeaways and learn the lessons before 'crunch time' comes knocking on our doors.