Coupe de Luxembourg: Five top-flight teams eliminated

F91 Dudelange’s cup ambitions ended prematurely after a 4-1 loss at home to the most free-flowing attacking team in the country at the moment, Atert Bissen. Vítor Pereira’s team continue their incredible unbeaten streak, stretching it to 10 games in all competitions. 
 
Dudelange rested striker Agostinho in the cup to give more minutes to his back-up Dinho (both arrived from the Portuguese lower divisions this summer), who relished his chance and opened the scoring before the half-hour mark with a close-range tap-in from a rebound. 
 
This was largely against the run of play, but the hosts did well to keep their lead until the second half, only conceding an equaliser from a sloppy pass by goalkeeper Marlon N’Guessan, effectively gifting the ball to a hungry Khalid Abi Ramzi. Bissen’s offensive trio – Abi Ramzi, captain Adriel, and striker Roman Ferber – quickly bypassed the opponents’ defence with an impressive one-two, for the Spanish-Moroccan midfielder to slot the ball past a scrambling N’Guessan. 
 
The young Frenchman later made several important saves to deny Bissen from eliminating Dudelange outright, but unfortunately ended up in another unwanted spotlight in extra time, with another of his short passes finding an opposition player. Ferber thanked the opportunity and curled a ball straight into the far corner before the goalkeeper could even make his way back to the goal. 
 
Ferber has been in red-hot form all season. Since arriving in the Grand Duchy from his homeland Belgium, he has been involved in 11 goals (six goals, five assists) in the league. On Sunday, he left a footprint on his team’s cup run as well. One minute after his first goal, he added a second from a rapid counter-attack, dribbling his way through F91’s defensive line alone, before leashing a clinical finish past the goalkeeper from the right side of the box.

The tie therefore looked all but decided as the teams prepared for the second half of extra time, but Atert Bissen never took their foot off the gas, adding a fourth in the final minutes. Joel Rodrigues da Cruz scored his first goal since December 2023, thanks to a lengthy injury absence.

Another win reinforces Bissen’s claims for being the strongest team in Luxembourg at the moment, putting in even more convincing displays than last season’s champions Differdange, who are still leading the league and are yet to lose this season. Unfortunately, the two powerhouses will not see eye-to-eye until the final matchday of the season – unless the next cup draws pit them together.

Racing and Swift still in turmoil 

Changing a manager mid-season always has its risks – even when the situation becomes untenable, and keeping the manager in place is not a viable option anymore.

Racing Luxembourg and Swift Hesperange are two ambitious, solid BGL Ligue teams who parted company with their head coach in recent weeks, albeit in vastly differing circumstances.
 
Yannick Kakoko had the full support of the RFCUL  dressing room until his final match in charge, a 5-1 loss to Differdange, despite a lacklustre start to the season and an early European elimination. Swift Hesper’s Hakim Menaï on the other hand, had a respectable stint at Holleschbierg but got into a heated argument with his sporting director Ebrahim Bouazzati over the latter’s son’s perceived lack of sufficient playing time. The result was a spectacular double sacking.

Racing have already announced Sébastien Grandjean as Kakoko’s successor, and the Belgian made his return to Luxembourg after three years with a disappointing draw against newly-promoted Käerjéng in the league. Menaï’s replacement was announced by Hesper’s board of directors last week: Salem El Foukhari, ironically the father of another player, Issam El Foukhari.

Both teams went into their cup fixture confident in getting a much-needed win as favourites to progress to the Round of 16. Racing had the easier task, facing second-division Etzella Ettelbruck, while the 2023 champions had US Hostert in their way.

The results, for both teams, were less than convincing. Hesper suffered the second-heaviest defeat in the third round, falling to a 3-0 defeat in a game where they were already trailing by half-time and never managed to recover. El Foukhari vowed to implement a braver, more dominant style of play upon his unveiling, but it is now evident that it will take considerable time for his vision to materialise.

Racing Luxembourg did manage to make their way to the next round, as Grandjean collected a second draw in as many games on the capital team’s bench. Both teams mustered a goal each in regulation time, before RFCUL took the lead in extra time from a rebound after a free kick. This still wasn’t enough, however: Etzella’s long-serving captain Lex Nicolay pulled level in the closing stages, prompting a penalty shootout.

In the end, it was the BGL Ligue outfit that won the battle of the nerves and booked a place in the fourth round. It was far from pretty, and it looked especially scary at times, but Grandjean has still not lost a game at his newest destination. Thanks to skipper Farid Ikene’s flawless spot kick, the merger club’s fans could breathe a collective sigh of relief as the team prepares for a Round of 16 match-up.

A quintet of outsiders remains

Only five lower-league teams will take part in the final rounds of the competition – the lowest it has been since 2022/23, underlining the growing gap in quality between the BGL Ligue and the rest of the football pyramid.

All five Ehrenpromotion teams made their way this far without defeating a top-flight team, which is another indicator of the realities teams face outside the Luxembourgish elite. Regardless, some of the survivors put in some highly emphatic performances en route to the last 16.

Wiltz 71 stand out from the pack in both their league and the domestic cup. They are leading the second division by two points ahead of chasers Fola Esch, and scored a staggering 12 goals over their two cup matches (against Olympia Christnach and Marisca Mersch respectively).

Their latest victory over fellow Ehrenpromotion side Marisca, a 6-0 rout, was particularly impressive as the Northerners defeated their former manager Mikhail Zaritsky’s new employers. It took less than three minutes for Wiltz to take the lead at the Stade Am Pëtz. They ended up tearing the 2023 cup finalists apart, netting another before half-time, followed by a four-goal fest in front of over 200 delighted spectators.

Fola are another team recently relegated from the BGL Ligue eyeing a quick return to the top table, and their cup efforts are backing it up, too. They followed up a 4-1 win against Jeunesse Biwer by an extra-time victory in Rumelange, against a strong, promotion-chasing second-tier opponent, scoring four goals again. The country’s oldest club have been revitalised since last year’s disastrous campaign, and they are reaping the rewards.

Alisontia Steinsel and Luxembourg City both defeated third-division sides on Sunday, getting expected wins over the line without looking particularly threatening so far. Their form and quality marks them out as vast underdogs in the following round regardless of the draw, alongside Feulen. The Red-and-Blacks edged past Bettembourg, who played top-flight football as recently as last season, but now look like a shadow of their former selves.

The prospects of progress are arguably the highest for Wiltz and Fola. For two teams eager to get back into the BGL Ligue, the next round will offer a timely challenge to measure where they stand in their respective rebuilds. For the other three outsiders, any wins will be considered an unexpected fairytale story with the potential of shaking up the field’s dynamics.

Results: 

(1) Progrès Niederkorn 1-0 Jeunesse Esch (1) 
(1) F91 Dudelange 1-4 Atert Bissen (1) – after extra time 
(2) Etzella Ettelbruck 2-2 Racing FCUL (1) – Racing won on penalties 
(2) Mondercange 2-3 Victoria Rosport (1) 
(1) Swift Hesperange 0-3 Hostert (1) 
(2) Lorentzweiler 2-4 Rodange 91 (1) 
(3) Munsbach 2-3 Jeunesse Canach (1) 
(3) Koerich 0-2 Luxembourg City (2) 
(2) The Belval Belvaux 2-4 UNA Strassen (1) 
(1) Differdange 03 2-1 Union Titus Pétange (1) 
(3) Yellow Boys Weiler 1-2 Alisontia Steinsel (2) 
(2) Feulen 2-1 Bettembourg (2) – after extra time 
(1) Mamer 32 2-0 Käerjéng (1) 
(2) Rumelange 2-4 Fola Esch (2) – after extra time 
(2) Wiltz 71 6-0 Marisca Mersch (2) 
(2) Berdenia Berbourg 0-2 Mondorf (1) 

What next? 

The Luxembourgish men’s national team will play their final two games of the World Cup qualifying campaign, albeit without a chance of a top-two finish.

BGL Ligue will return on Saturday 22 November after the international break, while the Luxembourgish Cup will not return until early March 2026.