By the very nature of this transfer window, every team tends to focus on keeping a cohesive group of players together ahead of the spring season, with only emergency replacements or novelty signings, players who could genuinely lift a team’s ceiling over 15 games.
Autumn performances can also change transfer strategies significantly. For example, a club aiming for a solid mid-table placement might now open its wallet when the prospect of European qualification or a deep run in the domestic cup arises.
Sometimes, other external factors could be in play. Long-term injuries, forced retirements or work-related breaks from club football are all customary in Luxembourgish football; something every board has to prepare for in advance. In other cases, offers from the professional world are hard to turn down for any player – and if there is also money on the table, clubs tend to warm to the idea of letting a talismanic figure go.
Here, we attempt to look at each team’s transfer window with a quick summary of the dealings, from title contenders to survival hopefuls.
The elites: Consistency above all, but how will F91 attack?
It is very rare to see considerable changes to any squad at this time of year, but the BGL Ligue’s top outfits have taken their timidness to another level.
FC Differdange’s only arrival was announced in the last week of January. Pedro Costa is a young centre-forward who arrives from the Portuguese lower leagues, without a particularly imposing CV (which we learnt means next to nothing, having witnessed Jorginho’s spectacular 18 months in the Grand Duchy).
Toni José and Ronaldo Camará were both lauded as potentially transformative signings in the summer but have failed to live up to expectations, so releasing them is an astute decision to make some wiggle room in the wage budget. Rafael Ribeiro and Fábio Cerqueira both left the club for the lower leagues, while Adham El Idrissi was surprisingly loaned out to Union Titus Pétange on deadline day, as he’s seeking more game time in the second half of the season.
UNA Strassen bolstered their defensive options, with Luxembourg youth international Lenny Oliveira and former F91 Dudelange hero Aniss El Hriti added to the existing options. They replace left-back Daryl Myre (Etzella Ettelbruck on loan) and centre-back Paddy Bock (Union Mauer, Austria) in the club’s quest for a first-ever BGL Ligue title.
The main concern for F91 Dudelange before the start of the 2025/26 season was replacing the departing Samir Hadji, who has often carried the team’s attack singlehandedly, while operating on a tighter budget than last season to stay sustainable.
Their two attacking signings, Agostinho and Dinho, have managed to cover to an extent, but it was attacking midfielder Bilal Benkhedim who took on a leading role in Hadji’s absence, amassing eight goals and four assists in 15 games in the autumn.
In a bittersweet turn of events, Benkhedim received an offer from the Algerian first division he couldn’t refuse, and left Europe for an undisclosed fee. His replacement in an already defence-heavy squad was surprisingly not another creative outlet or a classic target man, but a veteran centre-back with plenty of experience in Luxembourg. Former Bundesliga defender Wilson Kamavuaka rescinded his captaincy at Union Titus Pétange in the summer due to internal conflicts with the club’s staff, and has now officially left the club after two and a half years of service.
Kamavuaka’s leadership was sorely needed in an otherwise young and inexperienced team, but Mika Pinto is certainly facing selection headaches having lost another one of his precious few offensive players.
From the top teams, only Atert Bissen used all of three of their new addition slots, emboldened by their stunning start to the campaign and the opportunity to chase Differdange and Strassen down to the very end in their first-ever top-flight season in club history.
Brian Silva and Rafaël Fernandes are the two new outfielders at Stade Klengbousbierg, promising youngsters from respected academies, who have yet to truly prove themselves at senior level. The team’s new goalkeeper is former Strassen number two Hélio Lopes, who is expected to remain a substitute behind the impressive Yassine Gourari.
The most important target for Bissen was to retain all of the most valuable assets of the team, so only losing Fine Bop (Wiltz 71) from their prominent attacking line will be a relief for board and supporters alike. As they trail Differdange by only two points, the dream stays alive for now.
Stability at last for Hesper while Jeunesse continue to push
One of only two clubs without any new arrivals in the BGL Ligue was Swift Hesperange, a team usually known for taking a revolving door approach in most transfer windows. The reason was simple: the club is officially prevented from making any new signings for the next two years due to a UEFA transfer embargo.
The surprising part is that unlike last summer, key players stopped jumping ship en masse, which alleviates Swift’s dire situation for now. The only departee was Gaël Nsombi, who returned to France in the last hours of the transfer window. Manager Salem El Foukhari has several options to deploy in Nsombi’s place, while he managed to galvanise a rag-tag group of players enough to convince them to see out the rest of the season.
US Mondorf are the only mid-table team to have a realistic chance of a European spot through the league table, and they have approached the January window accordingly. Marco Majouga and Jordan Ouédraogo, two wingers without the club, have been added to the options, while fringe players Pit Simon, Zakaria Khairane and Pierre Venturini were all passed down to lower-league teams.
However, it wasn’t the Angry Goats who made the biggest step to solidify themselves in the top ranks of the league. Record champions Jeunesse Esch have pulled off another Luxembourg international signing, as David Jonathans chose to reunite with his former academy coach Reinhold Breu on the border. The young attacker has been without a club since his Bayern Munich contract expired in June, and will likely need some adjustment period to get his match sharpness back.
It looked like the perfect transfer window for the Old Lady throughout most of the winter, but the sucker punch arrived in the final days: Michael Omosanya has found another adventure abroad, and will strengthen Belgian second-division Olympic Charleroi for the remainder of the season. Omosanya was a focal point in Jeunesse’s attack since his arrival, and boasts even more international experience than the arriving Jonathans. Jeff Strasser’s national setup, however, is likely to benefit from both moves as it gives both strikers a chance to fight their way back into the Red Lions’ next squad.
When it comes to eye-catching moves, Progrès Niederkorn might be the only ones outperforming Jeunesse. Former U20 world champion alongside the likes of Paul Pogba and Lucas Digne, Thibaut Vion has signed an 18-month contract with the Wasps. The Frenchman was born close by, in Metz, and is a versatile player expected to play as a central midfielder for Niederkorn. He arrives with Ligue 1 experience, years in Porto’s youth system and a stint as Mica Pinto’s teammate at CSKA Sofia in Bulgaria.
Ibrahim Baradji also returned to Luxembourg to replace Vincent Boesen, who had a disappointing spell at Progrès. Surprisingly, Olivier Thill will not be rejoining his former team despite recently leaving IMT Beograd. As he has already played for two different clubs this campaign, he will now either have to wait for the summer to continue featuring, or find a club on a different continent for the time being.
Jeunesse Canach have outperformed expectations after their promotion last year, and they felt comfortable enough in mid-table to make small adjustments without shaking up the team’s balance. Mehdi Bariki and Julien Masson are joining Nélson Fragoso’s crew, while Jean Lucas is the only departing player, joining amateurs Sandweiler.
Rosport go big, Kaërjéng in collapse?
The bottom half of the table is incredibly packed, with only three points separating tenth-placed Racing and relegation playoff-bound Rodange in 14th. This gave all the struggling outfits an initiative to make moves in the winter and break away from the relegation dogfight before the final fixtures of the season beckon.
Racing Union Luxembourg took the threat seriously, and they have a lot of ground to make up after starting disastrously despite having one of the strongest and most valuable squads in the entire country.
Moussa Kanté, a full Senegal international, is supposed to be the solution, arriving from Armenian side Ararat, while Ronan Matuvangua is also joining the Sky Blues from France. Sébastien Grandjean also returns after his university studies in the United States.
Losing Ismaël Sow might come back to hurt the club in lieu of an adequate defensive replacement. Mathys Saban and Jesaja Herrmann both arrived with high hopes and adept technical quality, but ultimately failed to deliver and were let go to ease the wage burden.
Victoria Rosport, meanwhile, brought out the big guns this winter, and committed to signing not one, but two true game changers. After a mediocre summer, they have two new creators to try and breathe life into the project, and keep Rosport in the top flight for the 13th season running.
Jérémy Villeneuve is a senior Mauritius international capable of playing behind the striker and on both wings, with over a decade of experience in France. Marko Brkljača’s acquisition is even more impressive by Luxembourgish standards. A former Dinamo Zagreb and Hajduk Split player, the 21-year-old would comfortably fit into any team in the country, and might just prove to be the missing piece in Martin Forkel’s puzzle as he tries to assemble another stable enough team capable of staying competitive at the top level.
UN Käerjéng, on the other hand, did little this winter to keep their survival hopes alive in their first season back in the elite. Currently 11th with four wins out of 15, David Vandenbroeck’s team didn’t make any additions and lost several players. Young goalkeeper Thomas Plumereau signed for Belgian side Messancy, while Cédric Kockelmann and reliable defender Thomas Schroeder are also leave the BGL Ligue. It would come as no surprise to see UNK constantly having to peek behind their shoulders for the rest of the campaign.
Four-way battle to escape the drop
From the bottom four teams, Union Titus Pétange were the ones making the most changes to their setup. Owner Ado Kojo had been acting as interim manager since August but has finally found his successor in Englishman Chris Baffour, who comes straight from the Ghanaian national team, where he worked as a video analyst.
On the players’ front, El Idrissi’s loan move was supported by permanent moves for Mustafa Kourouma and Till Hermandung, who returns to Pétange after a period of inactivity. Three arrivals might not be enough to cater for all the departures, though, as Kojo’s team saw Soufian Amaâdacho, Burak Gençal and Dylan Maes all leave besides the experienced Kamavuaka, second choice goalkeeper Elias Damergy and Soulemane Ba.
For US Hostert, the disappointing performances this season were mostly attributable to the loss of top scorer Kenan Avdusinović, who was lured away by Niederkorn, coupled with a sudden drop in attacking output.
The Greens are trying to solve this issue by the addition of two more offensive options in Idrissa Diémé and Abdel Al-Badaoui. Diémé has been one of the most prolific strikers in the Ehrenpromotion over the last 18 months, while Al-Badaoui signed as a free agent after stints at Al-Duhail and Waasland Beveren, among others. They replace Kévin Rodrigues and Banton Ales, who are both still looking for a club.
Rodange 91 started the season reasonably well, but dropped within three points of automatic relegation by December under Mehdi El Alaoui. Nonetheless, the squad remained largely unchanged, with Yann Kouadio leaving the club after some solid showings in the centre of the backline. The only new face in the dressing room arrives at the other end of the pitch, though, in Yanis Mbombo, a Belgian striker with top-flight experience in numerous countries.
Whether one small change will be enough to stop the downward spiral and turn the tide for Rodange remains to be seen, but the board retains confidence in the manager and the current set of players to cement themselves in the BGL Ligue for the foreseeable future.
Rooted at the bottom of the table, Mamer 32 need a mountain to climb if they are to stay up – and they have made significant strides to usurp their relegation rivals. After selling two goalkeepers in Arthur Rao and Benjamin Salmistraro, they strengthened with Pépé Bonet, a young and immensely capable replacement for the position.
Axel Ezan also arrived from France in a bid to fix the team’s defensive frailties, while they also managed to poach Bilal Chibani from Racing FCUL. Losing new signing Hugo Vialette after only six months will certainly be a blow for the Reds, while Alessandro Fiorani’s abrupt retirement will be another hindrance to an already struggling team.
Early signs show promise when looking at Mamer’s winter dealings, but Sunday’s first league game of the spring season will show just how far they have managed to get since their abysmal first half of the year.
