The Soccer Dispatch

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🇱🇺 From whipping boys to Euro 2024 hopefuls, Luxembourg got good

The nation of just 600,000 people could qualify for its first major tournament

Graham Ruthven's avatar
Graham Ruthven
Oct 12, 2023
∙ Paid

No country has completed more European Championship and Wold Cup qualification campaigns without qualifying for one than Luxembourg.

Between 1934 and 2008, the tiny land-locked central European nation won just six out of 175 qualifiers. No country in world football conceded more goals (588) during this period.

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Now, though, Luxembourg have Euro 2024 qualification in their sights. A programme of gradual, but sustained, improvement has given Luc Holtz’s team a chance of making it to Germany next summer. 

International football’s worst team is on the verge of becoming a member of the sport’s elite, but what is their dramatic improvement down to?

How did Luxembourg get good?

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