At first glance, this story seems to take place in an East Asian island nation. However, it is the story of a small European country, Luxembourg, with a population of only 600,000 people.
lit. fish belly in Europe (idiom); fig. the underbelly of the European Union
Looking at Luxembourg's past record, they can finish with two wins and are known as the Red Lions. (Red Lions) Since 1934, Luxembourg have won only 8 of their 142 matches in world qualifying (10 and 124 losses). Since the start of the UEFA Nations Cup in 1964, qualification has been similarly bumpy, with only 8 wins in 111 matches (accompanied by 11 and 98 losses).
Such a winning figure does not even compare to the largest number of goals conceded in a single game in the history of the national team (0-10). For Luxembourg, playing football and opponents in official matches is a thing of value, a veritable European fishbowl.
In 2006, Luxembourg was ranked as low as 195 in the world. Only Bhutan, the Cayman Islands and Angela (a British Overseas Territory) were lower than them, and even San Marino, another European fishbowl, was better (even Taiwan Province was higher).
Should it continue as it is? Obviously, the answer is no, but how do you change? How to start? It all goes back to 2001.
The road to reform of the National Training Center
Luxembourg has only one amateur league in China. In a country with a population of only about 600,000, the creation of a professional league was never considered.In 2001, Luxembourg, in Mondercange, in order to give young Luxembourg footballers a higher training environment. (Mondercange) to set up a national soccer training center where youngsters can train with professional coaches and return to their clubs to play matches on weekends.
Luxembourg, as a country with a land area of only 2,586.3 square kilometers (Taiwan Province covers 36,000 square kilometers), has the advantage that young players can receive the most professional soccer training without having to commute long distances.
In order to gather as much talent as possible, the Luxembourg Football Federation has divided the country into four regions, looking for talented youngsters between the ages of 8-11 and bringing the children to training centers when they are old enough to reach the age of 12. In their 12-18 year old youth, they thrive in the training centers, learning everything related to soccer. Currently, there are 250 players trained at the soccer academy.
In Luxembourg, there are more than 100 soccer clubs and 45,000 registered players (both adults and minors) throughout the country, but almost all the players who make it to the national team have had the experience of attending training at the National Training Center.
Everything is inferior, only reading is superior: the difference between Luxembourg and Iceland
In 2016, Iceland rose to fame in World War I of the UEFA Nations Cup, breaking into the top eight with a dramatic win over England for a small country with a population of just 330,000, which sent Viking wars roaring around the world. For a while, Iceland's experience seemed to be a borrowed target for many small nations.
Luc coaches the Luxembourg national team. Holtz believes that "we can learn inspiration from Iceland, but also from Albania or North Macedonia. But on a spiritual level, we can't compare ourselves too much with them in other areas."
Then the coach, who has coached Luxembourg since 2011, pointed out the biggest gap. "Iceland is socially and structurally irrelevant. In terms of quality of life, their situation is very different from Luxembourg's..."
Holtz argues that young Icelanders use sport as the only way to get off the island. In Luxembourg, most young people (often influenced by their parents) choose to focus on their studies, which means that high-level sport is rarely considered a valid option.
This has led to Icelandic sports achieving not only in soccer, but also quite well in basketball and handball. But it is clear that Holtz is well aware of the differences in the country's situation.
