© RTL
Our football profiles series continues with the story of giant-killers Progrès Niederkorn.
RTL Today has for some reason decided to assign the new intern (me) the task of outlining the accomplishments of every club playing in Luxembourg’s top football league. It is a journey that will take us through 16 clubs and to every corner of this little country.
Today we make another trip down to the southwest to cover a team fighting for a return to the European scene that they’ve made noise in recently in FC Progrès Niederkorn.
FC Progrès Niederkorn was founded in 1919, a name it has kept consistently apart from during German occupation, when it was known simply as FK Niederkorn. The club has played in the National Division for most of its history, and has never played at a level lower than the second tier. Progrès made their top-tier debut in the 1926-27 season and got their first pieces of silverware by winning the Coupe du Luxembourg in 1933 and 1945. It would take 26 years after their debut for Progrès to capture their first National Division title, which was achieved in 1953 after finishing just a point ahead of Jeunesse Esch.
Progrès eventually regressed after their first title win, as they spent the 1960s and early 1970s either in the lower reaches of the National Division or down in the Division of Honour. Things changed towards the end of the 70s though, as Progrès won a third Coupe du Luxembourg and finished 2nd in the league in 1977, then followed that up by winning both competitions the next year to achieve a famous double. Another league title came in 1981, which remains the club’s most recent major honour. The club also became European regulars during this time, participating in UEFA competitions in all but one season between 1977 and 1982.
Progrès saw another decline by the end of the 1980s, as the club were relegated in 1989 and 1991 and spent the rest of the 1990s in the Division of Honour before gaining promotion just months after the turn of the century in 2001. That National Division spell lasted only two seasons, however, and it would not be until 2007 that Progrès became a consistent top-tier side again. For several years after their most recent promotion the club were a bottom-half side more frequently than a top-half one, and were forced to play for their National Division survival in 2013 after finishing 12th out of 14, which they won in a grueling match against UNA Strassen with the winning goal coming in the 118th minute.
That playoff win seemed to light a fire under Progrès, as from 2014 all the way through to last season the club has finished in the top half of the National Division. They have never finished lower than 6th during that stretch, and were the runners-up in 2017-18 as well as the unofficial runners-up in 2019-20, as they were in 2nd when the season was prematurely cancelled due to Covid-19. Last season the club slipped down to 5th, which ended a streak of four consecutive years of playing in Europe, but they are in the hunt to secure a place again this season.
Progrès Niederkorn have won three National Division titles and four Coupe du Luxembourg trophies throughout their history, which is an impressive roll of honour for a club that is from a town of less than 8,000 people and has had to exist in the shadow of either Red Boys Differdange or their successor Differdange 03 that play just down the road from them.
European competition is where Progrès have really stood out from their Luxembourgish peers, at least in recent years. The club’s first experiences in Europe in the late 70s were rather miserable, as they lost their first three ties by a combined scoreline of 28-0, though to be fair to Progrès one of those ties was against Real Madrid in the European Cup. They finally scored a goal and earned a 1-1 draw against Northern Irish side Glentoran in 1981, but they lost the tie 5-1 on aggregate.
It would take until 2015 for Progrès to return to Europe, where they earned a 0-0 draw against Irish club Shamrock Rovers but lost 3-0 on aggregate in UEFA Europa League qualifying. It was in 2017 that Progrès made headlines, as they overturned a 1-0 first leg defeat to Scottish giants Rangers by winning 2-0 at the Stade Josy Barthel in Luxembourg City to put an immediate end to Rangers’ first European run in six years and advance to the second qualifying round of the Europa League, where they bowed out to Cypriot team AEL Limassol. The Rangers win was so significant that it has its own Wikipedia article, and was declared the “worst result in Rangers history” by some pundits. Progrès made an even better run in Europa League qualifying the next season, defeating both Azeri side Qabala and Hungarian team Budapest Honvéd by a 2-1 aggregate scoreline, and lost their third qualifying round matchup to Russian outfit Ufa by just one goal. Had they won that tie they would have faced Rangers again in the playoff, but that rematch came true anyway the next season in the Europa League second qualifying round, where the Scots got their revenge by winning 2-0 on aggregate.
Progrès play at the Stade Jos Haupert in the Differdange suburb of Niederkorn. The stadium has a decently-sized main stand with seats adorned in the club’s yellow-and-black colours, as well as a small set of bleachers on the other side of the pitch. The stadium has a capacity of 2,800 spectators.
© Luis Ramos
© Luis Ramos
Progrès are guaranteed to continue their impressive run of top-half finishes thanks to their performances this season, and they are right in the thick of a close fight for a podium finish, which would guarantee European football next season. Their current position of 5th will be somewhat disappointing though, as the club topped the table as recently as March 12 after going on an impressive run of 12 games unbeaten between mid-October and early March, of which 10 of those games were wins and included results such as a 9-1 obliteration of Hamm Benfica and a 6-0 thrashing of Etzella Ettelbruck. The club’s form has taken a serious dip in the last two months, with embarrassing losses to bottom-half sides Rodange 91 and Mondorf-les-Bains dropping them from 2nd down to 5th and thus out of the European places for the time being.
Progrès have been lead in attack by the duo of Belgian striker Mayron de Almeida and Luxembourgish winger Antonio Luisi. De Almeida, a summer signing from French third-tier side Red Star Paris, has scored 16 goals in all competitions and 13 in the league to put him 6th in the National Division scoring charts. Luisi, a summer signing from F91 Dudelange, has scored all 12 of his goals in the league and is just behind his teammate in the scoring charts, as he is tied for 7th.
For more information, visit the club’s pages on Facebook or Instagram, as their new website is still under construction.