[Sélection nationale] After Sweden, which opponent for the Red Lions in March?

Between the Nations League and the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, it is not at all easy for Luxembourg to find an available opponent at the end of March… including outside Europe.

Among the rare selections (with Gibraltar, Latvia and its future opponent, Malta) to only play its Nations League play-off in March 2026, and not in March 2025, Luxembourg is also one of the 24 European countries which, versed in a group of four teams during the draw (carried out in December), will only begin their qualifying campaign for the 2026 World Cup in September. A double particularity which forces the Rout Léiwen to start their calendar year with four consecutive friendly matches, for the first time since 2018. The fact remains that finding opponents is not easy.

If Sweden’s arrival at the Luxembourg stadium on Saturday March 22 (6 p.m.) was already made official last week, the countries available to play a friendly match three or four days later can almost be counted on the fingers of one hand. . While eight selections will compete in the quarter-finals of the League of Nations in March (Netherlands, Spain, Croatia, France, Denmark, Portugal, Italy, Germany), from which Luxembourg’s third future opponent will emerge ( Italy or Germany) in its World Cup qualifying group, sixteen others will play at the same time the League A/League B promotion-relegation play-offs (Turkey, Hungary, Ukraine, Belgium, Austria, Serbia, Greece, Scotland) or League B/League C (Kosovo, Iceland, Bulgaria, Republic of Ireland, Armenia, Georgia, Slovakia, Slovenia).

And of the 30 remaining nations in the UEFA zone, from which Sweden should obviously be removed, 24* will begin the World Cup qualifiers in March, by virtue of their presence in a qualifying group comprising five teams. There therefore remain, in Europe, only five selections potentially available to face the Rout Léiwen at the end of March, or rather four, since Russia has been blacklisted by almost all European countries (except Serbia and Belarus) since March 2022: Switzerland, 20^e world nation which has not yet revealed its opponents for March, Northern Ireland (71^e), Belarus (98^e) and Azerbaijan (117^e). However, friendly matches between Sweden and Northern Ireland and between Azerbaijan and Belarus have already been scheduled for March 25.

Switzerland, a European club or nothing?

Everything therefore suggests that Switzerland will be Luxembourg’s second opponent this year. Unless this opponent comes from another continent like Asia, like Qatar, faced twice in a friendly in 2021? The idea is valid, especially since the skimming in the race for the World Cup has already taken place and 28 nations are already out of the race… but 25 of these eliminated, who are clearly not the most high-sounding names on the continent , begin the Asian Cup qualifiers on March 25. Which reduces the range of possibilities to three nations located, in the FIFA rankings, between Andorra (171^e) and Gibraltar (196^e), but ahead of Liechtenstein (204^e) and San Marino (210^e): Cambodia (180^e), Mongolia (188^e) and Macau (193^e).

Since the start of Luc Holtz’s mandate in 2010, the Rout Léiwen have also played six friendly matches against African nations (Algeria, Nigeria, Senegal, Madagascar and Cape Verde twice), but none will be available in March, the date of the launch of the World Cup qualifiers in the Africa zone. The same goes for South America, where the 13 will compete^e et 14^e days (out of 18) of qualifications. In North America, the month of March will coincide with the “Final Four” of the Concacaf Nations League or the preliminary rounds of the 2025 Gold Cup, the North American equivalent of the Euro.

As for Oceania, beyond the logistical difficulties that a poster against one of them would involve, its four best representatives (New Zealand, Tahiti, Fiji, New Caledonia) will compete on March 21 and 24 , the only directly qualifying ticket for the North American World Cup, during the third and final local qualifying round… If, for one reason or another, Switzerland was not available, could Luxembourg resolve to face a club – deprived of its internationals – as it did in March 2017 against Standard de Liège or in February 2019 and September 2020 against Saarbrücken? Unless you challenge a European leader, this would probably be of little sporting interest. But it would still be better than nothing.

* Malta, Finland, Poland, Lithuania, Cyprus, San Marino, Romania, Bosnia, Norway, Israel, Estonia, Moldova, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Wales, Kazakhstan, England, Albania, Latvia, Andorra, Czech Republic, Montenegro, Faroe Islands and Gibraltar.