FC Avenir Beggen

Avenir Beggen

Full name	Football Club Avenir Beggen
Nickname(s)	Wichtelcher (Pixies)
Founded	1 July 1915
Ground	Stade rue Henri Dunant, Beggen
Capacity	4,830
Chairman	Damien Raths
Manager	Sven Loscheider
League	Luxembourg 1. Division
2021–22	5th in 1. Divisioun 2. Bezierk
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

Football Club Avenir Beggen is a football club, based in Beggen, a quarter of Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg.

The club were founded in 1915 ^[1] as FC Daring Beggen but changed their name to FC Avenir Beggen a year later. In 1940, they were renamed SV 1915 Beggen, but in 1944, it was changed again to FC Avenir Beggen.

Avenir Beggen had played in the National Division in consecutive seasons since 1965–66, but were relegated in the 2005–06 season. Finishing second in their first season in the second-tier Division of Honour, Avenir returned to the National Division at the first time of asking. In 2008/09 the club finished 14th and were relegated back to the Luxembourg Division of Honour.

Honours

• National Division

Winners (6): 1968–69, 1981–82, 1983–84, 1985–86, 1992–93, 1993–94

Runners-up (5): 1974–75, 1982–83, 1986–87, 1989–90, 1991–92

• Luxembourg Cup

Winners (7): 1982–83, 1983–84, 1986–87, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 2001–02

Runners-up (4): 1973–74, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1997–98

European Competition

Avenir have qualified for UEFA European competition sixteen times.

• UEFA Champions League

Qualifying round (2): 1993–94, 1994–95

First round (4): 1969–70, 1982–83, 1984–85, 1986–87

• UEFA Cup

Qualifying round (1): 2002–03

First round (4): 1975–76, 1985–86, 1990–91, 1995–96

• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup

First round (4): 1983–84, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1992–93

Second round (1): 1974–75

They have won three ties in European competition (although two were only on technicalities):

• In 1974–75, their Cup Winners' Cup first round opponents, Enosis Paralimni of Cyprus, withdrew due to ongoing crisis in that country.
• In the same competition in 1992–93, Avenir beat the Faroe Islands' B36 Tórshavn 2–1 on aggregate in the qualifying round, before losing 5–1 on aggregate to Spartak Moscow in the first round proper.
• In the 1995–96 UEFA Cup, Avenir lost on away goals to Örebro SK, but Avenir were awarded a 3–0 victory when it transpired that the Swedes had fielded an ineligible player.

Throughout its history the team has won three rounds in Europe, including Champions League, UEFA Cup and Cup Winners' Cup. In 1969, Avenir Beggen won their first league title in Luxembourg, with a historic victory followed by 10,000 spectators, of 3-1 against Jeunesse d'Esch. Moreover, thanks to this victory, the club qualified for the Champions League for the first time where they played against AC Milan (0-5 to Milan and 0-3 in Luxembourg city).

Another success for Avenir Beggen came on the 60th anniversary of the club, 1 September 1975, when Avenir Beggen played their first UEFA Cup tie (now Europa League) against FC Porto (0-7 in Porto and 0-3 in Luxembourg city).

In addition to those three ties, Avenir has won one game in a tie that they eventually lost (2–1 at home against Inter Bratislava in the 1990–91 UEFA Cup, before losing 5–0 in Bratislava).

Overall, Avenir's record in European competition reads:

	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Avenir Beggen	36	3	3	30	12	142	-130

Current squad

2008–09 season ^[2] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   LUX Martin Eisenmenger 2 DF   LUX Geoffrey Monivas 3 MF   LUX Patrick Bei 4 DF   LUX Grégory Molitor 5 MF   LUX Daniele Bei 6 MF   POR Gabriel Vieira 7 MF   CPV Spencer Olavo 8 MF   CPV João Tavares 11 FW   POR Ricardo Ferreira 13 DF   LUX Hector Varela 14 MF   POR Patrick Fernandes-Minas 15 MF   LUX Ben Zeches 16 DF   PER Sebastian Nureña 17 FW   POR Thiago Almeida Ferreira 19 MF   FRA Cédric Ziebel

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 MF   POR Bobby Mendes 21 FW   CGO Randy Nzita 22 GK   LUX Philippe Chrismousse 23 DF   POR Miguel Oliveira 24 GK   LUX Lou Consbruck — DF   LUX Christian Schmit — DF   USA Jamath Shoffner — DF   ITA Aldo Zampa — MF   BIH Asmir Alomerović — FW   FRA Ahmed Rani — MF   FRA Cédric Guillermic — MF   LUX Márcio Matias — MF   POR André Silva — FW   LUX Abdeljahil Maazouz — FW   FRA Kevin Nimsgern

Former coaches

• Marc Boreux (1966–72)
• Henri Cirelli (1973–76)
• Josy Kirchens (1976–77)
• Willi Macho (1979–80)
• Albert Adams (1980–82)
• Jean Bettinger (1982–83)
• Paul Philipp (1983–85)
• Michel Clement (1985–88)
• Louis Pilot (1988–90)
• Albert Adams (1990–95)
• Jacky Pérignon (1995–96)
• Theo Scholten (1996)
• Vinicio Monacelli (2000)
• Jeannot Reiter (2000–02)
• Gilbert Dresch (2002–03)
• Jean Fiedler (2003)
• Jacky Pérignon (2003)
• Michel Clement (2003–04)
• Florim Alijaj (2004–05)
• Fernando Gutiérrez (2004–05)
• Florim Alijaj (2005)
• Fernando Gutiérrez (2005–08)
• Manuel Peixoto (2008–09)
• Jos Steffen (2009–11)
• Dan Santos (2013–16)
• Gilles Wagner (2016)
• Paulo Gomes (2016–17)
• Carlo Feipel (2017)
• Jeannot Reiter (2017–18)
• Almir Civic (2018–)

References

1. "FC Avenir Beggen". Soccerway. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
2. Eis Équipe fir d'Saison 2008/09 Archived 2011-07-19 at the Wayback Machine - Wichtelweb

External links

• FC Avenir Beggen official website