Extreme Football Tourism: LUXEMBOURG: CS Alliance Dudelange (1951-1991) / F91 Dudelange (B) (1991-)

Stade Amadéo Barozzi, Dudelange (F91 Dudelange, B ground / formerly CS Alliance Dudelange)

Luxembourg, canton: Esch-sur-Alzette

11 X 2017 / FC Commune Dudelange - FC Stugalux 2-5 / Football Corporatif Luxembourgeois, Division 2

Timeline

1908 / Foundation of a football club in Dudelange, which is given the name Étoile Rouge (ER) Dudelange.
1912 / Foundation of another football club in Dudelange, which is given the name Étoile Bleue (EB) Dudelange.
1916 / With neither club ever having taken part in official league divisions of Luxembourg’s Football Association (FLF), a merger is concluded between Étoile Rouge Dudelange and Étoile Bleue Dudelange, resulting in the foundation of Club Sportif (CS) Alliance Dudelange. It is unclear where the club played its football until the inauguration of the Stade Amadéo Barozzi in 1951.
1917 / CS Alliance Dudelange takes part in an official FLF league championship for the first time, being placed in Division 3, the third and bottom division of Luxembourg’s league pyramid at the time.
1924 / Finishing in joint first place in Division 2 Group 2 (level 3) with FC Mansfeldia Clausen, CS Alliance Dudelange meets the club from Luxembourg-Cents in a tie-break match. Suffering a 6-4 defeat, Alliance misses out on promotion.
1925 / Champions in Division 2 Group 2 (level 3), CS Alliance Dudelange qualifies for the promotion play-offs, finishing in last place behind D2 Group 1 & 3 winners FC Aris Bonnevoie and AS Differdange – and thus narrowly missing out on promotion for the second year running.
1928 / Champions in Division 2 Group 2, 6 points ahead of runners-up US Rumelange, CS Alliance Dudelange wins promotion to Promotion (level 2).
1930 / Finishing in second-last place in Promotion, CS Alliance Dudelange drops back into Division 2 (level 3) along with bottom club FC Sporting Steinfort.
1931 / Champions in Division 2 Group 2, 8 points ahead of runners-up FC The Belval Belvaux, CS Alliance Dudelange wins promotion to Division 1 (level 2).
1936 / Finishing in third-last position in Division 1, CS Alliance Dudelange descends into Promotion (level 3) along with Tricolore Muhlenweg and bottom club FC Progrès 08 Grund.
1937 / Champions in Promotion, 4 points ahead of closest rivals US Niederwiltz, CS Alliance Dudelange wins promotion to Division 1 (level 2) along with the aforementioned club as well as third-placing FC Rapid Neudorf.
1939 / Finishing in third-last position in Division 1, CS Alliance Dudelange descends into Promotion (level 3) along with FC Aris Bonnevoie and bottom club FC Blue Boys Muhlenbach.
1940 / Champions in Promotion, 4 points ahead of closest followers FC Aris Bonnevoie and US Rumelange, CS Alliance Dudelange wins promotion to Division 1 (level 2) along with the two aforementioned clubs. Due to the outbreak of the war and the interruption of league football in Luxembourg, the club can only take its place in this division in 1945. After the German annexation of Luxembourg in May 1940, a stern Germanisation programme is introduced by Nazi authorities, with CS Alliance Dudelange being forcibly renamed Fussballverein (FV) Rot-Schwarz Düdelingen. All Luxembourg football clubs are integrated into the German league system.
1944 / Upon the liberation of the southern half of Luxembourg from the German yoke, FV Rot-Schwarz Düdelingen takes on its old name CS Alliance Dudelange.
1949 / Finishing in ninth place in Division 1, CS Alliance Dudelange drops back into Promotion (level 3) along with FC Jeunesse Wasserbillig, FC Egalité Weimerskirch, and bottom club FC Rapid Neudorf.
1950 / Champions in Promotion Group 2, 4 points ahead of closest followers FC Jeunesse Wasserbillig, CS Alliance Dudelange wins promotion to Division 1 (level 2) along with the aforementioned club.
1951 / CS Alliance Dudelange moves into the newly laid-out Stade Amadéo Barozzi at Rue Reiteschkopp, in the southwestern part of Dudelange, the so-called Petite Italie neighbourhood, which houses a large part of Dudelange’s extensive Italian community. In the 1950s and 1960s, Alliance progressively becomes the club of the Italian community in Dudelange.
1952 / Champions in Division 1 Group 2, 1 point ahead of closest rivals US Rumelange, CS Alliance Dudelange accedes to the Division d’Honneur, the top tier of Luxembourgian football, for the first time.
1953 / Finishing in joint tenth place in the Division d’Honneur with SC Tétange, CS Alliance Dudelange meets its derby rivals in a tie-break match. Suffering a 3-2 defeat, Alliance descends into Division 1 (level 2) along with bottom club FC Racing Rodange.
1954 / Champions in Division 1 Group 2, 9 points ahead of runners-up FC The Belval Belvaux, CS Alliance Dudelange wins promotion to the Division d’Honneur (level 1).
1960 / Although finishing in a safe sixth place in the National Division, as the top tier of Luxembourg’s football pyramid had been renamed in 1957, CS Alliance Dudelange is retrograded to Promotion d’Honneur (level 2) along with bottom club FC Progrès Niederkorn for disciplinary reasons.
1961 / Champions in Promotion d’Honneur, 5 points ahead of US Dudelange, CS Alliance Dudelange accedes to the National Division along with its derby rivals. That same season, the club wins the Luxembourg Cup for the first time, reaching the final following successive victories over FC Jeunesse Hautcharage, FCM Young Boys Diekirch, CS Le Stade Dudelange, The National Schifflange, and AS La Jeunesse d’Esch. In the final, the club has the better of Union Luxembourg, defeating the top tier club 3-2 (goals by Marcel Vandivinit, Jacques Bellion, and Alfiero Venanzi. As such, Alliance qualifies for a European tournament for the first time, being eliminated in the round of last 16 in the Cup Winners Cup by SC Motor Jena (9-2, both legs played in East Germany).
1962 / In the most successful season in club history, CS Alliance Dudelange finishes as runners-up in the National Division, 7 points behind champions Union Luxembourg, while taking home the Luxembourg Cup for the second year running following a 1-0 defeat of Union Luxembourg in the final (goal by Henri Cirelli). On the way to the final, Alliance had knocked out FC Koeppchen Wormeldange, FC Jeunesse Wasserbillig, FC Progrès Niederkorn, and FA Red Boys Differdange. In the 1962-63 Cup Winners Cup, the club manages a 1-1 home draw in the qualifying round against Boldklubben 1909 (goal by Jules Zambon), with the match being staged at CS Fola Esch’s Stade Emile Mayrisch due to Alliance’s Stade Amadéo Barozzi being deemed unfit to host a European match. Losing the second leg in Odense, Denmark, comprehensively, though (8-1), the club is eliminated.
1966 / Finishing bottom of the table in the National Division, CS Alliance Dudelange drops back into Promotion d’Honneur along with the club finishing in second-last place, FA Red Boys Differdange.
1969 / CS Alliance Dudelange reaches the final of the Luxembourg Cup, in which it suffers a 5-2 defeat at the hands of Union Luxembourg.
1970 / Runners-up in Promotion d’Honneur, 3 points behind champions CS Grevenmacher, CS Alliance Dudelange joins the aforementioned club in the National Division the following season.
1972 / Finishing bottom of the table in the National Division, CS Alliance Dudelange suffers relegation to Promotion d’Honneur along with the club finishing in second-last position, FC Progrès Niederkorn.
1974 / Runners-up in Promotion d’Honneur, 3 points behind champions FC Progrès Niederkorn, CS Alliance Dudelange joins the aforementioned club in the National Division the following season.
1979 / Finishing in second-last place in the National Division, CS Alliance Dudelange descends into Promotion d’Honneur along with bottom club FCM Young Boys Diekirch.
1980 / Runners-up in Promotion d’Honneur, 4 points behind champions FC Olympique Eischen, CS Alliance Dudelange joins the aforementioned club in the National Division the following season.
1983 / Finishing bottom of the table in the National Division, CS Alliance Dudelange is retrograded to Promotion d’Honneur along with the club finishing in second-last position, FC Olympique Eischen.
1984 / Champions in Promotion d’Honneur, CS Alliance Dudelange wins promotion to the National Division along with the club which had finished as runners-up, 6 points behind them, FC Olympique Eischen.
1985 / Alliance’s longtime chairman, Louis ‘Luigi’ Rech, is elected mayor of Dudelange on behalf of Luxembourg’s Labour Party (LSAP). The first-ever Italian-born citizen to be appointed in that capacity in the Grand-Duchy, Rich stays on for eight years, stepping back in 1993.
1988 / Finishing in tenth place in the National Division, CS Alliance Dudelange has to save its skin in the promotion-relegation play-offs – eventually proving unable to do so and thus dropping back into Promotion d’Honneur along with FC Aris Bonnevoie.
1989 / Runners-up in the regular Promotion d’Honneur season, CS Alliance Dudelange qualifies for the promotion-relegation play-offs. Finishing in second place in Group B behind CS Fola Esch, Alliance accedes to the National Division along with that club.
1990 / Finishing in tenth place in the National Division, CS Alliance Dudelange has to save its skin in the promotion-relegation play-offs – eventually proving unable to do so and thus dropping back into Promotion d’Honneur after just one season.
1991 / In its last season as an independent club, CS Alliance Dudelange finishes in sixth place in Promotion d’Honneur. Following the 1990-91 season, a merger is concluded with the two other clubs in Dudelange, FC US Dudelange and CS Le Stade Dudelange, resulting in the foundation of Football 91 (F91) Dudelange. After starting the 1991-92 season at Stade J.F. Kennedy, F91 Dudelange moves its first team football to US Dudelange’s Stade Jos Nosbaum in the fall of 1991, with Alliance’s Stade Amadéo Barozzi being retained for lower team football (as well as recreational football) and Stade Dudelange’s Stade Aloyse Meyer becoming the main seat of the new club’s youth academy. Starting its life in Promotion d’Honneur after taking Alliance’s place in that division, F91 Dudelange would go on to win promotion to the National Division in 1992 – becoming Luxembourg’s absolute top club in the following decades.
2008 / The only pitch of the Stade Amadéo Barozzi is laid out as a 3G.