LUXEMBOURG: FC Les Montagnards Weiswampach (1970-2002) / FF Norden 02 Weiswampach-Hupperdange (2002-)

Stade 'Auf dem Kiemel', Weiswampach (FF Norden 02 Weiswampach-Hupperdange)

Luxembourg, canton: Clervaux

14 IX 2022 / FF Norden 02 Weiswampach-Hupperdange - US Feulen 2-2 / Division 1 Série 1 (= LUX level 3)

Timeline

• 1932 / Foundation of FC Weiswampach. 
• 1937 / After five seasons in Division 3, the fifth and lowest level of Luxembourg's football pyramid, FC Weiswampach is dissolved. Photos in FF Norden's clubhouse in Weiswampach, though, prove that football was played in Weiswampach during the war years, after FC Weiswampach had folded - possibly, in those years, friendly matches were played against teams from surrounding villages.
• 1946 / Refoundation of FC Weiswampach.
• 1948 / FC Weiswampach manages a promotion to Division 2 after winning a play-off match against derby rivals FC Racing Troisvièrges (1-0).
• 1950 / Finishing second in D2, FC Weiswampach accedes to Division 1, the third tier of the Grand-Duchy's football league system. The club holds out at that level for two seasons before dropping back into D2.
• 1953 / FC Weiswampach folds, ceasing all activities. In the following 13 years, boys and men from Weiswampach eager to play organised football, have no other choice but to join clubs from surrounding villages, FC Claravallis Clervaux, FC Blo-Giel Hupperdange, or FC Racing Troisvièrges.
• 1966 / Foundation of FC Les Montagnards Weiswampach. At the time, Luxembourg's league pyramid consists of six tiers, with the new club having to start in Division 4, the bottom level. Home matches are played at Stade 'Auf dem Stein' on the eastern outskirts of Weiswampach.
• 1969 / FC Les Montagnards Weiswampach obtains its first title, thus winning promotion to D3. The club manages to hold its own at that level for three seasons before relegation to Division 4 follows.
• 1970 / The 1969-70 season is eventful, as Les Montagnards reaches the third round of Luxembourg's national cup, bowing out in a home game against top-flight side CS Fola Esch. Also in 1970, the club abandons its first ground, moving into the newly built Stade 'Auf dem Kiemel' in the village centre.
• 1976 / FC Les Montagnards Weiswampach wins the league title in D4. Due to a reorganisation in Luxembourg's football pyramid that same year, the club moves up not one, but two divisions.
• 1981 / Having suffered relegation to Division 3 after four seasons in Division 2, FC Les Montagnards bounces back straightaway in 1981 by winning the title in D3. In the following two decades, the club alternates spells in D2 and D3.
• ±1995 / The wooden stand at Stade Auf dem Kiemel is replaced with the current clubhouse.
• 2002 / A merger is concluded between FC Les Montagnards Weiswampach and FC Blo-Giel Hupperdange, resulting in the foundation of FF (Foussball Frënn) Norden 02 Weiswampach-Hupperdange, usually referred to as FF 02 Norden or simply FF Norden. Henceforth, first team football takes place in Weiswampach, while Hupperdange's Stade Schmitzgasse remains in use for lower team football. A new training pitch is created in Reuler, bringing the total of available pitches up to three. The synthetic pitch in Reuler is also used by FC Claravallis Clervaux for their lower team football and training sessions. 
• 2003 / Immediate success follows for FF Norden 02, as the title is obtained in Division 3, resulting in promotion to D2.
• 2005 / Winning the promotion play-offs in D2, FF Norden 02 accedes to Division 1 - a first in the combined football histories of Weiswampach and Hupperdange. The success ends there, as relegation follows immediately in 2006.
• 2011 / After two titles in three seasons, FF Norden is placed in Promotion d'Honneur, the second tier of Luxembourg's league system, for the first time. 
• 2012 / FF Norden's youth product Laurent Jans, transferred to CS Fola Esch the previous year, makes his debut in Luxembourg's national team. Jans will go on to make a career as a professional footballer, alternately playing with clubs in France, Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands.
• 2015 / Having suffered relegation to D1 in 2014, FF Norden bounces back by winning promotion to Promotion d'Honneur. That same season, the club lays its hands on the so-called Coupe FLF, a cup competition for clubs in the three lowest divisions of Luxembourg's league pyramid, by winning the final against FC Atert Bissen (3-1) held in Mertzig's Stade An der Burwiessen, a match attended by 709 spectators.
• 2016 / FF Norden's goalkeeper Ralph Schon earns a transfer to FC Una Strassen. That same year, he makes his debut in Luxembourg's national team.
• 2018 / After three seasons in Promotion d'Honneur, FF Norden loses the relegation play-off against FC Koeppchen Wormeldange comprehensively (1-4), resulting in relegation to D1.

All photos: (c) W.B. Tukker / www.extremefootballtourism.blogspot.com. Publication of any of these images only after permission of author