Extreme Football Tourism: LUXEMBOURG: FC Syra Mensdorf

Stade Op Biirk, Mensdorf = Menster (FC Syra Mensdorf)

Luxembourg, canton: Grevenmacher

16 VIII 2025 / FC Syra Mensdorf - Union Remich-Bous 1-3 / Division 1 Group 2 (= LUX level 3)

Timeline

1938 / Foundation of a football club in Mensdorf – referred to as Menster in the Luxembourgian language – a village in the southeast of the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg. The new club is named FC Syra Mensdorf, after the small river flowing through the village, the Syre. Jos Altwies becomes its first chairman. The club does not join the official Luxembourg Football Association (FLF), preferring membership of the smaller Féderation Sportive Ardennaise (FSA). Given that first attempts at founding a club had already taken place in 1936, a pitch was already available, Terrain Niederbann, but its owner ejects the club after only a few months in mid-1938. An initial plan to lay out a ground on a pasture owned by Michel Engel, Terrain An der Sauerwiss, never really materialises, with the club eventually settling on the newly laid-out Terrain Am Bruch in the fall of 1938.
1940 / After the German occupation of Luxembourg, the Féderation Sportive Ardennaise is wound up at the behest of nazi authorities, with FC Syra and all other member clubs being integrated into the FLF.
1941 / At the behest of German occupation authorities, FC Syra Mensdorf has to germanicise its name to Fussballverein (FV) Mensdorf.
1944 / After the liberation of Luxembourg, FV Mensdorf changes its name to the old FC Syra Mensdorf.
1946 / FC Syra Mensdorf starts its life as a regular FLF club in Division 3, the fifth and lowest level of the country’s league pyramid.
1949 / Moving away from Terrain Am Bruch, FC Syra Mensdorf settles at the newly laid-out Terrain Am Däich. The ground is inaugurated with two matches; the first between FC Syra Mensdorf and FC Munsbach (4-1), followed by an encounter between FC Red Star Merl-Belair and SC Tétange (5-1).
1952 / Champions in Division 3 Group 3, 4 points ahead of FC Jeunesse Junglinster, FC Syra Mensdorf wins promotion to Division 2, the fourth tier of Luxembourg’s league system, for the first time.
1953 / Finishing in second-last place in Division 2 Group 2, FC Syra Mensdorf drops back into Division 3 after just one season, along with bottom club US Hagen.
1956 / Runners-up in Division 3 Group 2, 5 points behind champions FC Minière Lasauvage, FC Syra Mensdorf wins promotion to Division 2 alongside the aforementioned club as well as CS Hobscheid.
1957 / Finishing bottom of the table in Division 2 Group 2, FC Syra Mensdorf drops back into Division 3, yet again after just one season.
1964 / Finishing in second-last place in Division 3 Group 3, FC Syra Mensdorf descends into the newly created Division 4 or sixth tier of Luxembourg’s league pyramid.
1971 / A youth academy is set up at FC Syra Mensdorf.
1973 / Champions in Division 4 Group 3, 2 points ahead of FC Les Aiglons Dalheim, FC Syra Mensdorf wins promotion to Division 3. The successful coach is Alfiero Venanzi.
1974 / Finishing bottom of the table in Division 3 Group 2, FC Syra Mensdorf drops back into Division 4 after just one season, along with the club in second-last place, AS Schifflange.
1976 / In a reorganisation of the league pyramid, which involves the abolition of Division 4 as all reserves’ teams are taken out of the league pyramid, FC Syra Mensdorf is placed in Division 3 for the new season.
1980 / Finishing bottom of the table in Division 3 Group 3 with coach Bernard Braun, FC Syra Mensdorf drops back into the reintroduced Division 4 alongside the team in second-last place, US Moutfort-Medingen Reserves.
1983 / Runners-up in Division 4 Group 5, with an equal number of points as champions FC Les Amis de la Moselle Remerschen, but with a slightly inferior goal difference (+86 vs. +77), FC Syra Mensdorf misses out on direct promotion, instead being drawn into a promotion-relegation play-off group with FC Swift Hesperange Reserves and FC Tricolore Gasperich Reserves – with the former finishing in first place and avoiding relegation from Division 3. FC Syra stays in Division 4.
1985 / Finishing in third place in Division 4 Group 6 with coach Norry Thill, FC Syra Mensdorf is readmitted to Division 3 thanks to reserves’ teams being taken out of the regular league pyramid yet again.
2001 / Works get underway on a new ground for FC Syra Mensdorf, Stade Op Biirk, with the clubhouse being designed by architect Marc Dieschburg from Beidweiler. The foundation stone of the building is laid on December 15th, 2001.
2002 / Finishing in third place in Division 3 Group 3, FC Syra Mensdorf wins promotion to Division 2 along with champions FC Red Black Pfaffenthal and runners-up FC Cebra 01. The successful coach is Christian Faber.
2003 / Finishing in second-last place in Division 2 Group 2 with coach Maurice Meyer, FC Syra Mensdorf drops back into Division 3 along with bottom club FC Résidence Walferdange. That same year, on June 13th, 2003, after two years of works, Stade Op Biirk is inaugurated in the presence of Luxembourg’s Minister for Sports Affairs, Mrs Anne Brasseur, and Henri Roemer, president of Luxembourg’s Football Association. The park consists of two pitches, the second of which has been laid out with a synthetic surface. The side of the clubhouse facing the main pitch sports a coverd stand. FC Syra’s old ground, Terrain Am Däich, is removed to make way for eighteen housing units.
2004 / Runners-up in Division 3 Group 2, 7 points behind champions FC Sporting Bertrange, FC Syra Mensdorf wins promotion to Division 2 alongside the aforementioned club as well as the teams in third and fourth place respectively, FC Les Aiglons Dalheim and US Moutfort-Medingen. The successful coach is Roby Sulkers, who had taken over from Maurice Meyer in the course of the season.
2008 / Champions in Division 2 Group 2, 2 points ahead of runners-up US Bous, FC Syra Mensdorf accedes to Division 1, the third level of Luxembourg’s league pyramid, for the first time in club history. The successful player-coach is Claude Leogrande – a striker, who crowns himself club top scorer as well.
2009 / Coached by Claude Leogrande, FC Syra Mensdorf is unable to cope with the D1 level, finishing in second-last place in Division 1 Group 2 and dropping back into Division 2 immediately, along with US Esch and bottom club US Bous.
2010 / Suffering back-to-back relegations, FC Syra Mensdorf finishes in second-last place in Division 2 Group 2, thus descending into Division 3, the bottom level of Luxembourg’s league system, along with the club in last place, US Bous. Coach Paulo Moura, who had taken over from Andres Lamas in November 2009, proved unable to stem the rot.
2011 / Finishing in third place in Division 3 Group 2, FC Syra Mensdorf qualifies for a promotion-relegation play-off against D2 side FC Alisontia Steinsel, going on to win the encounter (1-0). As a result, the club joins champions FC Noertzange Huncherange-Fennange and runners-up FC Titus Lamadelaine in Division 2. The successful coach is Vincent Di Gennaro.
2018 / Runners-up in Division 2 Group 2, 8 points behind champions Union Remich-Bous, FC Syra Mensdorf manages a return to Division 1 after an absence of nine years, winning promotion to that level along with the aforementioned club and play-off winners SC Bettembourg.
2025 / Runners-up in Division 1 Group 2, 5 points behind champions FC The Belval Belvaux, FC Syra Mensdorf qualifies for a promotion-relegation play-off against Promotion d’Honneur side FC Schifflange 95, played at Stade John Grün in Mondorf-les-Bains. However, suffering a 2-0 defeat, the club misses out on an unprecedented promotion to the second level of Luxembourg’s league pyramid.

Note – Important parts of the information provided above have been derived from a book published on the occasion of FC Syra’s 75th anniversary: “75 Jar FC Syra Menster 1938-2013”, by various authors (ed. FC Syra Menster: Mensdorf 2014), notably the articles by Gast Gengler (“Der FC Syra Mensdorf, ein rührig dynamischer fünfundsiebzigjahriger Sportclub”) and Sylvain Hoffmann (“Beginn der Ära ‘op Biirk’: der FC Syra von 2003 bis heute”). Thanks to ultimate FC Syra clubman Nico Walentiny for putting a copy of this book at my disposal.