Who are Rangers' Europa League slayers Progres Niederkorn?

Here's everything you need to know of the minnows who humbled Rangers in Europa League qualifying.
By The Newsroom
Published 5th Jul 2017, 13:17 BST
Updated 12th Sep 2017, 11:52 BST

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Sebastian Thill is a Luxembourg international. Picture: SNSSebastian Thill is a Luxembourg international. Picture: SNS
Sebastian Thill is a Luxembourg international. Picture: SNS

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• Niederkorn finished fourth in the Luxembourg National Division last season.

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• Their average attendance is around 600. In Scottish football terms, that’s the equivalent of Montrose. Not surprisingly, they are a part-time side.

• They play their home games at the Stade Jos Haupert in Niederkorn. The capacity is 4,830. Tuesday night’s game was moved to the Stade Josy Barthel in Luxembourg City, which had a capacity of around 8,000.

• Progres played at the Bernabeu in 1978 after they were drawn against Real Madrid in the European Cup.

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• The 5-0 defeat Progres suffered at the hands of Real Madrid - followed by a 7-0 trouncing in the return - came when the club was enjoying its golden period. It followed on from the 1977-78 season that brought them a league and cup double - the only one in the history of a club formed in 1919 in the south-west of Europe’s seventh smallest nation. A league win in 1980-81 is the club’s only honour since, with a period in the country’s second tier (the wonderfully named Division of Honour) only ended in 2006 by expansion of the top flight from 12 to 14 teams.

• Prior to Tuesday’s match, Nierderkorn had played 13 European games and scored only once. Their European record was played 13, won 0, drawn 2, lost 11.

• This was their second European appearance in three years. Prior to a 2015 meeting with Shamrock Rovers, they hadn’t featured on the continent since 1982.

• Progres have only one player in the Luxembourg national team set-up. Midfielder Sebastian Thill is that man with the 23-year-old having made 10 appearances and scored once for his country. That stoppage-time goal in September 2015 was a biggie as it earned a 1-0 victory over Macedonia in the Euro 2016 that is one of only four competitive victories achieved by Luxembourg in the past nine years.

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