Local Matters is on tour. This year, we are leaving our comfort zones Bonnevoie and Esch to explore what Luxembourg is like in other parts. Local Matters goes really local now – to see what’s happening in the neighborhoods, the villages and small places across the country. Many things that happen in a local framework, if they make it to the news at all, they don’t stay there very long. And just after a while you wonder: Has this issue been resolved? On Local Matters this year, we will see what’s occupying the minds of the locals.
We start this new format in Differdange this week. To be precise, in the Thillenberg area of Differdange. The Thillenberg is a hill on the western outskirts of the city centre. Behind the cultural centre Aalt Stadthaus and the town hall – a residential area where most of the time, not a lot is happening. The main attractions of the neighborhood are the Thillenberg stadium and the former hospital. Yesterday we talked about the discussions in local politics to relocate the refugees who are accommodated in the side building of the old hospital. The municipality is searching for a solution as the living conditions aren’t good and the building needs to be renovated. Today, we focus on the stadium. The Stade de Thillenberg is located at the end of the road, at the margins of the forest that covers the hill.
It is said to be one of the most remarkable and most legendary stadiums of Luxembourg. The stadium used to host matches of the football team FC Differdange 03. The club was born in 2003, when the two Differdange football teams Red Boys and AS Differdange merged to become the FC Differdange 03. Before, the stadium was home to the successful Red Boys. The Red Boys are 16 times cup winner and 6-times national champion. For the decisive matches, 6000 to 8000 fans entered the stadium, depending on who you ask. Many of the fans still remember the special ambiance of this stadium.
Today, the Differdange 03 has a new sports complex at the other side of the city centre. With car park and bus stop, heated changing rooms and good lawn. Meanwhile the Stade de Thillenberg is only used by two youth teams – because the municipality doesn’t have sufficient space for all the 800 to 900 players of the different divisions. The club installed changing rooms in containers.
The last first division match at Thillenberg was played in 2012. Differdange 03 lost against Jeunesse from Esch. Nowadays, the letters marking the entrance look like an announcement of past glory. The stadium was in a bad state, and it took the municipality years to decide what should happen to the stadium – renovation or demolition. In 2018, the municipality and the national protection administration decided to list the stadium as a historical monument. Relief for nostalgic fans.
The Differdange mayor Guy Altmeisch was involved in the club for 20 years, he used to be chairman of the youth department. He says: “The stadium is special because it’s the only wooden stand that still exists in Luxembourg. It’s listed as a national monument - And the location is unique as well. It’s surrounded by the forest – that’s quite special.”
The stadium was built in 1922, on top of a rock in the forest. Large stilts carry the massive construction at the street side. The stadium was erected at the entrance of the iron ore mine Thillenberg. The main stand and the portal to enter the stadium were built after the homes of the English clubs at the beginning of the century. Michel Mosinger who was Differdange team captain at the time, studied in England and brought back an idea of how to construct this new stadium, an old Tageblatt report says. One stand leaning to the rock face – and the large main stand made of wood and metal, painted in the colours of the club – Red, White, Black. The stadium was built by players and fans who volunteered to create this piece of local history and identity. Many of them were mine workers. Team captain Mosinger was also the one to give the English name to the new team: “Football Association Red Boys” – and the Red can be interpreted as a political statement – at the time, after the 1 world war and during recession, the local communist leaders supported the miners in their fight against mass dismissals, historian Denis Scuto told 100,7 for the 100th anniversary of the stadium.
A hundred years after the construction, in 2022, the municipality planned to spend 1 million euros on the renovation of the stadium. For mayor and fan Guy Altmeisch, this project is important. “While we are renovating the whole stadium, we need to respect the budget and the monument state. This will take five to six years, it’s a large project and quite expensive. I can assure you that the stadium will remain a part of football in this country – like it was ten years ago.” Five to six years until the glory of the old days comes back to the Thillenberg stadium of Differdange.