Victory for the smallest side in the UEFA Cup

By: Ian Rose | August 1st, 2007

While writing this blog, I use the term “minnow” rather loosely. Of course, there is a huge diversity of teams in European football, and many levels between the superstars like AC Milan and Manchester United and the small local sides that rarely participate in European competition. The term “minnow” is relative, and depends as much on the size of the lake, so to speak, as the size of the fish.

Unless, of course, you are UN Käerjeng 97.

By any measure, Käerjeng is a very small club. They are, in fact, the smallest club in the UEFA Cup, and if you pay much attention to the early rounds of the Cup, you know what that means. The village they represent, Bascharage in Luxembourg, has about 1000 full-time residents. Their only domestic hardware comes from a Luxembourg Cup win in 1971, and their European record before this week consisted of two matches, a home-and-away tie with Chelsea (that’s right, that Chelsea) which produced the most lopsided result in the history of UEFA competition, a 21-0 aggregate in the 1972 Cup Winners’ Cup.

Have I mentioned how much I miss the Cup Winners’ Cup? I do. A lot.

Anyway, Käerjeng now has something huge to cheer about. After losing the first leg of their UEFA Cup first qualifying round tie away at Lillestrøm of Norway 2-1, they came back to win their home leg 1-0 and advance in the UEFA Cup for the first time. Forward Racid Boulahfari hit the lone goal in the opening minutes of the second half, and the team stuck in for the win on away goals.

This is what the UEFA Cup is all about, a chance for some of the smallest sides in Europe to win on a continental stage. Congratulations to UN Käerjeng 97, the pride of Luxembourg tonight. The town may only have 1,000 residents, but I’d bet the beer consumption tonight, per capita, was pretty impressive.