Jeff Strasser had a long and distinguished career as a player and has been a successful trainer at Fola Esch. Fola were resurgent under his joint leadership with Cyril Serredszum and won the Luxembourg championship in 2013--their first title since 1923--and again in 2015. He returns to the Betzenberg, as Kaiserslautern’s Fritz Walter stadium is known, after becoming a crowd favourite in his playing days at the club from 1999 to 2002, before joining Borussia Monchengladbach. He made 81 appearances and scored seven goals for the Red Devils when they were still a top flight club.

But the team has struggled in recent years and was dragged into a relegation battle towards the end of last season. Currently FCK lies bottom of the second division and suffered a 5-0 defeat at Union Berlin on Monday. Next up, on Friday evening, is a must-win home fixture against Greuther Fürth, who are also in the relegation zone.  The club clearly hopes that Strasser’s appointment will not only revive its fortunes on the pitch, but that his popularity with the fans will boost crowd figures--the Fritz Walter stadium has a capacity of 49,850, but just 16,000 turned up for the last home match, a defeat to Erzgebirge Aue from eastern Germany. The club has reduced tickets prices for the match. Strasser, who represented Luxembourg a record 88 times as an international and scored six goals for his country, has signed a contract until 2019.