Troubled Star, Silent Federation, and a Coach Under Fire – Rodriguez, Holtz, and the FLF
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Former Luxembourg international Joel Kitenge has never been afraid to speak plainly, and his recent appearance on CityNews was no different. The ex-attacking midfielder and striker, who once carried the hopes of the Luxembourg national team, delivered a candid assessment of the storm surrounding troubled international forward Gerson Rodrigues, while turning a sharp eye toward his former coach Luc Holtz, the Luxembourg Football Federation, and the country’s media.
Kitenge’s compassion for Rodrigues was unmistakable. He described the striker as a man forged in hardship, someone who endured the death of his mother at a young age and the absence of parental stability. “Gerson, he’s someone who has a hard mental, like steel,” Kitenge explained, adding that his survival instinct explains both his resilience on the pitch and his occasional off-field turbulence. For Kitenge, the player’s troubled past makes his rise all the more remarkable. But he warned that Luxembourg is full of distractions for players, a country where comfort and leisure can easily pull a young footballer away from the discipline required to succeed.
That theme of fragile promise ran throughout his analysis of Luxembourg’s football structures. While acknowledging progress in youth development, he argued that much more is needed, particularly mental support and professional training centres where young players can live, study, and train without the constant tug of outside temptations. His vision is of a system that produces athletes who are prepared both on and off the field, insulated from the pitfalls of drifting into an ordinary lifestyle when professional demands call for extraordinary focus.
Kitenge was equally direct when it came to his former national coach, Luc Holtz. He credited Holtz with passion and dedication but accused him of losing sight of the bigger picture. “He is too focused on his thing,” Kitenge said, pointing to Holtz’s handling of media criticism as a major misstep. Reports that journalists were excluded from press conferences struck him as unacceptable in a country that values freedom of expression. For Kitenge, Holtz’s defensive posture toward criticism betrayed not strength but fragility.
He also warned against over-reliance on a single player like Rodrigues. While acknowledging that the striker is a match-winner, he insisted that no one should have “a free ticket” and that others in the squad deserve their chance. A national team, Kitenge reminded, represents the whole country and cannot bend around one man’s talent.
The Luxembourg Football Federation did not escape his scrutiny either. He accused the FLF of shirking responsibility when the Rodrigues crisis came to light. “I had the impression that they wanted to get rid of everything,” Kitenge remarked, criticising officials for hiding behind silence and excuses instead of protecting both the player and the team. For him, their failure to speak openly only widened the gap between the public and the game. He noted bitterly that the federation’s focus on the men’s national team blinded them to achievements elsewhere, such as the progress of the women’s squad, which he said went unacknowledged until the players themselves issued an open letter.
If the federation’s silence frustrated him, so too did the mixed role of the media. Kitenge suggested that reporters were as confused as players when the Rodrigues affair erupted, but he argued that the lack of transparency from the FLF left them little choice but to speculate. He condemned attempts to silence critical voices, warning that public figures must learn to accept praise and blame with equal maturity. For him, journalism is not the enemy of football but a mirror of its reality.
Kitenge’s own career was never far from the surface of his reflections. He recalled being labelled “the terrible child” for refusing to conform, and admitted that he faced insults and racial abuse during his playing days. Yet he insisted he never saw himself as an outsider, instead choosing to interpret hostility as proof that his performances mattered enough to provoke strong emotions.
In the end, Kitenge painted a picture of a football culture still struggling to mature. Luxembourg has talent, ambition, and infrastructure that is improving, but also distractions, fragile management, and institutions reluctant to confront uncomfortable truths. His words on Rodrigues could equally apply to the game itself in Luxembourg: hardened by adversity, capable of brilliance, but still in need of guidance to avoid losing its way.
Interview by Lisa Teixeira, report by David Danisa