Aurélien Joachim

Aurélien Joachim (born 10 August 1986) is a Luxembourgish professional footballer, who plays for FC Differdange 03 and formerly the Luxembourg national football team as a striker. He is the younger brother of former cyclist Benoît Joachim.

Aurélien Joachim

Personal information
Full name	Aurélien Joachim
Date of birth	(1986-08-10) 10 August 1986
Place of birth	Luxembourg
Height	1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position(s)	Striker
Club information
Current team	FC Differdange 03
Youth career
	Rossignol
	Lorrain Arlon
	Virton
	Mouscron
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2004–2005	Virton	32	(1)
2006	VfL Bochum II	17	(0)
2007	Alemannia Aachen II	1	(0)
2008–2011	FC Differdange 03	84	(37)
2011–2013	Dudelange	25	(19)
2012–2013	→ Willem II (loan)	25	(6)
2013–2014	RKC Waalwijk	31	(6)
2014–2015	CSKA Sofia	20	(5)
2015–2016	Burton Albion	7	(0)
2016	White Star Bruxelles	10	(8)
2016–2018	Lierse	48	(10)
2018–2020	Virton	29	(7)
2020–	FC Differdange 03	0	(0)
National team^‡
2005–2019	Luxembourg	80	(15)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 26 July 2020 ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 9 August 2020

Club career

Joachim spent his time in the youth teams of Belgian clubs Virton and Mouscron, before making his senior debut for Virton in the 2004–2005 season. He then played for the reserve teams of German Bundesliga sides VfL Bochum and Alemannia Aachen before making his debut in the Luxembourg National Division in the second half of the 2007–2008 season.

Joachim was transferred to F91 Dudelange in May 2011. He has been a key figure in Dudelange's Champions League run in 2012–13, scoring 4 goals over 2 legs against S.P. Tre Penne of San Marino,[1] and scoring in each leg of Dudelange's famous 4–4 aggregate draw with Red Bull Salzburg,[2] helping his side through via the away goals rule to face NK Maribor in the third qualifying round, the furthest Dudelange have ever gone in the Champions League.

On 29 August 2012, Joachim was loaned to Willem II until the end of the season. In July 2013, he signed a two-year deal with RKC Waalwijk after he had permanently left Dudelange as a free agent.

Before the beginning of the 2014–15 season, Joachim signed with Bulgarian club CSKA Sofia. He made his official debut for the side in a Europa League qualifier against Zimbru Chișinău on 17 July 2014. He played his last match for the "redmen" in April 2015, as he had to return to Luxembourg in order to undergo a meniscus operation.[3]

After one season with Virton, Joachim confirmed that he had been relegated to the club's B-team because he was not a part of the club's plans.[4] However, he was promoted back to the first team at the end of October 2019.[5]

Joachim returned to FC Differdange 03 in July 2020.

International career

Joachim made his debut for Luxembourg in a September 2005 World Cup qualification match against Liechtenstein, at just 19 years of age. In his senior career, Joachim earned 80 caps, scoring 15 goals.

Joachim announced his retirement from international football in July 2020.[6]

Career statistics

International

As of matches played on 17 November 2019[7]

Luxembourg national team
Year	Apps	Goals
2005	2	0
2006	10	0
2007	2	1
2008	7	0
2009	0	0
2010	3	0
2011	7	1
2012	7	1
2013	9	3
2014	3	0
2015	8	1
2016	6	3
2017	6	2
2018	8	3
2019	2	0
Total	80	15

International goals

As of 17 November 2019[8]

Scores and results list Luxembourg's goal tally first.

№	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	7 February 2007	Stade Alphonse Theis, Hesperange, Luxembourg	Gambia	1–1	2–1	Friendly
2.	6 September 2011	Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Albania	2–1	2–1	UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying
3.	15 August 2012	Stade Municipal, Differdange, Luxembourg	Georgia	1–2	1–2	Friendly
4.	14 August 2013	Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Lithuania	1–1	2–1	Friendly
5.	6 September 2013	Central Stadium Kazan, Russia	Russia	1–3	1–4	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
6.	10 September 2013	Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Northern Ireland	1–1	3–2	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
7.	26 May 2014	Cristal Arena, Genk, Belgium	Belgium	1–1	1–5	Friendly
8.	13 November 2015	Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Greece	1–0	1–0	Friendly
9.	6 September 2016	Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria	Bulgaria	1–1	3–4	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
10.				2–1
11.	10 October 2016	Borisov Arena, Barysaw, Belarus	Belarus	1–1	1–1	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
12.	25 March 2017	Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	France	1–1	1–3	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
13.	9 November 2017	Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Hungary	1–0	2–1	Friendly
14.	5 June 2018	Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg	Georgia	1–0	1–0	Friendly
15.	11 September 2018	San Marino Stadium, Serravalle, San Marino	San Marino	2–0	3–0	2018–19 UEFA Nations League D

References

1. "Joachim at the double as Dudelange ease through". uefa.com. 10 July 2012.
2. "Joachim strikes as Dudelange shock Salzburg". uefa.com. 17 July 2012.
3. "Аурелиен Йоахим и ЦСКА се разделят". football24.bg. 6 May 2015. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
4. Mollereau, Julien (26 June 2019). "Joachim : à Virton, « ils ne comptent pas sur moi »". Le Quotidien (in French). Retrieved 20 July 2019.
5. "Football : Aurélien Joachim rappelé dans le noyau A de Virton". Le Quotidien (in French). 25 October 2019. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
6. "Rekordmann ohne Nachfolger". Lëtzebuerg Tageblatt (in German). 31 July 2020. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
7. Aurélien Joachim at National-Football-Teams.com
8. "Aurélien Joachim – national football team player". eu-football.info.

External links

• Voetbal International profile (in Dutch)