Liechtenstein national football team

Liechtenstein

Nickname(s)	The Blues-Reds
Association	Liechtenstein Football Association (Liechtensteiner Fussballverband)
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Rene Pauritsch
Most caps	Mario Frick (125)
Top scorer	Mario Frick (16)
Home stadium	Rheinpark Stadion
FIFA code	LIE
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	173 (May 2016)
Highest	118 (January 2008, July 2011, September 2011)
Lowest	172 (September 2014)
Elo ranking
Current	165 (9 September 2015)
Highest	150 (September 2011)
Lowest	184 (September 2004)
First international
Liechtenstein 0–1 Switzerland "B"   (Balzers, Liechtenstein; 9 March 1982)[1]
Biggest win
Luxembourg 0–4 Liechtenstein  (Luxembourg, Luxembourg; 13 October 2004)
Biggest defeat
Liechtenstein 1–11 Macedonia  (Eschen, Liechtenstein; 9 November 1996)

The Liechtenstein national football team (German: Liechtensteinische Fußballnationalmannschaft) is the national football team of the Principality of Liechtenstein and is controlled by the Liechtenstein Football Association. The organisation is known as the Liechtensteiner Fussballverband in German. The team's first match was an unofficial match against Malta in Seoul, a 1–1 draw in 1981. Their first official match came two years later, a 0–1 defeat from Switzerland. Liechtenstein's largest win, a 4–0 win over Luxembourg in a 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier on 13 October 2004, was both its first away win ever and its first win in any World Cup qualifier. Liechtenstein suffered its biggest ever loss in 1996, during qualification for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, with an 11–1 thrashing at the hands of Macedonia, the result also being Macedonia's largest ever win to date.

History

Liechtenstein are only a relatively recent affiliate to FIFA, and did not participate in any qualifying series until the UEFA Euro 1996 qualifiers. There they managed to surprise the Republic of Ireland by holding them to a 0–0 draw on 3 June 1995. On 14 October 1998, they managed their first victory in a qualifying campaign by winning 2–1 against Azerbaijan in a UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying match.

Since then, the presence of Liechtenstein clubs in the Swiss league system and of a handful of professional players (most notably Mario Frick) has seen the side's competitiveness improve enormously. The Euro 2004 qualifiers saw Liechtenstein improve to the extent they restricted England to 2–0 wins. The 2006 World Cup qualifiers, however, brought even better results as two wins over Luxembourg and draws against both Slovakia and Portugal meant that Liechtenstein finished with eight points.

From their qualifying campaigns, the one that they received the most points was on their 2006 FIFA World Cup campaign. Only their 1998 and 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifying campgains are the ones, when Liechtenstein failed to obtain at least a point.

Liechtenstein all-time record against all nations

Against	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	GF	GA	GD
Albania	1	0	0	1	0	2	−2
Andorra	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1
Australia	1	0	0	1	1	3	−2
Austria	9	0	0	9	1	36	−35
Azerbaijan	5	1	1	3	2	8	−6
Belarus	1	0	0	1	1	5	−4
Bosnia and Herzegovina	6	0	1	5	2	23	−21
Croatia	2	0	0	2	2	8	−6
Czech Republic	2	0	0	2	0	4	−4
Denmark	2	0	0	2	0	8	−8
England	2	0	0	2	0	4	−4
Estonia	5	0	1	4	2	10	−8
Finland	2	0	1	1	2	3	−1
Faroe Islands	4	0	0	4	3	8	−5
Georgia	1	0	0	1	0	2	−2
Germany	4	0	0	4	3	27	−24
Gibraltar	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
Greece	3	0	0	3	0	5	−5
Hungary	3	0	1	2	0	10	−10
Republic of Ireland	4	0	1	3	0	14	−14
Iceland	6	1	2	3	5	12	−7
Israel	2	0	0	2	0	5	−5
Lithuania	6	1	1	4	3	8	−5
Luxembourg	3	2	1	0	10	3	+7
Latvia	9	1	1	7	4	15	−11
Macedonia	5	0	1	4	4	20	−16
Malta	3	0	1	2	3	10	−7
Moldova	2	1	1	0	2	1	+1
Montenegro	2	0	1	1	0	2	-2
Netherlands	1	0	0	1	0	3	−3
Northern Ireland	4	1	0	4	6	17	−11
Poland	1	0	0	1	0	2	−2
Portugal	7	0	1	6	3	35	−32
Romania	4	0	0	4	1	26	−25
Russia	5	0	0	5	1	15	−14
San Marino	4	2	1	1	4	3	+1
Saudi Arabia	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1
Scotland	2	0	0	2	1	3	−2
Spain	6	0	0	6	0	23	−23
Slovakia	9	0	2	7	1	26	−25
Sweden	4	0	0	4	1	10	−9
Switzerland	8	0	0	8	1	21	−20
Turkey	2	0	0	2	0	8	−8
United States	1	0	0	1	1	4	−3
Wales	3	0	0	3	0	8	−8
Total	162	11	20	131	68	463	−395	6.25%

World Cup record

Year	Round	Position	W	D	L	GS	GA
1930 to 1994	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-
1998	Did not qualify	6th, last (qualifying)	0	0	10	3	52
2002	Did not qualify	5th, last (qualifying)	0	0	8	0	23
2006	Did not qualify	6th out of 7 (qualifying)	2	2	8	13	23
2010	Did not qualify	6th, last (qualifying)	0	2	8	2	23
2014	Did not qualify	6th, last (qualifying)	0	2	8	4	25
2018	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total		0/20	2	6	42	22	146

European Championship record

Year	Round	Position	W	D	L	GS	GA
1960 to 1992	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-
1996	Did not qualify	6th, last (qualifying)	0	1	9	1	40
2000	Did not qualify	6th, last (qualifying)	1	1	8	2	39
2004	Did not qualify	5th, last (qualifying)	0	1	7	2	22
2008	Did not qualify	7th, last (qualifying)	2	1	9	9	32
2012	Did not qualify	5th, last (qualifying)	1	1	6	3	17
2016	Did not qualify	5th (qualifying)	1	2	7	2	26
Total		0/15	5	7	46	19	176

Recent results and forthcoming fixtures

Liechtenstein  v  Belarus

21 May 2014 Friendly	Liechtenstein	1–5	Belarus	Vaduz, Liechtenstein
19:00 UTC+2	Burgmeier  78' (pen.)		Gordeichuk  13' Kislyak  15' Krivets  23' Savitskiy  58', 67'	Stadium: Rheinpark Stadion Attendance: 500 Referee: Laurent Kopriwa (Luxembourg)

Bosnia and Herzegovina  v  Liechtenstein

4 September 2014 Friendly	Bosnia and Herzegovina	3–0	Liechtenstein	Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina
17:00 UTC+1	Ibišević  1', 14' Džeko  24'			Stadium: Stadion Tušanj Attendance: 8,000 Referee: Danilo Grujić (Serbia)

Russia  v  Liechtenstein

8 September 2014 UEFA Euro 2016 Q	Russia	4–0	Liechtenstein	Khimki, Russia
21:00 UTC+04:00	M. Büchel  4' (o.g.) Burgmeier  50' (o.g.) Kombarov  54' (pen.) Dzyuba  65'	Report		Stadium: Arena Khimki Attendance: 11,236 Referee: Sébastien Delferiere (Belgium)

Liechtenstein  v  Montenegro

9 October 2014 UEFA Euro 2016 Q	Liechtenstein	0–0	Montenegro	Vaduz, Liechtenstein
20:45 UTC+01:00		Report		Stadium: Rheinpark Stadion Attendance: 2,790 Referee: Simon Lee Evans (Wales)

Sweden  v  Liechtenstein

12 October 2014 UEFA Euro 2016 Q	Sweden	2–0	Liechtenstein	Solna, Sweden
20:45 UTC+01:00	Zengin  34' Durmaz  46'	Report		Stadium: Friends Arena Attendance: 22,528 Referee: Gediminas Mažeika (Lithuania)

Moldova  v  Liechtenstein

15 November 2014 UEFA Euro 2016 Q	Moldova	0–1	Liechtenstein	Chișinău, Moldova
19:00 UTC+02:00		Report	Burgmeier  74'	Stadium: Stadionul Zimbru Attendance: 6,843 Referee: Mattias Gestranius (Finland)

Liechtenstein  v  Austria

27 March 2015 UEFA Euro 2016 Q	Liechtenstein	0–5	Austria	Vaduz, Liechtenstein
20:45 UTC+01:00		Report	Harnik  14' Janko  16' Alaba  59' Junuzović  74' Arnautović  90+3'	Stadium: Rheinpark Stadion Attendance: 5,864 Referee: Felix Zwayer (Germany)

Liechtenstein  v  San Marino

31 March 2015 Friendly	Liechtenstein	1–0	San Marino	Eschen, Liechtenstein
15:00 UTC+2	Kaufmann  29'			Stadium: Sportpark Eschen-Mauren Attendance: 450 Referee: Nikolaj Hänni (Switzerland)

Switzerland   v  Liechtenstein

10 June 2015 Friendly	Switzerland	3–0	Liechtenstein	Thun, Switzerland
20:15 UTC+2	Džemaili  29', 68' Shaqiri  60'			Stadium: Stockhorn Arena

Liechtenstein  v  Moldova

14 June 2015 UEFA Euro 2016 Q	Liechtenstein	1–1	Moldova	Vaduz, Liechtenstein
18:00 UTC+02:00	Wieser  21'	Report	Boghiu  44'	Stadium: Rheinpark Stadion Attendance: 2,080 Referee: Libor Kovařík (Czech Republic

Montenegro  v  Liechtenstein

5 September 2015 UEFA Euro 2016 Q	Montenegro	2–0	Liechtenstein	Podgorica, Montenegro
20:45 UTC+02:00	Bećiraj  38' Jovetić  56'	Report		Stadium: Podgorica City Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Javier Estrada (Spain)

Liechtenstein  v  Russia

8 September 2015 UEFA Euro 2016 Q	Liechtenstein	0–7	Russia	Vaduz, Liechtenstein
20:45 UTC+02:00		Report	Dzyuba  21', 45', 73', 77' Kokorin  40' Smolov  77' Dzagoev  90'	Stadium: Rheinpark Stadion Referee: Bobby Madden(Scotland)

Liechtenstein  v  Sweden

9 October 2015 UEFA Euro 2016 Q	Liechtenstein	0–2	Sweden	Vaduz, Liechtenstein
20:45 UTC+02:00		Report	Berg  18' Ibrahimović  55'	Stadium: Rheinpark Stadion Attendance: 4,740 Referee: Liran Liany(Israel)

Austria  v  Liechtenstein

12 October 2015 UEFA Euro 2016 Q	Austria	3–0	Liechtenstein	Vienna, Austria
18:00 UTC+02:00	Arnautović  13' Janko  54', 57'	Report		Stadium: Ernst-Happel-Stadion Attendance: 48,500 Referee: Miroslav Zelinka(Czech Republic)

Gibraltar  v  Liechtenstein

23 March 2016 Friendly	Gibraltar	0–0	Liechtenstein	Gibraltar
		Report		Stadium: Victoria Stadium

Liechtenstein  v  Faroe Islands

28 March 2016 Friendly	Liechtenstein	2–3	Faroe Islands	Marbella, Spain
	Gubser  73' Wolfinger  90'	Report	Olsen  6' Edmundsson  43' Vatnhamar  58'	Stadium: Centro Deportivo Municipal de Marbella

Iceland  v  Liechtenstein

6 June 2016 Friendly	Iceland	v	Liechtenstein	Reykjavik, Iceland
				Stadium: Laugardalsvöllur

Denmark  v  Liechtenstein

31 August 2016 Friendly	Denmark	v	Liechtenstein	Denmark

Manager history

• Erich Bürzle (1990)
• Dietrich Weise (1990–1996)
• Alfred Riedl (1997–1998)
• Erich Bürzle (1998)
• Ralf Loose (1998–2003)
• Walter Hörmann (2003–2004)
• Martin Andermatt (2004–2006)
• Urs Meier (2006)
• Hans-Peter Zaugg (2006–2012)
• Rene Pauritsch (2013–)

Current squad

The following 22-man squad was named for the friendly matches against Gibraltar on 23 March and Faroe Islands on 28 March 2016.^[2]
Caps and goals are current as of 28 March 2016 after the match against Faroe Islands.

0#0	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	GK	Peter Jehle (Captain)	22 January 1982	118	0	Vaduz
	GK	Cengiz Biçer	11 December 1987	11	0	Göztepe II
	GK	Thomas Hobi	20 June 1993	0	0	Balzers
	DF	Franz Burgmeier	7 April 1982	99	9	Vaduz
	DF	Daniel Kaufmann	22 December 1990	35	1	Vaduz
	DF	Martin Rechsteiner	15 February 1989	25	0	Balzers
	DF	Daniel Brändle	23 January 1992	10	0	Münsingen
	DF	Pascal Foser	16 October 1992	0	0	Balzers
	DF	Maximilian Göppel	31 August 1997	0	0	Balzers
	DF	Andreas Malin	31 January 1994	0	0	Eschen/Mauren
	MF	Martin Büchel	19 February 1987	59	2	FC Unterföhring
	MF	Michele Polverino	26 September 1984	54	5	Ried
	MF	Sandro Wieser	3 February 1993	33	1	Thun
	MF	Seyhan Yildiz	30 April 1989	21	0	Balzers
	MF	Robin Gubser	17 April 1991	19	1	Balzers
	MF	Sandro Wolfinger	24 August 1991	10	1	SV Heimstetten
	MF	Mathias Sele	28 May 1992	2	0	Eschen/Mauren
	FW	Simon Kühne	30 April 1994	13	0	St. Gallen
	FW	Dennis Salanović	26 February 1996	12	0	Balzers
	FW	Niklas Kieber	4 March 1993	9	0	Eschen/Mauren
	FW	Marcel Büchel	18 March 1991	4	0	Empoli
	FW	Philipp Ospelt	7 October 1992	2	0	Wattens

Recent call-ups

The following players were called up in the last 12 months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Benjamin Büchel	4 July 1989	9	0	Oxford United	v.  Gibraltar, 23 March 2016^PRE
DF	Yves Oehri	15 March 1987	50	0	Young Fellows Juventus	v.  Gibraltar, 23 March 2016^PRE
DF	Andreas Christen	29 August 1989	24	0	Balzers	v.  Austria, 12 October 2015
DF	Olcay Gür	27 March 1991	6	0	Ankara Demirspor	v.  Sweden, 9 October 2015 ^PRE
MF	Nicolas Hasler	4 May 1991	38	1	Vaduz	v.  Gibraltar, 23 March 2016^PRE
MF	Armando Heeb	25 September 1990	1	0	Balzers	v.  Gibraltar, 23 March 2016^PRE
MF	Burak Eris	17 July 1989	2	0	Schaan	v.   Switzerland, 10 June 2015
FW	Mario Frick	7 September 1974	125	16	Retired	v.  Austria, 12 October 2015
FW	Philippe Erne	14 December 1986	24	1	Balzers	v.  Moldova, 14 June 2015

Notes:

• PRE = Preliminary squad

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Bosnia and Herzegovina 10 8 1 1 30 6 +24 25  Greece 10 8 1 1 12 4 +8 25  Slovakia 10 3 4 3 11 10 +1 13  Lithuania 10 3 2 5 9 11 −2 11  Latvia 10 2 2 6 10 20 −10 8  Liechtenstein 10 0 2 8 4 25 −21 2

Bosnia and Herzegovina  — 3–1 4–1 4–1 3–0 0–1 Greece  0–0 — 1–0 2–0 2–0 1–0 Latvia  0–5 1–2 — 2–0 2–1 2–2 Liechtenstein  1–8 0–1 1–1 — 0–2 1–1 Lithuania  0–1 0–1 2–0 2–0 — 1–1 Slovakia  1–2 0–1 2–1 2–0 1–1 —

  Team has qualified

  Team is assured of at least a play-off spot

2016 UEFA European Championship qualification

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Austria	10	9	1	0	22	5	+17	28	Qualify for final tournament		—	1–0	1–1	1–0	3–0	1–0
2	Russia	10	6	2	2	21	5	+16	20			0–1	—	1–0	2–0	4–0	1–1
3	Sweden	10	5	3	2	15	9	+6	18	Advance to play-offs		1–4	1–1	—	3–1	2–0	2–0
4	Montenegro	10	3	2	5	10	13	−3	11			2–3	0–3[lower-alpha 1]	1–1	—	2–0	2–0
5	Liechtenstein	10	1	2	7	2	26	−24	5			0–5	0–7	0–2	0–0	—	1–1
6	Moldova	10	0	2	8	4	16	−12	2			1–2	1–2	0–2	0–2	0–1	—

Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
Notes:

1. Montenegro home match against Russia was awarded as a 3–0 win to Russia^[3] after match was abandoned after 67 minutes due to crowd violence and scuffle between players (caused by Dmitri Kombarov being hit by an object thrown from the Montenegrin sector^[4]). The original score was 0–0 and Russia missed a penalty moments before the match was abandoned. This was the second delay of the match as in the first minute, Russian goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev was hit by a flare, causing a 33-minute delay.^[5] Both teams were then charged by UEFA.^[6]

Player history

As of 28 March 2016

Most capped players Rank Player Caps Goals Years 1 Mario Frick 125 16 1993–2015 2 Peter Jehle 118 0 1998– 3 Martin Stocklasa 113 5 1996–2014 4 Franz Burgmeier 99 9 2001– 5 Thomas Beck 92 5 1998–2013 6 Daniel Hasler 81 1 1993–2007 7 Martin Telser 73 1 1996–2007 8 Ronny Büchel 72 0 1998–2010 9 Michael Stocklasa 71 2 1998–2012 10 Martin Büchel 59 2 2004–

Top goalscorers Rank Player Caps Goals Years 1 Mario Frick 125 16 1993–2015 2 Franz Burgmeier 99 9 2001– 3 Martin Stocklasa 113 5 1996–2014 Thomas Beck 92 5 1998–2013 Michele Polverino 54 5 2007– 6 Michael Stocklasa 71 2 1998–2012 Martin Büchel 59 2 2004– Fabio D'Elia 50 2 2001–2010 Mathias Christen 36 2 2008– Benjamin Fischer 23 2 2005–2011

In literature

Prompted by the team's poor record in competitive games, British writer Charlie Connelly followed the entire qualifying campaign for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. As recorded in the subsequent book Stamping Grounds: Liechtenstein's Quest for the World Cup, Liechtenstein lost all eight games without scoring a goal.

References

1. Garin, Erik. "Liechtenstein – International Results". RSSSF. Retrieved 13 November 2010.
2. "Liechtenstein squad for Gibraltar and Faroe Islands friendlies" (PDF).
3. "Russia given 3-0 win over Montenegro after suspended game". 8 April 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
4. "Montenegro v Russia abandoned (Telegraph)". 28 March 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
5. "Montenegro v Russia abandoned (Daily Mail)". 27 March 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
6. "MNE and RUS charged by UEFA". 30 March 2015. Retrieved 31 March 2015.

External links

• RSSSF archive of most capped players and highest goalscorers
• Liechtensteiner Fussballverbund
• Die Elf, documentary film about Liechtenstein national team