Liechtenstein national football team

Liechtenstein

Association	Liechtenstein Football Association (Liechtensteiner Fussballverband)
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Hans-Peter Zaugg
Most caps	Mario Frick (95)
Top scorer	Mario Frick (15)
Home stadium	Rheinpark Stadion
FIFA code	LIE
FIFA ranking	149
Highest FIFA ranking	118 (January 2008)
Lowest FIFA ranking	165 (May 1998)
Elo ranking	169
Home colours Away colours
First international
Liechtenstein 0 - 1 Switzerland  (Vaduz, Liechtenstein; 9 March 1982)
Biggest win
Luxembourg 0 - 4 Liechtenstein (Luxembourg, Luxembourg; 13 October 2004)
Biggest defeat
Liechtenstein 1 - 11 Macedonia (Vaduz, Liechtenstein; 9 November 1996)

The Liechtenstein national football team is the national football team 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 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 the Republic of Macedonia.

The team's record in competitive games was so poor it prompted British writer Charlie Connelly to follow 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.

Four days before Liechtenstein scored its first win in World Cup qualifying, the team made even more headlines with a stunning 2-2 draw in Vaduz in a 2006 World Cup qualifier against Portugal. Before this result, Liechtenstein had lost all of its previous 20 World Cup qualifiers. They also caused a shock in the return match at the end of the group phase when Benjamin Fischer scored, and Liechtenstein led at half time, before eventually losing 2-1.

Liechtenstein is the only country ever to lose to San Marino, with a 0-1 loss in a friendly match on 28 April 2004.

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 8 points.

In the Euro 2008 qualifiers, Liechtenstein beat Latvia for probably their greatest ever victory — indeed their first against a country that has qualified for a major finals — through a solitary goal from Mario Frick. The result caused the Latvian manager to resign after the match. They repeated their heroics against Iceland managing to beat them 3-0 on 17 October 2007 for their second qualifying group win.

The Liechtensteiner Fussballverbund voted Rainer Hasler to be their "Golden Player" — their best player over the last 50 years — to mark UEFA's golden jubilee.

World Cup record

Year	Round	Position	W	D	L	GS	GA
1994	Withdrew from qualifying	-	-	-	-	-	-
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, second last (qualifying)	2	2	8	13	23
2010	Did not qualify	6th, last (qualifying)	0	2	8	2	23

European Championship record

Year	Round	Position	W	D	L	GS	GA
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 (qualifing)	0	1	7	2	22
2008	Did not qualify	7th, last (qualifying)	2	1	9	9	32
2012	In progress	-	-	-	-	-	-
2016	Qualifying begins in 2014	-	-	-	-	-	-

Manager history

• Dietrich Weise (1994–1996)
• Alfred Riedl (1997–1998)
• Ralf Loose (1998–2003)
• Walter Hörmann (2003–2004)
• Martin Andermatt (2004–2006)
• Hans-Peter Zaugg (2006–present)

Current squad

Matchday squad v. Scotland

The following 18-man squad was named for the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying match against Scotland at Hampden Park on September 7, 2010.^[1] Caps and goals are current as of the completion of the 1–2 UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying match loss against Scotland at Hampden Park on September 7, 2010.

0#0 Pos. Player Date of Birth (Age) Caps Goals Club 1 GK Peter Jehle January 22, 1982 (1982-01-22) (age 29) 81 0 Vaduz 12 GK Cengiz Biçer December 11, 1987 (1987-12-11) (age 23) 1 0 Mersin İdmanyurdu 2 DF Lucas Eberle October 13, 1990 (1990-10-13) (age 20) 4 0 Eschen/Mauren 3 DF Michael Stocklasa December 2, 1980 (1980-12-02) (age 30) 63 2 Eschen/Mauren 4 DF Martin Rechsteiner February 15, 1989 (1989-02-15) (age 21) 10 0 Vaduz 5 DF Yves Oehri March 15, 1987 (1987-03-15) (age 23) 22 0 St. Gallen 6 DF Martin Stocklasa May 29, 1979 (1979-05-29) (age 31) 88 5 Ried 22 DF Franz-Josef Vogt October 30, 1985 (1985-10-30) (age 25) 24 0 Balzers 8 MF Ronny Büchel March 19, 1982 (1982-03-19) (age 28) 70 0 Eschen/Mauren 11 MF Franz Burgmeier April 7, 1982 (1982-04-07) (age 28) 60 7 Vaduz 16 MF Philippe Erne December 14, 1986 (1986-12-14) (age 24) 4 0 Eschen/Mauren 17 MF Rony Hanselmann June 25, 1991 (1991-06-25) (age 19) 0 0 Balzers 18 MF Nicolas Hasler May 4, 1991 (1991-05-04) (age 19) 2 0 Balzers 20 MF Sandro Wieser February 3, 1993 (1993-02-03) (age 18) 3 0 Basel 23 MF Michele Polverino September 26, 1984 (1984-09-26) (age 26) 18 1 Aarau 10 FW Mario Frick September 7, 1974 (1974-09-07) (age 36) 95 15 St. Gallen 15 FW David Hasler May 4, 1990 (1990-05-04) (age 20) 11 0 Vaduz 19 FW Fabio D'Elia January 19, 1983 (1983-01-19) (age 28) 50 2 Eschen/Mauren

Recent call-ups

The following players were named to a matchday squad in the last year, but were not named to the 18-man squad for the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying match against Scotland at Hampden Park on September 7, 2010. Caps and goals are current as of the completion of the 1–2 UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying match loss against Scotland at Hampden Park on September 7, 2010.

Player	DoB (Age)	Caps	Goals	Club
Goalkeepers
Benjamin Büchel	July 4, 1989 (1989-07-04) (age 21)	2	0	Eschen/Mauren
Lorenzo Lo Russo	July 8, 1993 (1993-07-08) (age 17)	0	0	Vaduz
Defenders
Marco Ritzberger	December 27, 1986 (1986-12-27) (age 24)	30	0	Vaduz
Midfielders
Christoph Biedermann	January 30, 1987 (1987-01-30) (age 24)	3	0	Eschen/Mauren
Martin Büchel	February 19, 1987 (1987-02-19) (age 23)	29	0	Zurich
Andreas Gerster	November 24, 1982 (1982-11-24) (age 28)	38	0	Triesenberg
Wolfgang Kieber	July 22, 1984 (1984-07-22) (age 26)	8	0	Blau-Weiß Feldkirch
Martin Wille	May 29, 1986 (1986-05-29) (age 24)	1	0	Balzers
Stefan Büchel	June 30, 1986 (1986-06-30) (age 24)	9	0	Eschen/Mauren
Roger Beck	August 3, 1983 (1983-08-03) (age 27)	43	1	Balzers
Raphael Rohrer	May 3, 1985 (1985-05-03) (age 25)	44	1	Eschen/Mauren
Forwards
Thomas Beck	February 21, 1981 (1981-02-21) (age 29)	72	5	Hard
Mathias Christen	August 18, 1987 (1987-08-18) (age 23)	13	0	Vaduz
Benjamin Fischer	October 19, 1980 (1980-10-19) (age 30)	22	2	Vaduz

Appearance and Goalscoring Leaders

External links

• RSSSF archive of international results 1981-
• RSSSF archive of most capped players and highest goalscorers
• Liechtensteiner Fussballverbund
• Die Elf, documentary film about Liechtenstein national team

Notes

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