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 (119)
Top scorer	Mario Frick (16)
Home stadium	Rheinpark Stadion
FIFA code	LIE
FIFA ranking	128 5 (9 April 2015)
Highest FIFA ranking	118 (January 2008, July 2011, September 2011)
Lowest FIFA ranking	172 (September 2014)
Elo ranking	167
Highest Elo ranking	150 (September 2011)
Lowest Elo ranking	184 (September 2004)
First colours Second colours
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 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 8 points.

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	8	0	0	8	1	33	−32
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	3	0	0	3	1	5	−4
Georgia	1	0	0	1	0	2	−2
Germany	4	0	0	4	3	27	−24
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	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1
Montenegro	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
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	12	−11
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	3	0	0	3	1	8	−7
Switzerland	7	0	0	7	1	18	−17
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	154	11	18	125	65	442	−371	6.944%

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	To be determined	-	-	-	-	-	-
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	Qualifying begins in 2014	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total		0/14	4	5	39	17	150

Recent results and forthcoming fixtures

Friendly 21 May 2014	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)

Friendly 4 September 2014	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)

UEFA Euro 2016 Q 8 September 2014	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)

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

UEFA Euro 2016 Q 12 October 2014	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)

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

UEFA Euro 2016 Q 27 March 2015	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)

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

Friendly 10 June 2015	Switzerland	v	Liechtenstein	Switzerland

UEFA Euro 2016 Q 14 June 2015	Liechtenstein	v	Moldova	Vaduz, Liechtenstein
18:00 UTC+02:00		Report		Stadium: Rheinpark Stadion

UEFA Euro 2016 Q 5 September 2015	Montenegro	v	Liechtenstein	Podgorica, Montenegro
20:45 UTC+02:00		Report		Stadium: Podgorica City Stadium

UEFA Euro 2016 Q 8 September 2015	Liechtenstein	v	Russia	Vaduz, Liechtenstein
20:45 UTC+02:00		Report		Stadium: Rheinpark Stadion

UEFA Euro 2016 Q 9 October 2015	Liechtenstein	v	Sweden	Vaduz, Liechtenstein
20:45 UTC+02:00		Report		Stadium: Rheinpark Stadion

UEFA Euro 2016 Q 12 October 2015	Austria	v	Liechtenstein	Vienna, Austria
18:00 UTC+02:00		Report		Stadium: Ernst-Happel-Stadion

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 (2006–2012)
• Rene Pauritsch (2012–)

Current squad

The following 18-man squad was named for the friendly against San Marino on 31 March 2015.^[2]
Caps and goals are current as of 31 March 2015 after the match against San Marino.

0#0 Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club 1GK Peter Jehle (1982-01-22) 22 January 1982 110 0 Vaduz 1GK Benjamin Büchel (1989-07-04) 4 July 1989 9 0 Bournemouth 2DF Franz Burgmeier (1982-04-07) 7 April 1982 91 9 Vaduz 2DF Yves Oehri (1987-03-15) 15 March 1987 46 0 Young Fellows Juventus 2DF Daniel Kaufmann (1990-12-22) 22 December 1990 28 1 Vaduz 2DF Sandro Wieser (1993-02-03) 3 February 1993 27 0 Aarau 2DF Daniel Brändle (1992-01-23) 23 January 1992 5 0 Münsingen 3MF Martin Büchel (1987-02-19) 19 February 1987 51 2 FC Unterföhring 3MF Michele Polverino (1984-09-26) 26 September 1984 46 5 Ried 3MF Nicolas Hasler (1991-05-04) 4 May 1991 35 1 Vaduz 3MF Andreas Christen (1989-08-29) 29 August 1989 19 0 Balzers 3MF Robin Gubser (1991-04-17) 17 April 1991 12 0 Balzers 3MF Dennis Salanović (1996-02-26) 26 February 1996 7 0 Istra 1961 3MF Sandro Wolfinger (1991-08-24) 24 August 1991 7 0 SV Heimstetten 3MF Armando Heeb (1990-09-25) 25 September 1990 1 0 Balzers 3MF Mathias Sele (1992-05-28) 28 May 1992 0 0 Eschen/Mauren 4FW Mario Frick (Captain) (1974-09-07) 7 September 1974 119 16 Balzers 4FW Simon Kühne (1994-04-30) 30 April 1994 7 0 St. Gallen II

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 Cengiz Biçer (1987-12-11) 11 December 1987 10 0 Göztepe v.  Austria, 27 March 2015 GK Thomas Hobi (1993-06-20) 20 June 1993 0 0 Balzers v.  Austria, 27 March 2015 DF Burak Eris (1989-07-17) 17 July 1989 2 0 Eschen/Mauren v.  Austria, 27 March 2015 DF Olcay Gür (1991-03-27) 27 March 1991 6 0 Gaziantep BB v.  Moldova, 15 November 2014 DF Andreas Malin (1994-01-31) 31 January 1994 0 0 Eschen/Mauren v.  Austria, 27 March 2015 DF Ivan Quintans (1989-10-15) 15 October 1989 21 0 Balzers v.  Austria, 27 March 2015 MF Vinzenz Flatz (1994-07-05) 5 July 1994 3 0 Vaduz v.  Austria, 27 March 2015 MF Seyhan Yildiz (1989-04-30) 30 April 1989 13 0 Balzers v.  Austria, 27 March 2015 FW Mathias Christen (1987-08-18) 18 August 1987 36 2 Chur 97 v.  Moldova, 15 November 2014 FW Philippe Erne (1986-12-14) 14 December 1986 23 1 Balzers v.  Austria, 27 March 2015 FW Niklas Kieber (1993-03-04) 4 March 1993 4 0 Eschen/Mauren v.  Austria, 27 March 2015 FW Samuel Zimmermann (1993-09-12) 12 September 1993 0 0 Wettswil-Bonstetten v.  Austria, 27 March 2015

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 —

2016 UEFA European Championship qualification

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Austria	5	4	1	0	10	2	+8	13	Advance to final tournament		—	1–1	1–0	1–0	12 Oct	5 Sep
2	Sweden	5	2	3	0	7	3	+4	9			8 Sep	—	1–1	14 Jun	2–0	12 Oct
3	Russia	5	2	2	1	9	3	+6	8	Final tournament or play-offs		14 Jun	5 Sep	—	12 Oct	4–0	1–1
4	Montenegro	5	1	2	2	3	5	−2	5			9 Oct	1–1	0–3[lower-alpha 1]	—	5 Sep	2–0
5	Liechtenstein	5	1	1	3	1	11	−10	4			0–5	9 Oct	8 Sep	0–0	—	14 Jun
6	Moldova	5	0	1	4	2	8	−6	1			1–2	0–2	9 Oct	8 Sep	0–1	—

Player history

As of 31 March 2015

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

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Liechtenstein national football team.

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

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