FC Vaduz

Vaduz
Full name Fußball Club Vaduz
Nickname(s) Residenzler (Resident)
Fürstenverein (Princely club)
Short name FCV
Founded 14 February 1932; 84 years ago
Ground Rheinpark Stadion
Vaduz, Liechtenstein
Ground Capacity 7,838
Ground Coordinates 47°08′25″N 9°30′37″W / 47.1403°N 9.5103°W / 47.1403; -9.5103
Owner Princely Family of Liechtenstein
Chairman Ruth Ospelt
Manager Giorgio Contini
League Swiss Super League
2014–15 9th
Website Club home page

Fußball Club Vaduz (English: Football Club Vaduz) is a Liechtenstein football club from Vaduz that plays in the Swiss Football League. The club plays at the national Rheinpark Stadion, which has a capacity of 6,127 when all seated but has additional standing places in the North and South ends of the ground, giving a total stadium capacity of 7,838.[1] They currently play in the Swiss Super League following promotion from the Swiss Challenge League after winning its 2013–14 championship.

Vaduz have historically had many players from Liechtenstein, many of whom have played for the Liechtenstein national team, but nearly all these players have moved abroad, and now the majority of the first team squad are foreign players from different areas of the world. The signing of experienced goalkeeper Peter Jehle from Tours and Franz Burgmeier from Darlington boosted the Liechtensteiner contingent to six by the start of the 2009-10 season.[2]

History

Fußball Club Vaduz was founded on 14 February 1932 in Vaduz, and the club's first chairman was Johann Walser. FC Vaduz is the only professional football club in Liechtenstein. In its first training match, which Vaduz played in Balzers on 24 April of that year, the newly-born team emerged as 2–1 winners. The club played in Vorarlberger Football Association in Austria for the 1932–33 season. In 1933, Vaduz began playing in Switzerland. Over the years Vaduz struggled through various tiers of Swiss football and won its first Liechtensteiner Cup in 1949. Vaduz enjoyed a lengthy stay in the Swiss 1. Liga from 1960 to 1973, which is the third tier of the Swiss football league system.

Vaduz has been required to pay a fee to the Swiss Football Association in order to participate as a foreign club. There have been calls for this agreement to be revoked, but discussions have meant that a permanent arrangement has now taken place for a Liechtenstein representative to be allowed to participate in the Challenge League or Super League in future.[3]

From the 2001–02 season, Vaduz played in the Swiss Challenge League (formerly called Nationalliga B), the second tier of the Swiss league system. Since then, Vaduz have been one of the best teams in the Challenge League and gave serious challenges towards promotion to the Super League, especially in 2004 and 2005, playing two-leg play-offs in both cases. In the 2007–08 season, Vaduz secured promotion to the Swiss Super League on 12 May 2008 by winning the Challenge League on the final day of the season, giving Liechtenstein a representative at the highest level of Swiss football for the first time. Vaduz, however, were relegated back to the Challenge League after one season in the top flight. Vaduz finally returned to top level after five years in the Challenge League.

In 1992, Vaduz qualified for European football for the first time, entering the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup as Liechtenstein Cup winners, but lost 12–1 on aggregate to Chornomorets Odesa of Ukraine in the qualifying round. In 1996, Vaduz qualified for the first round proper with their first European victory, winning 5–3 on penalties against Universitate Riga of Latvia, after a 2–2 aggregate scoreline, although Vaduz lost their first round tie to Paris Saint-Germain of France 7–0 on aggregate.

After the Cup Winners' Cup was abolished, Vaduz have annually entered the UEFA Cup (now the UEFA Europa League) as a result of winning the Liechtenstein Cup every year since 1998. However, they have never got past the qualifying rounds to date.

However, Vaduz did come within one second of reaching the first round proper of the UEFA Cup in 2002. With the aggregate scores level, and with opponents Livingston scheduled to go through on away goals, Vaduz won a late corner. The ball was sent into the box, and Marius Zarn hit a goal-bound shot. However, the referee blew the whistle for full-time just before the ball crossed over the line, and Livingston progressed through in controversial circumstances.

FC Vaduz started their European campaign in 2009–10 by beating Scottish side Falkirk in the second qualifying round of the Europa League. However, they lost 3–0 on aggregate[4][5] to Czech side Slovan Liberec in the third qualifying round.

In the 2014–15 Swiss Super League season, Vaduz survived for the first time in their history in the Swiss Super League. They finished in 9th place with 31 points won. They also won their 43rd Liechtenstein cup, becoming world record holders of a domestic cup in the process.

FC Vaduz started their European campaign in the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League by beating S.P. La Fiorita from San Marino in the first qualifying round of the Europa League. In the second round, Vaduz easily progressed against Nõmme Kalju FC to progress into the third qualifying of the Europa League where they were drawn against fellow Swiss Super League club FC Thun. The European campaign is over. FC Thun after the away goals passed away. FC Vaduz is so once again ended the European campaign but this time unbeaten with four wins and two draws.

Rheinpark Stadion

The Rheinpark Stadion in Vaduz is the national stadium of Liechtenstein. It plays host to the home matches of the Liechtenstein national football team, and is also the home of Liechtenstein's top football club, FC Vaduz.

The stadium was officially opened on 31 July 1998 with a match between FC Vaduz, the Liechtenstein Cup holders at the time, and 1. FC Kaiserslautern, the then Bundesliga champions. 1. FC Kaiserslautern won the match 8-0. It lies on the banks of the River Rhine, just metres from the border with Switzerland. The stadium has a fully seated capacity of 5,873. The stadium has additional standing places giving it a total capacity of 7,584. The building of the stadium cost roughly 19 million CHF.

9. October 2004, on the Rheinpark Stadion, Liechtenstein has welcomed Portugal for which played Cristiano Ronaldo, the best scorer of the team and one of the best players of all time. The match finished 2:2.

English football club Liverpool played Olympiacos of Greece here in a pre-season friendly in 2005.

All football stars who have achieved the goal of the Rheinpark Stadion: David Beckham, Michael Owen, Luís Figo, Raúl, Fernando Torres, David Silva, David Villa, Fredrik Ljungberg, David Alaba, Edin Džeko, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Lukas Podolski, Zlatan Ibrahimović.

Honours

League

Winners (1): 1936
Best ranking: 9th place (2015)
Winners (3): 2003, 2008, 2014
Runners-up (2): 2004, 2005
Winners (2): 2000, 2001
Runners-up (2): 1984, 1999

Cups

(43) (World Record[6]) : 1949, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1974, 1980, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015
(13): 1946, 1947, 1948, 1950, 1951, 1955, 1972, 1977, 1984, 1987, 1991, 1997, 2012

Europe Europe

European record

Season Competition Round Opponent Home Away Aggregate
1992–93 European Cup Winners' Cup Qualifying round Ukraine Chornomorets Odesa 0–5 1–7 1–12
1995–96 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Qualifying round Czechoslovakia Hradec Králové 0–5 1–9 1–14
1996–97 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Qualifying round Latvia Universitate Riga 1–1 1–1 2–2 (4–2 p)
First round France Paris Saint-Germain 0–4 0–3 0–7
1998–99 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Qualifying round Sweden Helsingborg 0–2 0–3 0–5
1999–2000 UEFA Cup Qualifying round Norway Bodø/Glimt 0–1 1–2 1–3
2000–01 UEFA Cup Qualifying round Poland Amica Wronki 0–3 3–3 3–6
2001–02 UEFA Cup Qualifying round Croatia Varteks Varaždin 3–3 1–6 4–9
2002–03 UEFA Cup Qualifying round Scotland Livingston 1–1 0–0 1–1 (a)
2003–04 UEFA Cup Qualifying round Ukraine Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 0–1 0–1 0–2
2004–05 UEFA Cup First qualifying round Republic of Ireland Longford Town 1–0 3–2 4–2
Second qualifying round Belgium Beveren 1–3 1–2 2–5
2005–06 UEFA Cup First qualifying round Moldova Dacia Chișinău 2–0 0–1 2–1
Second qualifying round Turkey Beşiktaş 0–1 1–5 1–6
2006–07 UEFA Cup First qualifying round Hungary Újpest 0–1 4–0 4–1
Second qualifying round Switzerland Basel 2–1 0–1 2–2 (a)
2007–08 UEFA Cup First qualifying round Georgia (country) Dinamo Tbilisi 0–0 0–2 0–2
2008–09 UEFA Cup First qualifying round Bosnia and Herzegovina Zrinjski Mostar 1–2 0–3 1–5
2009–10 UEFA Europa League Second qualifying round Scotland Falkirk 0–1 2–0 (aet) 2–1
Third qualifying round Czech Republic Slovan Liberec 0–1 0–2 0–3
2010–11 UEFA Europa League Second qualifying round Denmark Brøndby 0–0 0–3 0–3
2011–12 UEFA Europa League Second qualifying round Serbia Vojvodina 0–2 3–1 3–3 (a)
Third qualifying round Israel Hapoel Tel Aviv 2−1 0−4 2−5
2013–14 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round Georgia (country) Chikhura Sachkhere 1−1 0−0 1−1 (a)
2014–15 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round Gibraltar College Europa 3–0 1–0 4–0
Second qualifying round Poland Ruch Chorzów 0–0 2–3 2–3
2015–16 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round San Marino S.P. La Fiorita 5–1 5–0 10–1
Second qualifying round Estonia Nõmme Kalju 3–1 2–0 5–1
Third qualifying round Switzerland Thun 2–2 0–0 2–2 (a)
Competition Matches W D L GF GA +/-
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 10 0 2 8 4 40 -36
UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League 48 14 11 23 56 68 -12
Total 58 14 13 31 60 108 -48

Biggest win in UEFA competition:

Season Match Score
UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League
2005–06 Liechtenstein FC Vaduz – Moldova FC Dacia Chișinău 2–0
2006–07 Hungary Újpest FC - Liechtenstein FC Vaduz 0–4
2011–12 Serbia FK Vojvodina - Liechtenstein FC Vaduz 1–3
2014–15 Liechtenstein FC Vaduz – Gibraltar College Europa 3–0
2015–16 San Marino S.P. La Fiorita - Liechtenstein FC Vaduz 0–5
2015–16 Liechtenstein FC Vaduz - San Marino S.P. La Fiorita 5–1
2015–16 Liechtenstein FC Vaduz - Estonia Nõmme Kalju FC 3–1
2015–16 Estonia Nõmme Kalju FC - Liechtenstein FC Vaduz 0–2

Rankings

UEFA ranking

As of 8 January 2016[7]

Rank Team Points
270Lithuania FK Žalgiris Vilnius4.925
271Bulgaria PFC Litex Lovech4.875
272Liechtenstein FC Vaduz4.850
273Kazakhstan FC Kairat Almaty4.825
274Luxembourg FC Differdange 034.800

UEFA ranking (Liechtenstein)

Rank Team Points
272Liechtenstein FC Vaduz4.850
367Liechtenstein USV Eschen/Mauren2.350

Ranking since 2010

Year Rank Points
2010-11 313 2.300
2011-12 286 3.300
2012-13 312 3.200
2013-14 319 3.650
2014-15 321 3.450
2015-16 272 4.850

Club world ranking

See also: IFFHS

As of 8 February 2016

Rank Team Points
430United States Columbus Crew1559
431Norway Vålerenga1554
432Liechtenstein FC Vaduz1549
433Colombia Millonarios1547
434Poland Ruch Chorzów1543

Switzerland Swiss Super League History

Season Pos Pld W D L GF GA Pts Att.[8]
2008–09 10 36 5 7 24 28 85 22 2,177
2014–15 9 36 7 10 19 28 59 31 4,152
2015–16 9 20 3 10 7 23 30 19 3,671
Total 92 15 27 50 79 174 72

Current squad

As of 10 February 2016.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
1 Liechtenstein GK Peter Jehle (3rd captain)
3 Switzerland DF Simone Grippo (vice-captain)
4 Liechtenstein DF Daniel Kaufmann
5 Switzerland DF Levent Gülen (on loan from Grasshopper)
7 Albania FW Albion Avdijaj
8 Switzerland MF Diego Ciccone
9 Austria FW Manuel Sutter
10 Morocco MF Ali Messaoud
11 Liechtenstein MF Franz Burgmeier
13 Switzerland MF Pascal Schürpf
14 Switzerland DF Thomas Fekete (on loan from Young Boys)
15 Switzerland GK Christian Baldinger
16 Switzerland FW Moreno Costanzo (on loan from Young Boys)
No. Position Player
17 Switzerland DF Joel Untersee (on loan from Juventus)
19 Switzerland DF Nick von Niederhäusern
20 Liechtenstein MF Nicolas Hasler
21 Germany DF Axel Borgmann
22 Switzerland DF Florian Stahel
25 Croatia MF Stjepan Kukuruzović
27 Switzerland MF Philipp Muntwiler
29 Switzerland DF Mario Bühler
32 Albania FW Armando Sadiku (on loan from Zürich)
33 Paraguay FW Mauro Caballero (on loan from Porto)
35 Switzerland GK Oliver Klaus
36 Switzerland MF Robin Kamber
37 Serbia MF Dejan Janjatović

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
12 Switzerland MF Ramon Cecchini (on loan at Winterthur until 30 June 2016)

Technical staff

Current technical staff

FC Vaduz II (U23)

FC Vaduz U23 is the second most successful football club team from Liechtenstein. Competing in 2. Liga (Swiss 6th tier), also competing in the Liechtenstein Football Cup.

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
18 Liechtenstein GK Niklas Pfelger
3 Liechtenstein DF Dario Kaiser
4 Bosnia and Herzegovina DF Hamza Sljivar
6 Switzerland DF Manuel Kalberer
13 Austria DF Eric Weixlbaumer
15 Turkey DF Hantogla Ünlü
19 Italy DF Gerardo Casale
8 Liechtenstein MF Philipp Ospelt
No. Position Player
9 Turkey MF Selim Kum
16 Slovenia MF Ramon Solinger
17 Switzerland MF Jonas Baydar
20 Switzerland MF Jordhy Themo
21 Republic of Macedonia MF Mentor Memeti
7 Austria FW Maurice Wunderli
22 Liechtenstein FW Adnan Mutapcija
29 Senegal FW Amadou Mbaye

Technical staff

Current technical staff
  • Manager: Italy Daniele Polverino
  • Assistant Manager/Coach: Switzerland Marcel Müller
  • Goalkeeping Coach: Portugal Carlos Silva

FCV-TV

FC Vaduz has an official YouTube channel (FC Vaduz). On it you can see all the interesting events with home matches. You can also follow developments in the club and on the official Facebook page (FC Vaduz) and Twitter (FC Vaduz).

Former players

Liechtenstein
Europe

Americas

Asia
Africa
Oceania

Former managers

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to FC Vaduz.
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