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 189 Decrease 6 (24 November 2016)
Highest 118 (January 2008, July 2011, September 2011)
Lowest 189 (November 2016)
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 their 2006 FIFA World Cup campaign. Only their 1998 and 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaigns are ones, during which Liechtenstein failed to obtain at least a point.

Liechtenstein all-time record against all nations

World Cup record

Year Round Position W D L GS GA
1930 to 1994Did not enter------
France 1998Did not qualify6th, last (qualifying)0010352
South Korea Japan 2002Did not qualify5th, last (qualifying)008023
Germany 2006Did not qualify6th out of 7 (qualifying)2281323
South Africa 2010Did not qualify6th, last (qualifying)028223
Brazil 2014Did not qualify6th, last (qualifying)028425
Russia 2018To be determined------
Total 0/20 2 6 42 22 146

European Championship record

Year Round Position W D L GS GA
1960 to 1992Did not enter------
England 1996Did not qualify6th, last (qualifying)019140
BelgiumNetherlands 2000Did not qualify6th, last (qualifying)118239
Portugal 2004Did not qualify5th, last (qualifying)017222
AustriaSwitzerland 2008Did not qualify7th, last (qualifying)219932
PolandUkraine 2012Did not qualify5th, last (qualifying)116317
France 2016Did not qualify5th out of 6 (qualifying)127226
Total 0/15 5 7 46 19 176

Recent results and forthcoming fixtures

2016

2017

Manager history

Current squad

The following 23-man squad was named for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier match against Italy on November 12, 2016.[2]
Caps and goals are current as of 12 November 2016 after the match against Italy.

0#0 Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1GK Peter Jehle (Captain) (1982-01-22) 22 January 1982 124 0 Liechtenstein Vaduz
1GK Cengiz Biçer (1987-12-11) 11 December 1987 11 0 Turkey Yomraspor
1GK Benjamin Büchel (1989-07-04) 4 July 1989 11 0 England Oxford United
2DF Yves Oehri (1987-03-15) 15 March 1987 52 0 Switzerland Young Fellows Juventus
2DF Daniel Kaufmann (1990-12-22) 22 December 1990 41 1 Switzerland Chiasso
2DF Martin Rechsteiner (1989-02-15) 15 February 1989 31 0 Liechtenstein Balzers
2DF Seyhan Yildiz (1989-04-30) 30 April 1989 23 0 Liechtenstein Balzers
2DF Ivan Quintans (1989-10-15) 15 October 1989 21 0 Liechtenstein Eschen/Mauren
2DF Andreas Malin (1994-01-31) 31 January 1994 1 0 Austria Dornbirn
3MF Franz Burgmeier (1982-04-07) 7 April 1982 104 9 Liechtenstein Vaduz
3MF Martin Büchel (1987-02-19) 19 February 1987 64 2 Germany FC Unterföhring
3MF Michele Polverino (1984-09-26) 26 September 1984 58 5 Liechtenstein Balzers
3MF Sandro Wieser (1993-02-03) 3 February 1993 38 1 England Reading
3MF Andreas Christen (1989-08-29) 29 August 1989 27 0 Liechtenstein Eschen/Mauren
3MF Sandro Wolfinger (1991-08-24) 24 August 1991 13 1 Germany Wolfratshausen
3MF Mathias Sele (1992-05-28) 28 May 1992 3 0 Liechtenstein Eschen/Mauren
3MF Aron Sele (1996-09-02) 2 September 1996 1 0 Liechtenstein Balzers
4FW Philippe Erne (1986-12-14) 14 December 1986 24 1 Liechtenstein Balzers
4FW Robin Gubser (1991-04-17) 17 April 1991 24 1 Liechtenstein Balzers
4FW Dennis Salanović (1996-02-26) 26 February 1996 18 0 Switzerland Rapperswil-Jona
4FW Simon Kühne (1994-04-30) 30 April 1994 16 0 Liechtenstein Eschen/Mauren
4FW Marcel Büchel (1991-03-18) 18 March 1991 9 0 Italy Empoli
4FW Yanik Frick (1998-05-27) 27 May 1998 2 0 Austria Altach

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 Thomas Hobi (1993-06-20) 20 June 1993 0 0 Liechtenstein Balzers v.  Albania, 6 October 2016 PRE
GK Claudio Majer (1996-03-23) 23 March 1996 0 0 Liechtenstein Balzers v.  Denmark, 31 August 2016 PRE
DF Maximilian Göppel (1997-08-31) 31 August 1997 5 1 Liechtenstein Vaduz v.  Italy, 12 November 2016PRE
DF Pascal Foser (1992-10-16) 16 October 1992 1 0 Liechtenstein Balzers v.  Spain, 5 September 2016
DF Roman Spirig (1998-06-22) 22 June 1998 0 0 Austria Dornbirn v.  Denmark, 31 August 2016 PRE
MF Nicolas Hasler (1991-05-04) 4 May 1991 43 1 Liechtenstein Vaduz v.  Israel, 9 October 2016
MF Daniel Brändle (1992-01-23) 23 January 1992 12 0 Malta St. Andrews v.  Israel, 9 October 2016
MF Luca Ritter (1997-10-29) 29 October 1997 0 0 Liechtenstein Eschen/Mauren v.  Denmark, 31 August 2016 PRE
MF Livio Meier (1998-01-10) 10 January 1998 0 0 Liechtenstein Balzers v.  Denmark, 31 August 2016 PRE
MF Fabio Wolfinger (1996-05-11) 11 May 1996 0 0 Liechtenstein FC Balzers v.  Denmark, 31 August 2016 PRE
FW Niklas Kieber (1993-03-04) 4 March 1993 9 0 Liechtenstein Eschen/Mauren v.  Spain, 5 September 2016
FW Philipp Ospelt (1992-10-07) 7 October 1992 3 0 Liechtenstein Vaduz II v.  Iceland, 6 June 2016
FW Armando Heeb (1990-09-25) 25 September 1990 1 0 Liechtenstein Balzers v.  Denmark, 31 August 2016 PRE

Notes:

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification

{{2014 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group G | expanded =yes | fixtures =yes }}

  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 Austria Russia Sweden Montenegro Liechtenstein Moldova
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 12 November 2016

Most capped players

Rank Player Caps Goals Years
1 Mario Frick 125 16 1993–2015
2 Peter Jehle 124 0 1998–
3 Martin Stocklasa 113 5 1996–2014
4 Franz Burgmeier 104 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 64 2 2004–

Top goalscorers

Rank Player Caps Goals Years
1 Mario Frick 125 16 1993–2015
2 Franz Burgmeier 104 9 2001–
3 Martin Stocklasa 113 5 1996–2014
Thomas Beck 92 5 1998–2013
Michele Polverino 58 5 2007–
6 Michael Stocklasa 71 2 1998–2012
Martin Büchel 64 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 Italy qualifier" (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

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