Liechtenstein national football team
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| Association | Liechtenstein Football Association (Liechtensteiner Fussballverband) |
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| Confederation | UEFA (Europe) | ||
| Head coach | Hans-Peter Zaugg | ||
| Most caps | Mario Frick (104) | ||
| Top scorer | Mario Frick (16) | ||
| Home stadium | Rheinpark Stadion | ||
| FIFA code | LIE | ||
| FIFA ranking | 124 | ||
| Highest FIFA ranking | 118 (January 2008, July 2011) | ||
| Lowest FIFA ranking | 165 (May 1998) | ||
| Elo ranking | 150 | ||
| Highest Elo ranking | 150 (September 2011) | ||
| Lowest Elo ranking | 184 (September 2004) | ||
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| First international | |||
 Liechtenstein 0–1 Switzerland "B"  (Balzers, Liechtenstein; 9 March 1982)[1] |
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| Biggest win | |||
 Luxembourg 0–4 Liechtenstein (Luxembourg, Luxembourg; 13 October 2004) |
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| Biggest defeat | |||
Liechtenstein 1–11 Macedonia  (Vaduz, Liechtenstein; 9 November 1996) |
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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 1–0 loss in a friendly match on 28 April 2004.
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[edit] 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 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. On the 26 March 2008 Liechtenstein had an embarrassing 7–1 loss to fellow small nation in Europe, Malta. This was recorded as Malta's largest 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.
In the 2010 World Cup qualifiers Liechtenstein secured a scoreless draw against Azerbaijan and a 1–1 draw against Finland, finishing bottom of Group 4 on two points.
In the Euro 2012 qualifiers, Liechtenstein were narrowly beaten 2–1 by Scotland in Hampden Park thanks to a goal by Stephen McManus in the seventh minute of additional time.[2] They produced a shock 2–0 win at home against Lithuania; their goals were scored by Philippe Erne and Michele Polverino.[2] In the following qualifying game they managed a scoreless draw away to Lithuania.[2]
[edit] World Cup record
| Year | Round | Position | W | D | L | GS | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 1994 |
Did not enter | - | - | - | - | - | - |
 1998 |
Did not qualify | - | 0 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 52 |
  2002 |
Did not qualify | - | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 23 |
 2006 |
Did not qualify | - | 2 | 2 | 8 | 13 | 23 |
 2010 |
Did not qualify | - | 0 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 23 |
 2014 |
Qualifying begins in 2012 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Total | 2 | 4 | 34 | 18 | 121 | ||
[edit] 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 (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 | 4 | 5 | 39 | 17 | 150 | ||
[edit] 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)
[edit] Current squad
[edit] Matchday squad v. Malta
The following 17-player squad was named for the friendly against Malta at Ta' Qali National Stadium on February 29, 2012.[3] Caps and goals are current as of the completion of the 0-5 friendly loss against Hungary at Sóstói Stadion on November 11, 2011.
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[edit] Recent call-ups
The following players were named to a matchday squad in the last year, but were not named to the 17-player squad for the friendly against Malta at Ta' Qali National Stadium on February 29, 2012.
Caps and goals are current as of the completion of the 0-5 friendly loss against Hungary at Sóstói Stadion on November 11, 2011.
| Player | Date of Birth (Age) | Caps | Goals | Club | |
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| Goalkeepers | |||||
| Cengiz Biçer | December 11, 1987 | 2 | 0 |  Mersin İdmanyurdu |
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| Lorenzo Lo Russo | July 8, 1993 | 0 | 0 | Vaduz u23 |
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| Defenders | |||||
| Andreas Christen | August 29, 1989 | 2 | 0 | Eschen/Mauren |
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| Fabio D'Elia | January 19, 1983 | 50 | 2 | Schaan |
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| Lucas Eberle | October 13, 1990 | 7 | 0 | Balzers |
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| Valentin Flatz | July 30, 1990 | 0 | 0 | Balzers |
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| Olcay Gür | March 27, 1991 | 0 | 0 | Schaan |
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| Ivan Quintans | October 15, 1989 | 1 | 0 | Balzers |
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| Marco Ritzberger | December 27, 1986 | 35 | 1 | Vaduz |
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| Franz-Josef Vogt | October 30, 1985 | 26 | 0 | Eschen/Mauren |
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| Midfielders | |||||
| Christoph Biedermann | January 30, 1987 | 3 | 0 | Eschen/Mauren |
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| Stefan Büchel | June 30, 1986 | 9 | 0 | Eschen/Mauren |
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| Philippe Erne | December 14, 1986 | 8 | 1 | Vaduz |
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| Andreas Gerster | November 24, 1982 | 38 | 0 | Triesenberg |
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| Rony Hanselmann | June 25, 1991 | 6 | 0 | Balzers |
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| Wolfgang Kieber | July 22, 1984 | 13 | 0 | Balzers |
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| Raphael Rohrer | May 3, 1985 | 44 | 1 | Eschen/Mauren |
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| Forwards | |||||
| Niklas Kieber | March 4, 1993 | 0 | 0 | Vaduz |
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[edit] Appearance and Goalscoring Leaders
[edit] Appearances
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[edit] Goalscorers
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[edit] References
- ^ Garin, Erik. "Liechtenstein - International Results". RSSSF. http://www.rsssf.com/tablesl/lie-intres.html. Retrieved 13 November 2010.
- ^ a b c "Liechtenstein missing goal hero Philippe Erne". BBC Sport (BBC). 27 September 2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/scotland/15078473.stm. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
- ^ LFV. "Liechtenstein squad for Malta friendly". LFV. http://www.lfv.li/fileadmin/user_upload/Dateien/Aufgebote-Nationalmannschaft/2012/Aufgebot-MAL-LIE-2012.pdf. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
[edit] 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
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