Liechtenstein national football team

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 after winning 2–1 against Azerbaijan in a 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 slightly. The Euro 2004 qualifiers saw Liechtenstein improve to the extent they restricted England to 2–0 wins. Also at this time Liechtenstein lost 1–0 against San Marino, considered to be the weakest national team. As of 2023, it is San Marino's most recent (and only) victory. 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.[3]

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.[4]

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.[5] They produced a shock 2–0 win at home against Lithuania; their goals were scored by Philippe Erne and Michele Polverino.[5] In the following qualifying game, they managed a scoreless draw away to Lithuania.[5]

In the qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup, the Blue-Reds were humiliated at home in their opening game against Bosnia-Herzegovina (1–8).[6] The team loses many of its qualifying matches[7] and earns its only two points in draws against Latvia[8] and Slovakia.[9] The team finished bottom of its group.

For the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign in France, Liechtenstein managed to finish second-bottom of the group and take five points, managing a goalless draw at home against Montenegro,[10] an away win against Moldova, one goal to nil, thanks to Franz Burgmeier's ninth goal[11] and then a 1–1 home draw in the return against the same Moldovans, the group's red lanterns with three fewer units.

During the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, The Blue-Reds lost all 10 of their matches and finished bottom of their group with no points scored and just one goal scored (away against Israel) compared to 39 conceded.

In 2018, Liechtenstein entered the first ever UEFA Nations League, in group 4 of league D.[12] Their first Nations League match saw Armenia beat them 2–1 away. Liechtenstein were able to claim their first Nations League victory, beating Gibraltar 2–0 at home.[13] Liechtenstein finished bottom of their group with just one win and a draw, also at home, against Armenia (2–2).

During the Euro 2021 qualifiers, Liechtenstein managed to pick up two points thanks to two draws, one away to Greece (1–1) and the other at home to Armenia (1–1), but finished bottom of their group with 2 goals scored and 31 conceded.

In the 2020-2021 edition of the Nations League, Liechtenstein failed to gain promotion to League C, with a single win (2–0 at San Marino), two draws (0–0 at home to San Marino and 1–1 at Gibraltar) and one defeat (0–1 at home to Gibraltar, their direct rival who eventually gained promotion). The Blue-Reds disappointed by failing to win a single match at home, once again falling behind Gibraltar in the standings as they had done in the previous edition, and being dominated overall in the goalless draw with San Marino.

The 2022 World Cup qualifiers once again saw Liechtenstein finish bottom of their group, with just one point from a 1–1 draw away to Armenia, and 9 defeats, with 2 goals scored and 34 conceded.

The 2022-2023 edition of the Nations League was also a disappointment for Liechtenstein, who finished bottom of their group with 6 defeats in as many games played and just one goal scored, away against Andorra (1–2), their worst record in this competition in 3 editions.

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

  Win   Draw   Loss   Fixture

2023

Luxembourg  v  Liechtenstein

17 June 2023 (2023-06-17) UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying	Luxembourg	2–0	Liechtenstein	Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
15:00	Da. Sinani 59' Rodrigues 89'	Report		Stadium: Stade de Luxembourg Attendance: 6,806 Referee: Oleksii Derevinskyi (Ukraine)

Liechtenstein  v  Slovakia

20 June 2023 (2023-06-20) UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying	Liechtenstein	0–1	Slovakia	Vaduz, Liechtenstein
18:00		Report	Vavro 45+1'	Stadium: Rheinpark Stadion Attendance: 2,316 Referee: Yigal Frid (Israel)

Bosnia and Herzegovina  v  Liechtenstein

8 September 2023 (2023-09-08) UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying	Bosnia and Herzegovina	2–1	Liechtenstein	Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina
20:45	Džeko 3' Lüchinger 19' (o.g.)	Report	S. Wolfinger 21'	Stadium: Bilino Polje Attendance: 6,189 Referee: Sayat Karabayev (Kazakhstan)

Slovakia  v  Liechtenstein

11 September 2023 (2023-09-11) UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying	Slovakia	3–0	Liechtenstein	Bratislava, Slovakia
20:45	Hancko 1' Duda 3' Mak 6'	Report		Stadium: Tehelné pole Attendance: 13,679 Referee: Sander van der Eijk (Netherlands)

Liechtenstein  v  Bosnia and Herzegovina

13 October 2023 (2023-10-13) UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying	Liechtenstein	0–2	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Vaduz, Liechtenstein
20:45		Report	Rahmanović 13' Stevanović 41'	Stadium: Rheinpark Stadion Attendance: 5,874 Referee: Damian Sylwestrzak (Poland)

Iceland  v  Liechtenstein

16 October 2023 (2023-10-16) UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying	Iceland	4–0	Liechtenstein	Reykjavík, Iceland
18:45	G. Sigurðsson 22' (pen.), 49' Finnbogason 44' Haraldsson 63'	Report		Stadium: Laugardalsvöllur Attendance: 4,317 Referee: Abdulkadir Bitigen (Turkey)

Liechtenstein  v  Portugal

16 November 2023 (2023-11-16) UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying	Liechtenstein	0–2	Portugal	Vaduz, Liechtenstein
20:45		Report	Ronaldo 46' Cancelo 57'	Stadium: Rheinpark Stadion Attendance: 5,749 Referee: Mohammed Al-Hakim (Sweden)

Liechtenstein  v  Luxembourg

19 November 2023 (2023-11-19) UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying	Liechtenstein	0–1	Luxembourg	Vaduz, Liechtenstein
20:45		Report	G. Rodrigues 69'	Stadium: Rheinpark Stadion Attendance: 2,241 Referee: Stéphanie Frappart (France)

2024

Liechtenstein  v  Faroe Islands

22 March 2024 Friendly	Liechtenstein	0–4	Faroe Islands	Marbella, Spain
18:00 UTC+1		Report	P. Petersen 3', 45+1' Justinussen 49' A.Svensson 90+2'	Stadium: Marbella Football Center Attendance: 25 Referee: Jason Lee Barcelo (Gibraltar)

Latvia  v  Liechtenstein

26 March 2024 Friendly	Latvia	1–1	Liechtenstein	Larnaca, Cyprus
19:00 UTC+2	Krollis 11'	Report	Ošs 1' (o.g.)	Stadium: Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium Referee: Manfredas Lukjancukas (Lithuania)

Albania  v  Liechtenstein

4 June 2024 Friendly	Albania	v	Liechtenstein	TBD, Austria
		Report

Romania  v  Liechtenstein

8 June 2024 Friendly	Romania	v	Liechtenstein	Bucharest, Romania
				Stadium: Stadionul Steaua

San Marino  v  Liechtenstein

5 September 2024 (2024-09-05) 2024–25 UEFA Nations League	San Marino	v	Liechtenstein	Serravalle, San Marino
20:45				Stadium: Olympic Stadium of Serravalle

Gibraltar  v  Liechtenstein

8 September 2024 (2024-09-08) 2024–25 UEFA Nations League	Gibraltar	v	Liechtenstein	Faro/Loulé, Portugal
18:00				Stadium: Estádio Algarve

Liechtenstein  v  Gibraltar

13 October 2024 (2024-10-13) 2024–25 UEFA Nations League	Liechtenstein	v	Gibraltar	Vaduz, Liechtenstein
18:00				Stadium: Rheinpark Stadion

Liechtenstein  v  San Marino

18 November 2024 (2024-11-18) 2024–25 UEFA Nations League	Liechtenstein	v	San Marino	Vaduz, Liechtenstein
20:45				Stadium: Rheinpark Stadion

As of 26 March 2024[15]

Players in bold are still active with Liechtenstein.

Most appearances

Peter Jehle is Liechtenstein's most capped player at 132 capps.

Rank	Player	Caps	Goals	Career
1	Peter Jehle	132	0	1998–2018
2	Mario Frick	125	16	1993–2015
3	Martin Stocklasa	113	5	1996–2014
4	Franz Burgmeier	112	9	2001–2018
5	Nicolas Hasler	94	5	2010–present
6	Thomas Beck	92	5	1998–2013
7	Martin Büchel	91	2	2004–2021
8	Michele Polverino	79	6	2007–2019
9	Daniel Hasler	78	1	1993–2007
10	Martin Telser	73	1	1996–2007

Top goalscorers

Mario Frick is Liechtenstein's all-time record goalscorer at 16 goals.

Rank	Player	Goals	Caps	Ratio	Career
1	Mario Frick	16	125	0.13	1993–2015
2	Franz Burgmeier	9	112	0.08	2001–2018
3	Michele Polverino	6	79	0.08	2007–2019
4	Nicolas Hasler	5	94	0.05	2010–present
	Thomas Beck	5	92	0.05	1998–2013
	Martin Stocklasa	5	113	0.04	1996–2014
7	Dennis Salanović	4	58	0.07	2014–present
8	Yanik Frick	3	30	0.1	2016–present
	Sandro Wolfinger	3	63	0.05	2013–present
10
	Noah Frick	2	20	0.1	2019–present
	Benjamin Fischer	2	23	0.09	2005–2011
	Mathias Christen	2	36	0.06	2008–2014
	Fabio D'Elia	2	50	0.04	2001–2010
	Maximilian Göppel	2	61	0.03	2016–present
	Sandro Wieser	2	61	0.03	2008–present
	Michael Stocklasa	2	71	0.03	1998–2012
Martin Büchel	2	91	0.02	2004–2021

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.[16]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Liechtenstein national football team.

• Liechtensteiner Fussballverbund
• Liechtenstein at UEFA
• Liechtenstein at FIFA
• RSSSF archive of most capped players and highest goalscorers
• Die Elf – documentary film about Liechtenstein national team (archived 20 August 2013)