Association football club in Liechtenstein
Football club
Fussball Club Vaduz
(
Football Club Vaduz
) is a professional
football
club from
Vaduz
,
Liechtenstein
that plays in the
Swiss Challenge League
. The club plays at the national
Rheinpark Stadion
, which has a capacity of 5,873 when all are 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 Challenge League
following
relegation
from the
Swiss Super League
after the
2020?21
season. Vaduz is unique in that it represents its own national association in the
UEFA Europa Conference League
when winning the domestic cup, whilst playing in another country's league. This is due to Liechtenstein not organising its own league.
Vaduz has 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.
On 25 August 2022, after beating
Rapid Wien
away in Austria, Vaduz made history by qualifying for the
Europa Conference League
group stage, becoming the first ever club from Liechtenstein to reach the group stages of a UEFA club competition.
History
[
edit
]
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, then 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, around £150,000 a year. 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 the future.
[2]
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 has remained one of the best-performing 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 season's final day, giving Liechtenstein a representative at the highest level of Swiss football for the first time. Vaduz, however, was relegated back to the
Challenge League
after one season in the top flight. Vaduz finally returned to the top level after five years in the Challenge League.
In May 2010, the two Liechtenstein teams, FC Vaduz and
USV Eschen/Mauren
, decided on better cooperation, especially on the exchange and the development possibilities of the players of both teams. In principle, the agreement should replace the missing substructure at FC Vaduz and promote cooperation in the sense of Liechtenstein football. FC Vaduz is the first address for professional footballers.
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 has annually entered the
UEFA Cup
(now the UEFA Europa League) as a result of winning the
Liechtenstein Cup
every year since 1998, except in 2012.
Vaduz came within one second of reaching the first round proper of the UEFA Cup in 2002. With the aggregate scores level and 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 under controversial circumstances.
[3]
For the 2005?06 season,
Mats Gren
was the coach. In the first round of the
2005?06 UEFA Cup
qualifying, Vaduz defeated Moldovan opponent
FC Dacia Chi?in?u
. In the second round they met they faced Turkish club
Be?ikta? J.K.
, against whom they were eliminated.
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 in the Swiss Super League for the first time in their history. 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.
In season 2015?16 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 progressed against
Nomme Kalju FC
to progress into the third qualifying round of the Europa League where they were drawn against fellow Swiss Super League club
FC Thun
. FC Thun won 2?2 on the away goals rule.
Vaduz won their domestic cup for the forty-fourth time and were eighth in the
Swiss Super League
. They won a team record thirty-six points. Vaduz player
Armando Sadiku
represented Albania at
Euro 2016
.
The team appeared for the first time in a popular sports video game,
FIFA 17
. This was the first time in history that a team from
Liechtenstein
appeared in the sports video game series.
After three years in the highest tier of Swiss football the
2016?17
season led to Vaduz's relegation, replacing
Giorgio Contini
with German coach
Roland Vrabec
after almost 5 years at the helm; Vaduz has not reached the
Swiss Super League
again.
On 5 September 2018, they terminated their contract with
Roland Vrabec
. On September 17, they presented
Mario Frick
as their coach. He is the first coach from Liechtenstein in the club's history.
In season 2019?20 FC Vaduz started their European campaign in the
2019?20 UEFA Europa League
by beating
Breiðablik
from
Iceland
in the first qualifying round of the
Europa League
. In the second round, Vaduz caused a shock by knocking out Hungarian side
MOL Fehervar
. In the third qualifying round of the Europa League they played against German club
Eintracht Frankfurt
- the
Bundesliga
side easily won both matches. However, these matches were historic for Vaduz, as at the first match in Vaduz there were 5,908 spectators present, while the city as a whole has a population of only 5,521.
On 25 August 2022, after an away victory against
Rapid Wien
, Vaduz secured qualification for the group stages of the
Europa Conference League
, becoming the first ever team from Liechtenstein to reach the group stages of a European club competition. They were subsequently drawn into Group E where they played against Dutch side
AZ
, Cypriot champions
Apollon Limassol
and Ukrainian side
Dnipro-1
. After a solid start to the group, with a goalless draw at home to Apollon, Vaduz would only go on and collect one more point, away against Dnipro-1, thus finishing bottom of the group with two points from their six games.
On 20 June 2023, Vaduz drew
Belarusian
side
Neman Grodno
in the
2023-24 UEFA Europa Conference League
first qualifying round
.
Legal status
[
edit
]
Vaduz is one of several expatriate European football clubs, playing in the Swiss Football League, like
AS Monaco
playing in France,
Victor San Marino
playing in Italy and some other minor clubs doing likewise in different leagues. The difference between Vaduz and the aforementioned clubs is that its status in Switzerland is a "guest club", and as such it does not participate in the
Swiss Cup
and cannot represent Switzerland internationally, which makes
Champions League
qualification from league football impossible under current rules other than by winning the
Europa League
or the Champions League itself. Since Vaduz has never finished higher than 8th in the Super League and therefore could not be argued to have qualified, such a situation has not occurred.
Stadium
[
edit
]
Rheinpark Stadion
[
edit
]
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. 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, plus additional standing places, giving it a total capacity of 7,584. The building of the stadium cost roughly 19 million
CHF
.
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. Kaiserslautern won the match 8?0.
Liverpool F.C.
played here against
Olympiacos F.C.
in a friendly in 2005. Rheinpark Stadion hosted the likes of
FC Chornomorets Odesa
and
Paris Saint-Germain F.C.
in this tournament but failed to progress past the qualification rounds.
The construction of the stadium became necessary because the world governing body
FIFA
and the European association
UEFA
threatened not to allow more European and international matches in Liechtenstein if the country did not provide a modern venue in accordance with international standards. In Liechtenstein, no domestic football league is played, but a cup competition is organized. Its series winner FC Vaduz is therefore represented in the Europa League almost every year. The national team has only been represented in the qualifying rounds of a major competition.
Rheinpark Stadion sits less than 1 km west of
Vaduz
city centre on the eastern bank of the
Rhein River
. Vaduz holds the distinction of being one of the few capitals in the world to lack its own airport and railway station, although there is a train station called
Schaan-Vaduz
in the nearby town of
Schaan
.
Rheinpark Stadion consists of four stands: North, East, South and West.
There are a limited number of
free parking
spaces located at Rheinpark Stadion on matchdays which are allocated on a first-come first-served basis.
Companies that FC Vaduz currently has sponsorship deals with include:
Crest and colours
[
edit
]
Kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors
[
edit
]
Honours
[
edit
]
Domestic competitions
[
edit
]
- Liechtenstein Football Championship
- Liechtenstein Football Cup
- Winners (50) (World Record
[7]
):
1948?49, 1951?52, 1952?53, 1953?54, 1955?56, 1956?57, 1957?58, 1958?59, 1959?60, 1960?61, 1962, 1965?66, 1966?67, 1967?68, 1968?69, 1969?70, 1970?71, 1973?74, 1979?80, 1984?85, 1986, 1987?88, 1989?90, 1991?92,
1994?95
,
1995?96
,
1997?98
,
1998?99
,
1999?2000
,
2000?01
,
2001?02
,
2002?03
,
2003?04
,
2004?05
,
2005?06
,
2006?07
,
2007?08
,
2008?09
,
2009?10
,
2010?11
,
2012?13
,
2013?14
,
2014?15
,
2015?16
,
2016?17
,
2017?18
,
2018?19
,
2021?22
,
2022?23
,
2023?24
- Runners-up (13):
1945?46, 1946?47, 1947?48, 1949?50, 1950?51, 1954?55, 1971?72, 1976?77, 1983?84, 1986?87, 1990?91,
1996?97
,
2011?12
Switzerland competitions
[
edit
]
European record
[
edit
]
Biggest win in UEFA competition:
Club records
[
edit
]
- Biggest European home win:
FC Vaduz 5?1
La Fiorita
(09.07.2015, UEFA Europa League First qualifying round second leg)
- Biggest European away win:
La Fiorita
0?5 FC Vaduz (02.07.2015, UEFA Europa League First qualifying round first leg)
- Biggest European home defeat:
FC Vaduz 0?5
Chornomorets Odesa
(19.08.1992, European Cup Winners' Cup), FC Vaduz 0?5
Hradec Kralove
(10.08.1995, European Cup Winners' Cup), FC Vaduz 0?5
Eintracht Frankfurt
(08.08.2019, Europa League)
- Biggest European away defeat:
Hradec Kralove
9?1 FC Vaduz (24.08.1995, European Cup Winners' Cup)
- Biggest home win:
FC Vaduz 11?0
FC Schaan
(04.05.2016, FL?Cup Final)
- Biggest away win:
FC Triesen II
0?22 FC Vaduz (09.11.1999, FL?Cup Quarter-Finals)
- Player with most trophies with FC Vaduz:
Franz Burgmeier
(16)
- Player with most appearances:
Franz Burgmeier
(371)
- Player with most goals:
Daniele Polverino (91)
- Player with most UEFA appearances:
Daniel Hasler
,
Peter Jehle
,
Franz Burgmeier
(22)
- Player with most Super League appearances:
Philipp Muntwiler
(90)
- Most European goals:
Moreno Costanzo
,
Moreno Merenda
(5)
- Most Super League goals:
Moreno Costanzo
(12)
- Most goals in Liechtenstein Cup:
Daniele Polverino (76)
- Highest home game attendance:
6,773 (against
FC Basel
,
FC St. Gallen
)
- Highest away game attendance (
St. Jakob-Park
):
27,066 (against
FC Basel
)
- Highest European home game attendance:
5,908 (against
Eintracht Frankfurt
)
- Highest European away game attendance (
Waldstadion
):
48,000 (against
Eintracht Frankfurt
)
- Most
capped
foreign player:
Miguel Mea Vitali
, 87 caps,
Venezuela
- Most capped
Liechtenstein
player:
Peter Jehle
, 132 caps (
National Record
)
Individual awards
[
edit
]
Domestic
[
edit
]
The player of the year in
Liechtenstein
has been announced as the season 1980/81 to 2007/08 as of the end of the season. The open for all election was organized by media house
Vaduz
. Since 2009, the
Liechtenstein Football Association
draws the title holder of its own. To this end, the LFV-Award has been launched, annually awarded a title in which professional bodies and public in three categories. The categories are Footballer of the Year, Young Player of the Year and Coach of the Year.
Switzerland
[
edit
]
Swiss Challenge League
top scorers
Swiss Challenge League
dream team
International
[
edit
]
To celebrate the
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA)
's 50th anniversary in 2004, each of its member associations was asked by UEFA to choose one of its own players as the single most outstanding player of the past 50 years (1954?2003).
Golden Player
Team awards
[
edit
]
Fairplay Trophy
Rankings
[
edit
]
UEFA ranking
[
edit
]
As of 20 March 2023
[8]
|
Club world ranking
[
edit
]
As of 31 December 2015
[9]
|
Swiss Super League history
[
edit
]
In the
2007?08 season
, for the first time in their history, FC Vaduz earned promotion to
Swiss Super League
. Two times before was relegated in Barrage in the season
2003?04
against
Neuchatel Xamax
and
2004?05
against
FC Schaffhausen
. In the
2015?16 season
they finished on the 8th place in front of
FC Lugano
and
FC Zurich
who is that season relegated in
Swiss Challenge League
. After two seasons FC Vaduz was relegated in
Swiss Challenge League
. In the
2019?20 season
Vaduz finished in second place and played in the barrage against
FC Thun
and Vaduz promoted in
Super League
fifth time in history.
Season
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
[10]
|
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
|
8
|
36
|
7
|
15
|
14
|
44
|
60
|
36
|
4,006
|
2016?17
|
10
|
36
|
7
|
9
|
20
|
45
|
78
|
30
|
4,086
|
2020?21
|
10
|
36
|
9
|
9
|
18
|
36
|
58
|
36
|
227
|
Total
|
|
180
|
35
|
50
|
95
|
181
|
340
|
155
|
2,930
|
Players
[
edit
]
Current squad
[
edit
]
- As of 6 February 2024
[11]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under
FIFA eligibility rules
. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Technical staff
[
edit
]
Management
- President
:
Patrick Burgmeier
- Board member:
Matthias Biedermann
- Board member:
Florian Meier
- Board member:
Lorenz Gassner
- Board member:
Christopher Holder
- Finance director:
Brigitte Loscher
- Chief marketing officer:
Mathias Hagmann
- Secretary:
Carmen Alabor
- Announcer:
Maximilian Vogt
|
FC Vaduz U23
[
edit
]
FC Vaduz U23 is the reserve team of FC Vaduz. They currently play in the
2. Liga
(sixth tier of the
Swiss football league system
). In the season
2014?15
they played semi-finals in
Liechtenstein Cup
against
FC Triesenberg
and they lost 1?0
after extra time
.
Current squad
[
edit
]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under
FIFA eligibility rules
. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Technical staff
[
edit
]
Recent seasons
[
edit
]
Recent season-by-season performance of the club:
- Key
P
- games played;
W
- wins;
D
- draws;
L
- losses;
GF
- goals for;
GA
- goals against;
PTS
- points
QR
- Qualifying Round;
QR1
- Qualifying Round 1;
QR2
- Qualifying Round 2;
QR3
- Qualifying Round 3
Former players
[
edit
]
A few former players are considered by the fans to be especially memorable because of their long and outstanding contributions towards the club, to some degree even decades after the end of their careers. Therefore, they have a very special status with the fans. The following are a few examples:
Players of Vaduz at major international tournaments
Former managers
[
edit
]
Gallery
[
edit
]
-
Otto Pfister
-
Walter Hormann
-
Martin Andermatt
-
Heinz Hermann
-
Pierre Littbarski
-
Eric Orie
-
Giorgio Contini
-
Roland Vrabec
Former presidents
[
edit
]
- Johannes Walser (1932?1933)
- Willy Huber (1933?1934)
- Anton Konrad (1934?1936)
- Rudolf Strub (1936?1943)
- Hans Verling (1943?1948)
- Albert Caminada (1948?1950)
- Felix Real (1950?1951)
- Hans Verling (1951?1955)
- Anton Ospelt (1955?1956)
- Otto Hasler (1956?1961)
- Engelbert Schreiber (1961?1964)
- Hilmar Ospelt (1964?1967)
- Kurt Frommelt (1967?1971)
- Norbert Vogt (1971?1973)
- Reinhard Walser (1973?1979)
- Reinold Ospelt (1979?1983)
- Alfons Thony (1983?1988)
- Andy Rechsteiner (1988?1990)
- Werner Keicher (1990?1997)
- Manfred Moser (1997?2001)
- Marc Brogle (2001?2003)
- Hanspeter Negele (2003?2008)
- Franz Schadler
(2008?2009) (Interim)
- Lorenz Gassner (2009?2010) (Acting)
- Albin Johann (2010?2013)
- Ruth Ospelt (2013?2019)
- Patrick Burgmeier
(2019?)
FC Vaduz Red Pride Rugby
[
edit
]
On 12 March 2012 the new club FC Vaduz Rugby was founded. The
rugby union
club is involved in the grassroots of the FC Vaduz. Rugby union in Liechtenstein is a minor but growing sport. Liechtenstein has no national governing body of its own, but comes under the
Swiss Rugby Federation
.
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
FC Vaduz
.
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