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Full name | Fussball Club Vaduz | |||
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Nickname(s) | Residenzler (Residents) Fürstenverein (The Duke's club) Stolz von Liechtenstein (Pride of Liechtenstein) | |||
Short name | FCV | |||
Founded | 14 February 1932 | |||
Ground | Rheinpark Stadion Vaduz, Liechtenstein | |||
Capacity | 7,584 (5,873 seated) | |||
Coordinates | 47°08′25″N9°30′37″E / 47.1403°N 9.5103°E | |||
Owner | Prince Alois | |||
Chairman | Patrick Burgmeier | |||
Manager | Marc Schneider | |||
League | Swiss Challenge League | |||
2023–24 | Swiss Challenge League, 3rd of 10 | |||
Website | https://www.fcvaduz.li | |||
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.
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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 Chişinău. In the second round they met they faced Turkish club Beşiktaş 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 Nõmme 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 Fehérvár. 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.
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.
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:
Period | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor | Ref |
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2008–19 | Adidas | Liechtensteinische Landesbank/MBPI AG | [6] |
2019–20 | Puma | ||
2020–22 | Casino Admiral | ||
2022–23 | MBPI AG |
Competition | Matches | W | D | L | GF | GA | +/- |
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UEFA Cup Winners' Cup | 10 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 4 | 40 | −36 |
UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League | 67 | 21 | 14 | 32 | 76 | 93 | −17 |
UEFA Europa Conference League / UEFA Conference League | 17 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 19 | 27 | −8 |
Total | 94 | 24 | 22 | 48 | 99 | 160 | −61 |
Biggest win in UEFA competition:
Season | Match | Score | ||
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UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League | ||||
2006–07 | Újpest FC – FC Vaduz | 0–4 | ||
2014–15 | FC Vaduz – College Europa | 3–0 | ||
2015–16 | S.P. La Fiorita – FC Vaduz | 0–5 | ||
2015–16 | FC Vaduz – S.P. La Fiorita | 5–1 | ||
2017–18 | FC Vaduz – Bala Town F.C. | 3–0 |
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.
Liechtensteiner Footballer of the Year
| Liechtensteiner Young Player of the Year
Special prize LFV Award
Liechtensteiner Coach of the Year
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Swiss Challenge League top scorers
Season | Name | Goals |
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2008 | Gaspar Odirlei | 31 |
2010 | Nick Proschwitz | 23 |
Swiss Challenge League dream team
Season | Name |
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2013 | Markus Neumayr |
2013 | Nick von Niederhäusern |
2013 | Peter Jehle |
2018 | Philipp Muntwiler |
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).
Year | Name |
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2004 | Rainer Hasler |
Fairplay Trophy
Season | League | Points |
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2013–14 | Swiss Challenge League | 65 |
2022–23 | Swiss Challenge League | 90 |
UEFA rankingAs of 20 March 2023 [8]
| Club world rankingAs of 31 December 2015 [9]
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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 Neuchâtel 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 Zürich 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.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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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.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Recent season-by-season performance of the club:
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
↑ Promoted | ↓ Relegated |
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
Tournament | |
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AFC Asian Cup 2015 | Pak Kwang-Ryong |
UEFA Euro 2016 | Armando Sadiku |
Naser Aliji | |
Africa Cup of Nations 2019 | Jodel Dossou |
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.
Fussballclub Thun 1898 is a Swiss football team from the Bernese Oberland town of Thun. The club plays in the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of the Swiss football league system, following relegation from the Swiss Super League in the 2019–20 season. The club plays at the Stockhorn Arena which accommodates a total of 10,000 supporters, both seated and standing. The club's colours are red and white.
Damir Džombić is a Bosnian retired football player who played as defender.
Martin Stocklasa is a Liechtenstein football manager and former player who played as a defender. He was most recently the manager of Liechtenstein club FC Vaduz, who play in the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football.
Franz Burgmeier is a Liechtenstein former professional footballer, who played as a midfielder. Born in Triesen, Burgmeier was a burgeoning footballer and keen skier, until he gave up the latter sport at 16 following a serious injury. Having been a youth player for Triesen, he started his professional career with Vaduz. Burgmeier won several Liechtensteiner Cups with Vaduz, who were promoted to the Swiss Challenge League in 2001, and played in the UEFA Cup. After two unsuccessful attempts to win promotion to the Swiss Super League, Burgmeier left for Aarau in 2005. He spent only one season with Aarau before a move to the previous season's runners-up Basel in 2006. His two seasons with Basel were broken up by a loan spell with Thun, before he moved to England with Darlington in August 2008, where he played for one year.
One of the most popular sports in Liechtenstein is football. In Liechtenstein there is no national association football league however there are seven clubs in Liechtenstein which play in the Swiss football league system.
The 2008–09 Swiss Super League was the 112th season of top-tier football in Switzerland. The competition was officially named AXPO Super League due to sponsoring purposes. It began on 18 July 2008 with a match between Young Boys Bern and reigning champions FC Basel, which the latter won by 2–1. The last matches were played in May 2009.
David Hasler is a Liechtensteiner former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or striker in the late 2000's and early 2010's.
The 2008–09 Liechtenstein Cup was the sixty-fourth season of Liechtenstein's annual cup competition. Seven clubs competed with a total of eighteen teams for one spot in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. Defending champions were FC Vaduz, who have won the cup continuously since 1998.
The 2009–10 Swiss Super League was the 113th season of top-tier football in Switzerland. The competition was officially named AXPO Super League due to sponsoring purposes. It began on 11 July 2009 and ended in May 2010. FC Zürich were the defending champions. The title was won by FC Basel.
The 2009–10 Swiss Challenge League was the seventh season of the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of the Swiss football league pyramid. It began on 24 July 2009 and ended on 15 May 2010. The champions of this season, FC Thun, earned promotion to the 2010–11 Super League. The bottom two teams, FC Le Mont and FC Gossau, were relegated to the 1. Liga.
The 2009–10 Liechtenstein Cup was the sixty-fifth season of Liechtenstein's annual football cup competition. Seven clubs competed with a total of eighteen teams for one spot in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. Defending champions were FC Vaduz, who won the cup continuously since 1998 and defended their title.
Nicolas Hasler is a Liechtensteiner professional footballer who plays as a left or right midfielder for Swiss Challenge League club Vaduz and captains the Liechtenstein national team. He is the son of Rainer Hasler, who was one of Liechtenstein's greatest professional footballers.
The 2010–11 Liechtenstein Cup was the sixty-sixth season of Liechtenstein's annual cup competition. Seven clubs competed with a total of seventeen teams for one spot in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. Defending champions were Vaduz, who had won the cup continuously since 1998 and won their 39th Liechtenstein Cup the previous season.
The 2011–12 Liechtenstein Cup was the sixty-seventh season of Liechtenstein's annual cup competition. Seven clubs competed with a total of sixteen teams for one spot in the first qualifying round of the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League. Defending champions were Vaduz, who have won the cup continuously since 1998 and won their 40th Liechtenstein Cup last season. USV Eschen/Mauren won the cup, beating FC Vaduz on penalties in the final, becoming the first team other than FC Vaduz to win the cup since 1997.
The 2012–13 Liechtenstein Cup was the sixty-eight season of Liechtenstein's annual cup competition. Seven clubs competed with a total of sixteen teams for one spot in the first qualifying round of the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League. USV Eschen/Mauren were the defending champions.
The 2013–14 Liechtenstein Cup is the 69th season of Liechtenstein's annual cup competition. Seven clubs compete with a total of 18 teams for one spot in the first qualifying round of the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League. FC Vaduz are the defending champions.
The 2015–16 Liechtenstein Cup is the 71st season of Liechtenstein's annual cup competition. Seven clubs competed with a total of 17 teams for one spot in the first qualifying round of the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League. FC Vaduz are the defending champions.
The 2018–19 Liechtenstein Cup was the 74th season of Liechtenstein's annual cup competition. Seven clubs competed with a total of 15 teams for one spot in the first qualifying round of the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League. FC Vaduz were the defending champions.
The 2021–22 Liechtenstein Cup was the 77th season of Liechtenstein's annual cup competition. Seven clubs competed with a total of 16 teams for one spot in the second qualifying round of the 2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League. FC Vaduz were the defending champions.
The 2023–23 Liechtenstein Cup was the 78th season of Liechtenstein's annual cup competition. Seven clubs competed with a total of 17 teams for one spot in the second qualifying round of the 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League. FC Vaduz were the defending champions.