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 after 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 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. The 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifiers 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 UEFA 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 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. [4]
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 FIFA 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. [5]
In the UEFA 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. [6] They produced a shock 2–0 win at home against Lithuania; their goals were scored by Philippe Erne and Michele Polverino. [6] In the following qualifying game, they managed a scoreless draw away to Lithuania. [6]
In the qualifiers for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the Blue-Reds were humiliated at home in their opening game against Bosnia-Herzegovina (1–8). [7] The team loses many of its qualifying matches [8] and earns its only two points in draws against Latvia [9] and Slovakia. [10] The team finished bottom of its group.
For the UEFA 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, [11] an away win against Moldova, one goal to nil, thanks to Franz Burgmeier's ninth goal [12] 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 FIFA 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. [13] 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. [14] Liechtenstein finished bottom of their group with just one win and a draw, also at home, against Armenia (2–2).
During the UEFA Euro 2020 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 2020–21 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 FIFA 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 2022–23 edition of the UEFA 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.
Liechtenstein began 2024 with four friendly matches, losing two and drawing two. One of the draws came away from home against Romania a few days prior to UEFA Euro 2024, a tournament which Romania had qualified for undefeated.
Liechtenstein began their 2024–25 Nations League campaign with a 0–1 loss away to San Marino after a Liechtenstein goal was denied through offside, handing the Sammarinese their first competitive victory. [2] Following this, Liechtenstein proceeded to draw Gibraltar twice (2–2 away and 0–0 at home with a decisive penalty missed in the stoppage time during the return match against Gibraltar) before losing to San Marino again, this time 1–3 in Vaduz, finishing bottom of Group D1 on 2 points. [15] Between the two draws with Gibraltar, Liechtenstein ended a 41-game winless streak with a 1–0 victory over Hong Kong. [16]
(19 December 2024) [1] 
Liechtenstein 1–1 Malta 
Luxembourg 0–4 Liechtenstein 
