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. 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.[2]

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.[3]

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.[4] They produced a shock 2–0 win at home against Lithuania; their goals were scored by Philippe Erne and Michele Polverino.[4] In the following qualifying game, they managed a scoreless draw away to Lithuania.[4]

In 2018, Liechtenstein entered the first ever UEFA Nations League, in group 4 of league D.[5] Their first Nations League match saw Armenia beat them 2–0 away. Liechtenstein were able to claim their first Nations League victory, beating Gibraltar 2–0.[6]

Martin Stocklasa, the team manager since 2020.

• Erich Bürzle (1990)
• Dietrich Weise (1990–1996)
• Alfred Riedl (1997–1998)
• Erich Bürzle (1998)
• Ralf Loose (1998–2003)
• Walter Hörmann (2003–2004)
• Martin Andermatt (2004–2006)
• Urs Meier (2006)
• Hans-Peter Zaugg (2006–2012)
• Rene Pauritsch (2013–2018)
• Helgi Kolviðsson (2018–2020)
• Martin Stocklasa (2020–)

As of 18 November 2020[9]

Players in bold are still active and available for selection.

Most capped players Rank Player Caps Goals Years 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 Thomas Beck 92 5 1998–2013 6 Martin Büchel 87 2 2004– 7 Michele Polverino 79 6 2007–2019 8 Daniel Hasler 78 1 1993–2007 9 Nicolas Hasler 73 5 2010– Martin Telser 73 1 1996–2007

Top goalscorers Rank Player Goals Caps Ratio Years 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 73 0.07 2010– Thomas Beck 5 92 0.05 1998–2013 Martin Stocklasa 5 113 0.04 1996–2014 7 Dennis Salanović 4 45 0.09 2014– 8 Yanik Frick 2 14 0.14 2016– Benjamin Fischer 2 23 0.09 2005–2011 Mathias Christen 2 36 0.06 2008–2014 Sandro Wolfinger 2 38 0.05 2013– Fabio D'Elia 2 50 0.04 2001–2010 Sandro Wieser 2 53 0.04 2008– Michael Stocklasa 2 71 0.03 1998–2012 Martin Büchel 2 87 0.02 2004–

Peter Jehle (left) is Liechtenstein's most capped player, while Mario Frick (right) is the all-time record goalscorer (and 2nd most capped).

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.[10]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Liechtenstein national football team.

• Liechtensteiner Fussballverbund
• RSSSF archive of most capped players and highest goalscorers
• Die Elf, documentary film about Liechtenstein national team