Liechtenstein national football team

Infobox National football team
Name = Liechtenstein
Badge = Liechtenstein_national_team.gif
FIFA Trigramme = LIE
FIFA Rank = 130
Elo Rank = 166
FIFA max = 118
FIFA max date = January 2008
FIFA min = 165
FIFA min date = May 1998

Nickname =
Association = Liechtenstein Football Association
"(Liechtensteiner Fussballverband)"
Confederation = UEFA (Europe)
Coach = Flagicon|Switzerland Hans-Peter Zaugg (2006-)
Most caps = Mario Frick (81)
Top scorer = Mario Frick (13)
Home Stadium = Rheinpark Stadion

pattern_la1=_whiteshoulders|pattern_b1=|pattern_ra1=_whiteshoulders
leftarm1=0000CD|body1=0000CD|rightarm1=0000CD|shorts1=FF0000|socks1=0000CD
pattern_la2=_whiteshoulders|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=_whiteshoulders
leftarm2=FF0000|body2=FF0000|rightarm2=FF0000|shorts2=0000CD|socks2=FF0000

First game = Flagicon|Liechtenstein Liechtenstein 0 - 1 Switzerland Flagicon|Switzerland (Balzers, Liechtenstein; 9 March, 1982)
"unofficial"
"Flagicon|Liechtenstein Liechtenstein 1 - 1 Malta Flagicon|Malta" "(Seoul, South Korea; 14 June 1981)"
Largest win = Flagicon|Luxembourg Luxembourg 0 - 4 Liechtenstein Flagicon|Liechtenstein (Luxembourg City, Luxembourg; 13 Oct. 2004)
Largest loss = Flagicon|Liechtenstein Liechtenstein 1 - 11 FYR Macedonia Flagicon|Republic of Macedonia (Eschen-Mauren, Liechtenstein; 9 November, 1996)
The Liechtenstein national football team is the national football team of Liechtenstein and is controlled by the Liechtenstein Football Association. The organization is known as the "Liechtensteiner Fussballverband" in German. The team's first match was an unofficial match against Malta in Seoul, a 1-1 draw in 1981. Their first official match came two years later, a 0-1 defeat from Switzerland. Liechtenstein's largest win, a 4-0 win over Luxembourg in a 2006 World Cup qualifier on 13 October 2004, was both its first away win ever and its first win in any World Cup qualifier. Liechtenstein suffered its biggest ever loss in 1996, during qualification for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, with an 11-1 thrashing at the hands of Republic of Macedonia.

The team's record in competitive games was so poor it prompted British writer Charlie Connelly to follow the entire qualifying campaign for the 2002 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.

Four days before Liechtenstein scored its first win in World Cup qualifying, the team made even more headlines with a stunning 2-2 draw in Vaduz in a 2006 World Cup qualifier against Portugal, the losing finalists in Euro 2004. Before this result, Liechtenstein had lost all of its previous 20 World Cup qualifiers. They also caused a shock in the return match at the end of the group phase when Benjamin Fischer scored, and Liechtenstein led at half time, before eventually losing 2-1.

Liechtenstein is the only country ever to lose to San Marino, with a 0-1 loss in a friendly match on 28 April 2004.

History

Liechtenstein are only a relatively recent affiliate to FIFA, and did not participate in any qualifying series until the Euro 96 qualifiers. There they managed to surprise the Republic of Ireland by holding them to a 0-0 draw on 3 June 1995, but quickly gained a reputation as one of Europe's whipping boys, highlighted by an 11-1 defeat to Macedonia in the 1998 World Cup qualifiers. On 14 October 1998 they managed their first victory in a qualifying campaign by 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 enormously. 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 Euro 2008 qualifiers, Liechtenstein beat Latvia for probably their greatest ever victory - indeed their first against a country that has qualified for a major finals - 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 October 17 2007, for their second qualifying group win.

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.

World Cup record

*1930 to 1990 - "Did not enter"
*1994 - "Withdrew"
*1998 to 2006 - "Did not qualify"

European Championship record

*1960 to 1992 - "Did not enter"
*1996 to 2008 - "Did not qualify"

Current squad

The following players were called for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Azerbaijan on September 10 2008.Caps and goals as of September 10 2008.

Recent call ups

The following players have been called up for the team in 2008.

External links

* [http://www.rsssf.com/tablesl/lie-intres.html RSSSF archive of international results 1981-]
* [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/lie-recintlp.html RSSSF archive of most capped players and highest goalscorers]
* [http://www.lfv.li/ Liechtensteiner Fussballverbund]
* [http://www.autoren.tv Die Elf, documentary film about Liechtenstein national team]