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 2–1 away. Liechtenstein were able to claim their first Nations League victory, beating Gibraltar 2–0.[6]

As of 26 September 2022[10]

Players in bold are still active and available for selection.

Most capped players

Peter Jehle is Liechtenstein's most capped player at 132 capps.

Rank	Player	Caps	Goals	Career
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	91	2	2004–2021
7	Nicolas Hasler	90	5	2010–
8	Michele Polverino	79	6	2007–2019
9	Daniel Hasler	78	1	1993–2007
10	Martin Telser	73	1	1996–2007

Top goalscorers

Mario Frick is Liechtenstein's all-time record goalscorer at 16 goals.

Rank	Player	Goals	Caps	Ratio	Career
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	90	0.06	2010–
	Thomas Beck	5	92	0.05	1998–2013
	Martin Stocklasa	5	113	0.04	1996–2014
7	Dennis Salanović	4	49	0.08	2014–
8	Yanik Frick	3	30	0.1	2016–
9
	Noah Frick	2	18	0.11	2019–
	Benjamin Fischer	2	23	0.09	2005–2011
	Mathias Christen	2	36	0.06	2008–2014
	Maximilian Göppel	2	50	0.04	2016–
	Fabio D'Elia	2	50	0.04	2001–2010
	Sandro Wieser	2	53	0.04	2008–
	Sandro Wolfinger	2	53	0.04	2013–
	Michael Stocklasa	2	71	0.03	1998–2012
Martin Büchel	2	91	0.02	2004–2021

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.[11]

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