FC Vaduz
| File:FC Vaduz.png | ||||
| Full name | Fußball Club Vaduz | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Residenzler (Resident) Fürstenverein (Princely club) | |||
| Short name | FCV | |||
| Founded | 14 February 1932; 84 years ago | |||
| Ground | Rheinpark Stadion Vaduz, Liechtenstein | |||
| Capacity | 7,838 | |||
| Coordinates | 47°08′25″N 9°30′37″W / 47.1403°N 9.5103°W | |||
| Owner | Princely Family of Liechtenstein | |||
| Chairman | Ruth Ospelt | |||
| Manager | Giorgio Contini | |||
| League | Swiss Super League | |||
| 2014–15 | 9th | |||
| Website | http://www.fcvaduz.li/ | |||
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Fußball Club Vaduz (English: Football Club Vaduz) is a Liechtenstein football club from Vaduz that plays in the Swiss Football League. The club plays at the national Rheinpark Stadion, which has a capacity of 6,127 when all 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 Super League following promotion from the Swiss Challenge League after winning its 2013–14 championship.
Vaduz have 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. The signing of experienced goalkeeper Peter Jehle from Tours and Franz Burgmeier from Darlington boosted the Liechtensteiner contingent to six by the start of the 2009-10 season.[2]
History
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, which is 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. 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 future.[3]
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 have been one of the best 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 final day of the season, giving Liechtenstein a representative at the highest level of Swiss football for the first time. Vaduz, however, were relegated back to the Challenge League after one season in the top flight. Vaduz finally returned to top level after five years in the Challenge League.
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 have annually entered the UEFA Cup (now the UEFA Europa League) as a result of winning the Liechtenstein Cup every year since 1998. However, they have never got past the qualifying rounds to date.
However, Vaduz did come within one second of reaching the first round proper of the UEFA Cup in 2002. With the aggregate scores level, and with 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 in controversial circumstances.
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 for the first time in their history in the Swiss Super League. 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.
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 easily progressed against Nõmme Kalju FC to progress into the third qualifying of the Europa League where they were drawn against fellow Swiss Super League club FC Thun. The European campaign is over. FC Thun after the away goals passed away. FC Vaduz is so once again ended the European campaign but this time unbeaten with four wins and two draws.
Rheinpark Stadion
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.
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. 1. FC Kaiserslautern won the match 8-0. 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. The stadium has additional standing places giving it a total capacity of 7,584. The building of the stadium cost roughly 19 million CHF.
9. October 2004, on the Rheinpark Stadion, Liechtenstein has welcomed Portugal for which played Cristiano Ronaldo, the best scorer of the team and one of the best players of all time. The match finished 2:2.
English football club Liverpool played Olympiacos of Greece here in a pre-season friendly in 2005.
All football stars who have achieved the goal of the Rheinpark Stadion: David Beckham, Michael Owen, Luís Figo, Raúl, Fernando Torres, David Silva, David Villa, Fredrik Ljungberg, David Alaba, Edin Džeko, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Lukas Podolski, Zlatan Ibrahimović.
Honours
League
Liechtenstein Football Championship
- Winners (1): 1936
Swiss Super League (1st tier)
- Best ranking: 9th place (2015)
- Swiss Challenge League (2nd tier)
- Winners (3): 2003, 2008, 2014
- Runners-up (2): 2004, 2005
- 1. Liga Promotion (3rd tier)
- Winners (2): 2000, 2001
- Runners-up (2): 1984, 1999
Cups
(43) (World Record[6]) 
: 1949, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1974, 1980, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015
(13): 1946, 1947, 1948, 1950, 1951, 1955, 1972, 1977, 1984, 1987, 1991, 1997, 2012
Europe
European record
| Competition | Matches | W | D | L | GF | GA | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UEFA Cup Winners' Cup | 10 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 4 | 40 | -36 |
| UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League | 48 | 14 | 11 | 23 | 56 | 68 | -12 |
| Total | 58 | 14 | 13 | 31 | 60 | 108 | -48 |
Biggest win in UEFA competition:
| Season | Match | Score | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League | ||||
| 2005–06 | FC Vaduz –  FC Dacia Chișinău
|
2–0 | ||
| 2006–07 |  Újpest FC - FC Vaduz
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0–4 | ||
| 2011–12 |  FK Vojvodina - FC Vaduz
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1–3 | ||
| 2014–15 | FC Vaduz –  College Europa
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3–0 | ||
| 2015–16 |  S.P. La Fiorita - FC Vaduz
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0–5 | ||
| 2015–16 | FC Vaduz - S.P. La Fiorita
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5–1 | ||
| 2015–16 | FC Vaduz -  Nõmme Kalju FC
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3–1 | ||
| 2015–16 | Nõmme Kalju FC - FC Vaduz
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0–2 | ||
Rankings
UEFA ranking
As of 19 March 2016[7]
| Rank | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 270 |  FK Žalgiris Vilnius |
4.925 |
| 271 |  PFC Litex Lovech |
4.875 |
| 272 | FC Vaduz |
4.850 |
| 273 |  Vålerenga Fotball |
4.850 |
| 274 |  FC Kairat Almaty |
4.825 |
UEFA ranking (Liechtenstein)
| Rank | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 272 | FC Vaduz |
4.850 |
| 367 | USV Eschen/Mauren |
2.350 |
Ranking since 2010
| Year | Rank | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 2010-11 |  313
|
2.300 |
| 2011-12 |  286
|
3.300 |
| 2012-13 | 312
|
3.200 |
| 2013-14 | 319
|
3.650 |
| 2014-15 | 321
|
3.450 |
| 2015-16 | 272
|
4.850 |
Club world ranking
As of 14 March 2016
| Rank | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 452 |  Monarcas Morelia |
1492 |
| 453 |  Maccabi Haifa |
1485 |
| 454 | FC Vaduz |
1483 |
| 455 | Maccabi Petah Tikva |
1478 |
| 456 |  San Jose Earthquakes |
1476 |
Swiss Super League History
Season Pos Pld W D L GF GA Pts Att.[8] 2008–09 10 
36 5 7 24 28 85 22 2,177 2014–15 9 36 7 10 19 28 59 31 4,152 2015–16 9 24 3 12 9 25 38 21 3,620 Total 96 15 29 52 81 182 74
Current squad
- As of 10 February 2016.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Technical staff
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FC Vaduz II (U23)
FC Vaduz U23 is the second most successful football club team from Liechtenstein. Competing in 2. Liga (Swiss 6th tier), also competing in the Liechtenstein Football Cup.
Current squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Technical staff
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FCV-TV
FC Vaduz has an official YouTube channel (FC Vaduz). On it you can see all the interesting events with home matches. You can also follow developments in the club and on the official Facebook page (FC Vaduz) and Twitter (FC Vaduz).
Former players
Former managers
Otto Pfister (1961–63)- Uwe Wegmann (1999–June 30, 2002)
- Walter Hörmann (March 12, 2002–Dec 31, 2003)
- Martin Andermatt (July 1, 2003 – June 1, 2005)
- Ignaz Good (July 1, 2005 – June 30, 2006)
Mats Gren (2006)- Maurizio Jacobacci (July 1, 2006–Jan 9, 2007)
- Hans-Joachim Weller (Jan 15, 2007–June 30, 2007)
- Heinz Hermann (July 1, 2007–Nov 4, 2008)
- Pierre Littbarski (Nov 4, 2008–April 12, 2010)
Eric Orie (April 12, 2010–Nov 12, 2012)- Sebastian Selke (Nov 13, 2012–Nov 15, 2012)
- Giorgio Contini (Nov 15, 2012–)
References
- ^ Facts & Figures FC Vaduz
- ^ Squad FC Vaduz
- ^ "FCV is still playing in Swiss League (German)". Volksblatt. 23 December 2009. Retrieved 23 December 2009.
- ^ FC Vaduz – FC Slovan Liberec : 0–1 Match report from Scorespro.com
- ^ FC Slovan Liberec – FC Vaduz : 2–0 Match report from Scorespro.com
- ^ http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/cuprec.html
- ^ UEFA Team Ranking 2015 (http://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert)
- ^ data at World Football
External links
- FC Vaduz Official website Template:De icon
- Erster offizieller Fanclub 04 Template:De icon
- FC Vaduz Ostschweizer Fussballverband (Swiss Football League) Template:De icon
