FC Vaduz
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| Full name | Fußball Club Vaduz | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) |
Residenzler (Resident) Fürstenverein (Princely club) Stolz von Liechtenstein (Pride of Liechtenstein) | |||
| Short name | FCV | |||
| Founded | 14 February 1932; 84 years ago | |||
| Ground |
Rheinpark Stadion Vaduz, Liechtenstein | |||
| Capacity | 7,838 (5,873 seated) | |||
| Coordinates | 47°08′25″N 9°30′37″E / 47.1403°N 9.5103°ECoordinates: 47°08′25″N 9°30′37″E / 47.1403°N 9.5103°E | |||
| Owner | Princely Family of Liechtenstein | |||
| Chairman | Ruth Ospelt | |||
| Manager | Giorgio Contini | |||
| League | Swiss Super League | |||
| 2015–16 | 8th | |||
| Website | Club home page | |||
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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 5,873 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 is unique in that it represents its own national association in the UEFA Europa League when winning the domestic cup, whilst playing in another country's league. This is due to Liechtenstein not organizing its own league.
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.
Season 2015-16 was the best season in club history. They won, as usual, domestic cup, to their forty-fourth title, and were eighth in the strongest Swiss competition Swiss Super League. They won a record thirty-six points. Also, the season played 6 games in UEFA Europe League, they won four times, and twice played a draw. They even had a representative at the European Championships 2016, Albanian Armando Sadiku. He was the top scorer on the team with seven goals in sixteen games and he scored at the European Championship against Romania. It was the first and only goal that Albania has made European Championships.
Legal status
Vaduz is one of several expatriate European football clubs, including Swansea City and Cardiff City playing in the English Football League, AS Monaco playing in France, San Marino Calcio playing in Italy and some other minor clubs doing likewise in different leagues. The difference between Vaduz and the aforementioned clubs is that its status in Switzerland is a "guest club", and as such it does not participate in the Swiss Cup and cannot represent Switzerland internationally, which makes Champions League qualification from league football impossible under current rules other than by winning the Europa League or the Champions League itself. Since Vaduz has never won the Swiss league and therefore could not be argued to have qualified, such a situation has not occurred.
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. 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, plus additional standing places, giving it a total capacity of 7,584. The building of the stadium cost roughly 19 million CHF.
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. Kaiserslautern won the match 8–0.
On October 9. 2004, the Rheinpark Stadion and Liechtenstein hosted Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo, in a match that ended 2-2.
English football club Liverpool played Olympiacos of Greece here in a pre-season friendly in 2005.
Amongst the players who have scored at the Rheinpark Stadion are: David Beckham, Michael Owen, Luís Figo, Raúl, Fernando Torres, David Silva, David Villa, Fredrik Ljungberg, David Alaba, Edin Džeko, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Lukas Podolski, Paco Alcácer, Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimović.
Supporters
Fans
FCV's most internationally famous fan is alpine ski racer Tina Weirather. Weirather is a Vaduz native and has supported the club since childhood. There are still also alpine ski racer Marco Büchel, Andreas Wenzel, Hanni Wenzel, Marina Nigg, tennis player Stephanie Vogt and swimmer Julia Hassler.
Current Sponsorship
Companies that FC Vaduz currently has sponsorship deals with include:
- Liechtensteinische Landesbank – Main Sponsor
- MBPI AG – Main Sponsor
- Adidas – Kit Manufacturer
- Accurata Treuhand und Revisions AG – Official Sponsor
- Brauerei Schützengarten AG – Official Sponsor
- Heim Bohrtechnik AG – Official Sponsor
- Kibernetik AG – Official Sponsor
- Hirslanden Private Hospital Group – Medical Partner
- Orthopädie St. Gallen – Medical Partner
Honours
League
- Winners (1): 1936
Swiss Super League (1st tier)
- Best ranking: 8th place (2016)
- Swiss Challenge League (2nd tier)
- 1. Liga Promotion (3rd tier)
- Winners (2): 2000, 2001
- Runners-up (2): 1984, 1999
Cups
(44) (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, 2016
(13): 1946, 1947, 1948, 1950, 1951, 1955, 1972, 1977, 1984, 1987, 1991, 1997, 2012
Europe
European record
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| Competition | Matches | W | D | L | GF | GA | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UEFA Cup Winners' Cup | 10 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 4 | 40 | −36 |
| UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League | 52 | 16 | 12 | 24 | 63 | 75 | −12 |
| Total | 62 | 16 | 14 | 32 | 67 | 115 | −48 |
Biggest win in UEFA competition:
| Season | Match | Score | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League | ||||
| 2006–07 |  Újpest FC –  FC Vaduz |
0–4 | ||
| 2014–15 | FC Vaduz –  College Europa |
3–0 | ||
| 2015–16 |  S.P. La Fiorita – FC Vaduz |
0–5 | ||
| 2015–16 | FC Vaduz – S.P. La Fiorita |
5–1 | ||
Records
- Highest stage reached in Europa League: Third qualifying round (2009/10, 2011/12, 2015/16)
- Biggest European home win: FC Vaduz 5–1 La Fiorita (09.07.2015, UEFA Europa League First qualifying round second leg)
- Biggest European away win: La Fiorita 0–5 FC Vaduz (02.07.2015, UEFA Europa League First qualifying round first leg)
- Biggest European home defeat: FC Vaduz 0–5
Chornomorets Odesa (19.08.1992, European Cup Winners' Cup), FC Vaduz 0–5 
Hradec Králové (10.08.1995, European Cup Winners' Cup) - Biggest European away defeat: Hradec Králové 9–1 FC Vaduz (24.08.1995, European Cup Winners' Cup)
- Player with most trophies with FC Vaduz: Franz Burgmeier (14)
- Player with most UEFA appearances: Daniel Hasler (22)
- Player with most Super League appearances: Peter Jehle (70)
- Most European goals: Moreno Costanzo, Moreno Merenda (5)
- Most Super League goals: Moreno Costanzo, Franz Burgmeier (9)
- Most goals in Liechtenstein Cup: Moreno Merenda (9)
Individual awards
Domestic
The player of the year in Liechtenstein has been announced as the season 1980/81 to 2007/08 as of the end of the season. The open for all election was organized by media house Vaduz. Since 2009, the Liechtenstein Football Association draws the title holder of its own. To this end, the LFV-Award has been launched, annually awarded a title in which professional bodies and public in three categories. The categories are Footballer of the Year, Young Player of the Year and Coach of the Year.
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Liechtensteiner Footballer of the Year
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Liechtensteiner Young Player of the Year
Liechtensteiner Coach of the Year
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Rankings
UEFA rankingSee also: UEFA coefficient
As of 27 November 2016[7]
Ranking since 2009
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Club world rankingSee also: IFFHS
As of 28 November 2016
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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 8 36 7 15 14 44 60 36 4,006 2016–17 10 16 4 3 9 20 39 15 4,126 Total 124 23 35 66 120 243 104
Current squad
- As of 24 October 2016.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. 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. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Technical staff
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FC Vaduz II
FC Vaduz II 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. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Technical staff
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Transfers
Record sales
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Record signings
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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), Twitter (FC Vaduz) and Instagram (FC Vaduz).
FC Vaduz All Stars
| Name | Pos | Nat | Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yann Sommer | GK | | 2007-2009 |
| Franz Burgmeier | RB | | 2000-2005, 2009-present |
| Simone Grippo | CB | | 2013-present |
| Steve Gohouri | CB |  | 2003-2005 |
| Naser Aliji | LB |  | 2015 |
| Stjepan Kukuruzović | CM |  | 2015-present |
| Markus Neumayr | CM |  | 2013-2015 |
| Moreno Costanzo | CM | | 2015-present |
| Moreno Merenda | RW | | 2001-2002, 2010-2012 |
| Armando Sadiku | CF | | 2016 |
| Gaspar | LW |  | 2005-2009 |
Former players
- Yann Sommer
- Armando Sadiku
- Markus Neumayr
- Gaspar
- Steve Gohouri
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Goran Obradović -
Pape Omar Faye -
Haris Handžić
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)
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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)
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Eric Orie (April 12, 2010 – Nov 12, 2012) - Sebastian Selke (Nov 13, 2012 – Nov 15, 2012)
- Giorgio Contini (Nov 15, 2012–)
FC Vaduz Red Pride Rugby
On 12 March 2012 the new club FC Vaduz Rugby was founded. The rugby union club is involved in the grassroots of the FC Vaduz. Rugby union in Liechtenstein is a minor but growing sport. Liechtenstein has no national governing body of its own, but comes under the Swiss Rugby Federation.
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)
- ↑ Attendance data at World Football
External links
- FC Vaduz Official website (German)
- Erster offizieller Fanclub 04 (German)
- FC Vaduz Ostschweizer Fussballverband (Swiss Football League) (German)
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