FC Vaduz

FC Vaduz

Full name	Fußball Club Vaduz
Nickname(s)	Residenzler
Founded	1932
Ground	Rheinpark Stadion Vaduz, Liechtenstein (Capacity: 7,838 (6,127 seats))
Chairman	Hanspeter Negele
Manager	Eric Orie
League	Swiss Challenge League
2010–11	Swiss Challenge League, 4th
Home colours Away colours Third colours

FC Vaduz is a Liechtenstein football club from Vaduz, that play 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. They currently play in the Swiss Challenge League following relegation from the Swiss Super League after only one season in the top flight.

Vaduz have historically had many players from Liechtenstein, many of whom 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 FC Tours and Franz Burgmeier from Darlington boosted the Liechtenstein contingent to six by the start of the 2009/10 season.

History

Fußball Club Vaduz was founded on 14 February 1932 in Vaduz, and the club's first chairman was Johann Walser. 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 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.

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.

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 to Czech side Slovan Liberec in the third qualifying round.

Rheinpark Stadion

Honours

• Liechtenstein Football Cup: 40

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

• Swiss Challenge League: 1

2007–08

European record

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1992–93	European Cup Winners' Cup	Q	Chornomorets Odesa	0–5	1–7	1–12
1995–96	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	Q	Hradec Králové	0–5	1–9	1–14
1996–97	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	Q	Universitate Riga	1–1	1–1	2–2 (5–3 p)
		1R	Paris Saint-Germain	0–4	0–3	0–7
1998–99	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	Q	Helsingborg	0–2	0–3	0–5
1999–2000	UEFA Cup	Q	Bodø/Glimt	0–1	1–2	2–3
2000–01	UEFA Cup	Q	Amica Wronki	0–3	3–3	3–6
2001–02	UEFA Cup	Q	Varteks Varaždin	3–3	1–6	4–9
2002–03	UEFA Cup	Q	Livingston	1–1	0–0	1–1 (a)
2003–04	UEFA Cup	Q	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	0–1	0–1	0–2
2004–05	UEFA Cup	Q1	Longford Town	1–0	3–2	4–2
		Q2	Beveren	1–3	1–2	2–5
2005–06	UEFA Cup	Q1	Dacia Chişinău	2–0	0–1	2–1
		Q2	Beşiktaş	0–1	1–5	1–6
2006–07	UEFA Cup	Q1	Újpest	4–0	0–1	4–1
		Q2	Basel	2–1	0–1	2–2 (a)
2007–08	UEFA Cup	Q1	Dinamo Tbilisi	0–2	0–0	0–2
2008–09	UEFA Cup	Q1	Zrinjski Mostar	1–2	0–3	1–5
2009–10	UEFA Europa League	Q2	Falkirk	0–1	2–0 (aet)	2–1
		Q3	Slovan Liberec	0–1	0–2	0–3
2010–11	UEFA Europa League	Q2	Brøndby	0–3	0–0	0–3
2011–12	UEFA Europa League	Q2	Vojvodina	0–2	3–1	3–3 (a)
		Q3	Hapoel Tel Aviv	2−1	0−4	2−5

Current squad

As of 9 November 2011.

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Peter Jehle 2 DF Martin Rechsteiner 3 DF Pascal Bader 4 DF Roland Schwegler 5 DF Luca Denicolà 6 MF Mario Sara 7 MF Rafinha 8 DF Reto Zanni 9 FW Mariano Trípodi 10 MF Diego Ciccone 11 MF Franz Burgmeier 13 FW Philippe Erne

No. Position Player 14 MF Yves Oehri 17 FW Moreno Merenda 18 GK Boban Antić 19 MF Mario Kienzl 20 MF Nicolas Hasler 21 DF Marco Ritzberger 22 DF Pascal Cerrone 24 DF Dušan Cvetinović 27 FW David Hasler 28 FW Matthias Baron 30 MF Ramon Cecchini 35 GK Oliver Klaus

Staff

Head Coach

• Eric Orie

Assistant Coach & Condition Coach

• Roger Prinzen

Goalkeeper Coach

• Sebastian Selke

Sports Physiotherapist

• Christa Biçer-Beck

Team Doctor

• Dr. Claudio Canova
• Dr. Thomas Lindenfeld
• Dr. Vilijam Zdravković

Physiotherapist

• Manuel Nef
• Simon Storm

Medicine Adviser

• Dr. Edward van Frank

Former players

Main page: List of FC Vaduz players

Former managers

• Otto Pfister (1961–1963)
• Walter Hörmann (2001–2003)
• Martin Andermatt (2003–2005)
• Ignaz Good (2005–2006)
• Mats Gren (2006)
• Maurizio Jacobacci (2006–2007)
• Hans Joachim Weller (2007)
• Heinz Hermann (2007–2008)
• Pierre Littbarski (2008–2010)

Former personnel

• Werner Gerber (Director of Sport)
• Stephan Lehmann (Goalkeeper Coach)
• Tamás Szabó (Goalkeeper Coach)
• Ignaz Good (Team Chef)
• Vittorio Franco Caruso (Co-Trainer)
• Robert Jaspert (Assistant Coach)
• Rigobert Wolf (Kit Manager)
• Hanjo Weller (Scout)
• Dietmar Schacht (Scout)

External links

• FC Vaduz Official website (German)
• Erster offizieller Fanclub 04 (German)
• FC Vaduz Ostschweizer Fussballverband (Swiss Football League) (German)