Vaduz Football Club (German: Fussball Club Vaduz) is a professional football club from Vaduz, Liechtenstein that plays in the Super League, the top tier of Swiss football. The club plays at the national Rheinpark Stadion, which has a capacity of 5,873 when all are seated but has additional standing places in the North and South ends of the ground, giving a total stadium capacity of 7,838.
Vaduz currently play in the Super League following promotion from Challenge League after 2025–26 season. Vaduz represents its own national association in the UEFA Europa Conference League when winning the domestic cup, even though it plays in the Swiss league system. This is due to Liechtenstein not organising its own league. Vaduz is ineligible to represent Switzerland internationally and does not participate in the Swiss Cup due to this arrangement.
Vaduz has 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. With the club playing in its league system, Swiss players have usually been common in the squad.
On 25 August 2022, after beating Rapid Wien away in Austria, Vaduz made history by qualifying for the Europa Conference League group stage, becoming the first ever club from Liechtenstein to reach the group stages of a UEFA club competition.
Contents
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, then 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, around £150,000 a year. 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 the 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 has remained one of the best-performing 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 season's final day, giving Liechtenstein a representative at the highest level of Swiss football for the first time. Vaduz, however, was relegated back to the Challenge League after one season in the top flight. Vaduz finally returned to the top level after five years in the Challenge League.
In 1992, Vaduz qualified for a UEFA European competition 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 has annually entered the UEFA Cup (now the UEFA Europa League) as a result of winning the Liechtenstein Cup every year since 1998, except in 2012.
Legal status
Vaduz is one of several expatriate microstate European football clubs, playing in the Swiss Football League, alongside AS Monaco playing in France, San Marino Calcio playing in Italy and FC Andorra playing in Spain. The difference between Vaduz and the aforementioned clubs is that its status in Switzerland is a "guest club". It is not a member of the Swiss Football Association and as such it does not participate in the Swiss Cup and cannot represent Switzerland in UEFA competitions. If Vaduz finished high enough in the Swiss Super League to qualify for a UEFA competition, it would be excluded and the places would be redistributed among the top Swiss clubs in the league. If it were to win the league, it would not be officially recognized as champions, and the title and trophy would instead go to the second-place club.
Vaduz has an opportunity to qualify for UEFA competition through the Liechtenstein Cup, which places its winner in the UEFA Conference League.
Stadium
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. Liverpool F.C. played here against Olympiacos F.C. in a friendly in 2005. Rheinpark Stadion hosted the likes of FC Chornomorets Odesa and Paris Saint-Germain F.C. in this tournament but failed to progress past the qualification rounds.
The construction of the stadium became necessary because the world governing body FIFA and the European association UEFA threatened not to allow more European and international matches in Liechtenstein if the country did not provide a modern venue in accordance with international standards. In Liechtenstein, no domestic football league is played, but a cup competition is organized. Vaduz being by far the most prolific Liechtenstein club is therefore represented in the Conference League almost every year. The national team has only been represented in the qualifying rounds of a major competition.
Rheinpark Stadion sits less than 1 km west of Vaduz city centre on the eastern bank of the Rhein River. Vaduz holds the distinction of being one of the few capitals in the world to lack its own airport and railway station, although there is a train station called Schaan-Vaduz in the nearby town of Schaan.
Rheinpark Stadion consists of four stands: North, East, South and West.
There are a limited number of free parking spaces located at Rheinpark Stadion on matchdays which are allocated on a first-come first-served basis.
Current sponsorship
Companies that FC Vaduz currently has sponsorship deals with include:
Liechtensteinische Landesbank – main sponsor
MBPI AG – main sponsor
Puma – 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
Crest and colours
Honours
Domestic competitions
Liechtenstein Football Championship
Winners (2): 1932, 1936
Liechtenstein Football Cup
Winners (52): 1948–49, 1951–52, 1952–53, 1953–54, 1955–56, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1960–61, 1962, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1973–74, 1979–80, 1984–85, 1986, 1987–88, 1989–90, 1991–92, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24, 2024–25, 2025–26
Runners-up (13): 1945–46, 1946–47, 1947–48, 1949–50, 1950–51, 1954–55, 1971–72, 1976–77, 1983–84, 1986–87, 1990–91, 1996–97, 2011–12
Switzerland competitions
Swiss Challenge League (2nd tier)
Winners (4): 2002–03, 2007–08, 2013–14, 2025–26
Runners-up (3): 2003–04, 2004–05, 2019–20
1. Liga Classic (3rd tier)
Winners (2): 1999–2000, 2000–01
European record
Matches
Biggest wins in UEFA competition:
Biggest losses in UEFA competition:
Club records
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), FC Vaduz 0–5 Eintracht Frankfurt (08.08.2019, Europa League)
Biggest European away defeat: Hradec Králové 9–1 FC Vaduz (24.08.1995, European Cup Winners' Cup)
Biggest home win: FC Vaduz 11–0 FC Schaan (04.05.2016, FL–Cup Final)
Biggest away win: FC Triesen II 0–22 FC Vaduz (09.11.1999, FL–Cup Quarter-Finals)
Player with most trophies with FC Vaduz: Franz Burgmeier (16)
Player with most appearances: Franz Burgmeier (371)
Player with most goals: Daniele Polverino (91)
Player with most UEFA appearances: Daniel Hasler, Peter Jehle, Franz Burgmeier (22)
Player with most Super League appearances: Philipp Muntwiler (90)
Most European goals: Moreno Costanzo, Moreno Merenda (5)
Most Super League goals: Moreno Costanzo (12)
Most goals in Liechtenstein Cup: Daniele Polverino (76)
Individual awards
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.
Swiss Challenge League top scorers
Swiss Challenge League dream team
To celebrate the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA)'s 50th anniversary in 2004, each of its member associations was asked by UEFA to choose one of its own players as the single most outstanding player of the past 50 years (1954–2003).
Golden Player
Team awards
Fairplay Trophy
UEFA ranking
As of 20 March 2023
Swiss Super League history
In the 2007–08 season, for the first time in their history, FC Vaduz earned promotion to Swiss Super League. Two times before they failed to be promoted in playoffs in the season 2003–04 against Neuchâtel Xamax and 2004–05 against FC Schaffhausen. In the 2015–16 season they finished on the 8th place in front of FC Lugano and FC Zürich who were that season relegated to the Swiss Challenge League. After two seasons FC Vaduz was also relegated. In the 2019–20 season Vaduz finished in second place and played in the playoffs against FC Thun and Vaduz were promoted to the Super League for the third time, but in 2020–21 finished last and were automatically relegated. In 2025–26 season Vaduz finished in first place and were promoted to the Super League for the fourth time as champions.
Current squad
As of 4 August 2026
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
FC Vaduz U23
FC Vaduz U23 is the reserve team of FC Vaduz. They currently play in the 2. Liga (sixth tier of the Swiss football league system). In the season 2014–15 they played semi-finals in Liechtenstein Cup against FC Triesenberg and they lost 1–0 after extra time.
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.
Recent seasons
Recent season-by-season performance of the club:
Key
P - games played; W- wins; D- draws; L- losses; GF- goals for; GA - goals against; PTS - points
QR - Qualifying Round; QR1 - Qualifying Round 1; QR2 - Qualifying Round 2; QR3 - Qualifying Round 3
Former players
A few former players are considered by the fans to be especially memorable because of their long and outstanding contributions towards the club, to some degree even decades after the end of their careers. Therefore, they have a very special status with the fans. The following are a few examples:
Players of Vaduz at major international tournaments
Former managers
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.