A Liechtenstein fairy tale called Vaduz! How did the team from the capital of the small principality make it to the main groups?

A great historical record and a football fairy tale. FC Vaduz fulfilled its magnificent football mission by becoming the first Liechtenstein club to play in a European Cup group, specifically the European Conference League. What has been its journey across this competition?

The first Liechtenstein club to take part in the group stage of the European Cups – FC Vaduz have achieved something that will definitely go down in the history books. And not just the Liechtenstein ones.

Vaduz qualified for the European Conference League as the winner of the Liechtenstein Cup. This is because the country does not organise its own football competition. However, FC Vaduz also operates in the second Swiss league, where they finished fourth last season with 60 points and a positive 68:58 record.

The club from Liechtenstein was seeded in the second preliminary round of the Conference League, in which it challenged Slovenia’s Koper. Vaduz won 1:0 in the away game, but coach Mangiarratti’s charges sweated it out in the subsequent rematch.

Koper took a 1:0 lead in the 88th minute thanks to Andrey Kotnik, but Vaduz’s goal was secured in extra time by Nigerian striker Franklin Sasere.

In the third preliminary round, the club from the capital of the tiny principality faced Konyaspor, and the Turkish team was not able to hold on in this match. Vaduz drew 1-1 with Konyaspor at home, but scored four goals on home soil and secured promotion to the next stage of the Conference League.

The real test for Vaduz footballers came in the last preliminary round. It was then that they faced a very difficult task in the form of Rapid Vienna. However, Vaduz managed to beat the Austrian side after a 1-1 draw at home and a 1-0 win away from home.

After this victory, the Vaduz players could celebrate and start looking forward to the Europa League Conference group stage. The draw will take place today, Friday 26 August at 14:30 in Istanbul.

Sources: UEFA, FC Vaduz