Monoculture in the monarchy: FC Vaduz extends its title world record – but a night off remains a utopia

At 9:06 p.m., the FC Vaduz players will finally be able to embrace each other to the inevitable "We are the Champions" by Queen. They've done it many times before: There's no club in the world that has won the national cup competition more often than FCV.

A 3-2 victory on Tuesday evening, despite a meticulous performance, marked the team's 51st triumph. Their opponents were FC Balzers, in the Interregional 2nd League, a team whose players spent the hours before the cup final working. Not as investment bankers with elaborately styled hair, as one might expect in a country with one of the highest per capita gross national incomes in the world, but, for example: as carpenters.

And that brings us to the point. Vaduz's dominance cannot be explained by superhuman performances at the world-class level that would have earned the club global recognition. Rather, it is due to the system.

"One game. One team. For the country" is the slogan of the Liechtenstein Football Association. But it also fits this cup competition. There are only seven football clubs in this tiny state. And because that total isn't even enough to host the quarterfinals, the reserves are also allowed to play in the cup. That is, the second and third teams from Eschen-Mauren, Vaduz, and Balzers. The latter play in the 5th division, which can be misleading for outsiders, because that doesn't mean the fifth, but rather the ninth division.

It doesn't get any lower in the Swiss league system; you can play in the 5th league even after years of strictly abstaining from vegetables or while slightly dazed after a sleepless night of heavy drinking on the Langstrasse.

The teams from the principality have been affiliated to the Swiss football system since 1934, and Vaduz compensates the Swiss Football League (SFL) financially for this. In 2023, for example, CHF 882,773 flowed to the SFL, more than ever before, as the amount is linked to the revenue FC Vaduz generates in Europe. In the 2022/23 season, Vaduz sensationally reached the group stage of a European competition for the first time, thanks in part to a win against Rapid Vienna.

The team cannot qualify for the European Cup through the league title – that wouldn't be possible even if the club, which has been active in the Challenge League for four years, were to win the Super League. The cup is the club's ticket to international competition – victory this year qualifies them for participation in the second qualifying round of the Conference League. FC Vaduz has reached the final every year since 1994 and holds the world record for most domestic cup wins. Far ahead of Linfield, the record champions from Northern Ireland, and Celtic Glasgow, the heavyweights of Scotland.

But anything else would be questionable: Vaduz is the only professional club in the region. Winning the title under these circumstances is about as impressive as if Muhammad Ali had only beaten welterweights – you should at least be in a somewhat comparable weight class. Veteran Nicolas Hasler, one of the leading players in the squad, has now won the cup eight times. He says the team celebrates each title with a round of beer in the locker room. Although it would be a challenge to celebrate the victory too extravagantly: Vaduz has just under 6,000 inhabitants and not a single nightclub.

The cup is usually a no-brainer for the club, but this time it was close to creating a sensation. FC Balzers led 2-0 until the 65th minute, and anyone thinking, "Balzers, there's something there," is right: An Argentinian influencer boosted the village club to unprecedented popularity shortly before the turn of the year ; the club has almost 400,000 followers on Instagram. That's more than Basel, Servette, and Lucerne combined.

Balzers tried to capitalize on the hype; the online fan shop is in Spanish and features a single product: the current jersey ("Jersey sostensible para una sensación corporal agradable"). It costs 60 francs, but shipping to Argentina is an unpleasant 40 francs – not including customs costs. The number of jerseys sold is "not worth mentioning," says president Fredy Scherrer: "The hype has died down a bit." The club brought fan merchandise to the cup final, which you can purchase even if you unfortunately missed the registration for the Migros Club School's Spanish course: A sign reveals that an umbrella costs 30 francs. Umbrella, not paraguas.

1,185 spectators are expected to watch this cup final, with another 25 tuning in on YouTube for the association's livestream, which only opened the main stand at the Rheinpark. The event says something about the state of FC Vaduz, which has been committed to austerity for several years and cleverly presents this as a down-to-earth commitment to the region. The extremely wealthy princely family could easily support an ambitious Super League club with its billion-dollar fortune, but their interest in football seems limited.

It seems as if this indifference has spread to the rest of the population; almost no one is interested in FCV anymore. A total of 24,000 spectators attended the 18 Challenge League home games this season. In the 2016/17 Super League, the attendance was just under 4,000 per game. The hope for European exploits has become something of the club's sole raison d'être, which also keeps it somewhat attractive on the transfer market.

Even in the Challenge League, the club is looking back on a disappointing season, trailing newly promoted Thun by 18 points. The coach is Marc Schneider , a jovial Bernese with a long history as a defender at FC Zurich. Schneider has coached FCV since February 2024 and remained loyal to the club even when he had the opportunity to take over Servette FC last summer. Schneider declined, citing that his preferred transfers had already been made and his family had just moved.

This is how Schneider still works in the Challenge League, a league where you can't get rich in any role. Schneider, 44, also works as a Super League expert for SRF. It's an unusual combination: On Saturdays, Schneider expertly explains what's happening in the top division and why, and what Team X needs to do better. And the next day, he and Vaduz lose to Bellinzona, Nyon, and Stade Lausanne-Ouchy.

But thankfully, Schneider at least provides more insightful analysis on TV than he recently did in the local newspaper "Vaterland." When asked about FC Schaffhausen 's new coach, Hakan Yakin , before a match, Schneider dictated this sentence to the journalist: "Basically, he's someone who lets football play."

On Tuesday evening, he stood on the pitch of the deserted stadium with a somber expression and the gold medal presented by the Minister of Sports around his neck, saying that the first half had given him pause. The team "wasn't mentally prepared," even though he had warned "about Balzers' quality."

Schneider has plenty of time for a thorough analysis. The FC Balzers players, however, are back to their daily routine.