The editor-in-chief of Soviet Sport went to the match – just don’t point your finger at your temple – of the Liechtenstein Cup.
The chance to see such football comes once in a lifetime. Read about him too.
– Do you see that stone? – my friend asks me. – This is the border of the two main cities of the country. On the left is Schaan, the largest city in Liechtenstein. On the right is Vaduz, the capital. We need Vaduz, let’s go there.
The end of October, and we are going to big football – the Cup quarter-finals, the capital’s Vaduz II against Eschen-Mauren, an underdog against a favorite. The hosts are the U23 team, the double team of Vaduz, the only professional team in the country. The guests are the second strongest club in the country, which even gained a single experience of participating in European cups in the last decade.
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In tiny Liechtenstein (the fifth largest country in terms of area on our planet, second in Europe after San Marino), my family and I found ourselves passing through for a couple of days this fall, and my soul longed for the exotic. A professional even on vacation is a professional (my wife, however, calls it a different word), and therefore she and her daughter are heading to a spa in neighboring Switzerland, and my friend and my eldest son – having read a half-page announcement in the daily newspaper Liechtensteiner Vaterland, of course – are heading to football .
When else will you be able to see a Liechtenstein Cup match with your own eyes?
No partners or prize money
You laugh, but this is a unique tournament. There is no domestic championship in the country (all seven existing clubs play in Swiss leagues), so the Cup is the only competition where the strongest is actually determined. For the sake of mass participation (17 teams have entered this season), even the reserve and youth teams of the main clubs are allowed to play there, but they do not have the right to meet each other before the semi-finals.
Another thing is that this process still does not bring intrigue: for the last 30 years, Vaduz has invariably played in the finals, losing there only twice, in 1997 and 2012 (and in terms of the number of cups won in its entire history, this club is generally the world record holder, they have him 50). In general, Vaduz is doing well – in Switzerland it periodically visits even the Super League, and two years ago for the first time in the history of local football it made it to the group stage of the European Cup.
What does the winner of the national cup get? The main thing is a ticket to the UEFA Conference League. And the trophy itself – it is very similar to the Euro football cup.
Photo source: LFV
“Previously, it could be taken away forever after three wins in a row, but a few years ago this rule was abolished. Now every year a new cup is awarded,” says Anton Banzer, head of the marketing and communications department of the Liechtenstein Football Union (LFV), in an interview with the editor-in-chief of “Soviet Sport” Evgeniy Slyusarenko (the LFV office, by the way, is located in a modern three-story building in the center of Schaan).
Photo source: Yevgeny Slyusarenko
And… perhaps that’s all.
Unfortunately, the tournament does not have a title partner or prize money,” confirms Banzer.
“It is very difficult for a small organization in such a small country to find powerful sponsors. The bookmaker business does not support sports, so our main partners are FIFA and UEFA,” notes the head of the marketing and communications department of LFV.
Ultras in Silent Hill
So, there are three of us, and we go to the match absolutely “cold” – without buying tickets and vaguely imagining the conditions and circumstances of the upcoming evening. We only know that the game should take place at Rheinpark, the only stadium in the country with a capacity of 7.5 thousand people that meets international standards (the national team also plays here). During daylight hours, they say, its location is one of the most picturesque in Europe: located right on the banks of the Rhine, a few hundred meters from the border with Switzerland, it offers views of the Alps on one side, and the world-famous castle on the other , princely residence.
FINAL BET 20,000₽
The meeting is scheduled for 20.00, we leave the house at 19.30 – and walk through an absolutely extinct city. The capital’s residents of Vaduz prepare for bed on a weekday at this time. Evening fog and dim streetlights give the road an eerie image of Silent Hill, and to relieve tension we have to forcefully joke that crowds of ultras are waiting for us around the corner. In the ringing silence, it is difficult to imagine a more dissonant picture.
Photo source: Yevgeny Slyusarenko
Finally, the spotlights appear, we quicken our pace… And then surprise number one: the large arena is empty and dark. Hmm, it would be worth guessing – it is unlikely that the thrifty Liechtensteiners will launch the infrastructure of an entire large stadium for the sake of the quarterfinals. We follow the noise of the loudspeaker, we see football players leaving the locker rooms with the characteristic clatter of boots – where is the football here, guys?
Beer and the Internet
After such a start, the bar of our expectations dropped to a minimum – but, I must admit, then everything was orderly. A dedicated entrance for spectators to training field No. 4, an electronic mini scoreboard, an announcer, Wi-Fi, a warm toilet, a special stand with printed team lineups and – attention! – buffet. The selection includes coffee, tea, mineral water and snacks (everything from 2.5 to 5 Swiss francs), as well as a glass of beer for 6 francs and a glass of prosecco for 9.5 (prices should be multiplied by about 110 rubles). No surprise: Liechtenstein’s prices surpass even Switzerland, and this must be done.
Photo source: Yevgeny Slyusarenko
There is no particular excitement at the kiosk – about one and a half hundred spectators, located along the edge at the restrictive railings, periodically approach the counter and return after a couple of meters to the field with purchases in their hands. Some people smoke without hesitation. The atmosphere is truly intimate, it feels like the fans are even talking in low tones.
Fortunately, football matches in Liechtenstein are very calm, says Banzer. – Problems caused by drunk spectators are extremely rare. Personally, I am not aware of any incident.
Entrance to the game, as you already understood, is free. According to Banzer, Cup games cannot be watched live either on television or on the Internet. Tickets are sold only for the final. They cost 10 francs (visitors under 18 are free), and VIP guests can purchase passes for 100 francs, which include special treatment and communication with participants and officials both before the game and at halftime and even after the awards ceremony.
Game fee
Let’s immediately answer the main question: how difficult it was to watch what was happening on the field. No, quite acceptable. It is clear that it is strange to draw conclusions from one game, but “Vaduz II”, and especially “Eschen-Mauren” are seen as strong middle peasants in our Second League, which are capable of resisting the magicians of the “Best League in the World” in individual matches. At least it definitely wouldn’t be a one-sided game.
Photo source: Yevgeny Slyusarenko
In the starting lineups of both teams, more than half of the players are foreign players (however, this is explained by the difficulty of obtaining citizenship and the small personnel reserve). In addition to the Swiss neighbors, there are citizens of Spain, Romania, Italy, Germany, Montenegro, Hungary, Kosovo, Eritrea and even the USA.
“We only have one professional team, and you watched two amateur ones,” Banzer emphasizes. – Vaduz II players do not make money from football. Most of them are very young, they are studying in college and getting a profession. Eschen-Mauren is nominally the second strongest in the country. However, all the club’s players are amateurs with other jobs. They receive a fee for playing football, but this is not enough to survive. This is the case with most clubs, although fees decrease further the lower the league in which the team plays.”
At the same time, a characteristic detail: the participants’ game uniforms are covered with sponsors’ logos. The guests have this: a security company, a company producing ventilation systems and a news site.
I agree, all our clubs have partners, mostly small companies. But their contributions are not so significant, and behind them there is more solidarity and local patriotism than business, notes the LFV representative.
Battle of the Dwarf Titans
If you’re really interested, a few words about the game itself. It turned out to be combative, but almost without moments. Already in the sixth minute, the goalkeeper and the home team’s defenders fumbled around their own penalty area, followed by a shotgun shot, a short touch play – and 22-year-old Swiss defensive midfielder Ognjen Stefanovich easily hit the goal from 15 meters away. As happens in such cases, a quick goal relaxed the favorite too much, who decided that he would get by with little blood.
Photo source: Yevgeny Slyusarenko
For the next hour there was an equal crush, until the center forward of Vaduz II Fabio Notaro (by the age of 19 he had made his debut in the Liechtenstein national team) performed a solo performance: he unexpectedly easily left the opponent on the left flank, cut the corner – and beat the goalkeeper.
Overtime in a game between representatives of two different leagues is already a sensation. It’s just a pity that the home fans didn’t have to get inspired for long: the more experienced guys from Eschen-Mauren scored a quick goal four minutes later, and six minutes before the end they consolidated the advantage. And now at the beginning of April next year there is an early final – the legend of local sports journalism Ernst Hasler, during a blind draw, pulled the same “Vaduz” into the semi-final pair “Eschen-Maurena”. Battle of the dwarf titans.
I looked at the distance between Eschen and Vaduz. There is hardly a stone separating them, but with a quick walk you can walk from arena to arena in about an hour and a half.
