Who are FC Vaduz - St. Patrick’s Athletic’s European opponents?

A detailed view of the UEFA Europa Conference League trophy taken at the UEFA Headquarters, The House of the European Football, earlier this year in Nyon, Switzerland

A detailed view of the UEFA Europa Conference League trophy taken at the UEFA Headquarters, The House of the European Football, earlier this year in Nyon, Switzerland Credit: (Photo by Kristian Skeie - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)

Who is FC Vaduz?

To go with some sweeping geographic generalisations, in Europe this season if Shelbourne and Derry City were playing teams from a rock, Shamrock Rovers playing one from a volcano, then St. Patrick’s Athletic are taking on a team from a mountain. 

FC Vaduz play in Vaduz the capital of Liechtenstein which is an alpine country of just 160km2 which is surrounded by Austria and Switzerland. Their population is 40,000.

Who is the manager?

Marc Schneider is the main man in charge. He was captain of FC Zurich in 2006 when they won the Swiss league. He began his managerial career with Thun and took over at Vaduz in February this year.

Which players should we watch out for?

The squad has a number of Liechtensteiner internationals including goalkeeper Benjamin Büchel who is the Vaduz skipper with 64 senior caps, Nicolas Hasler has 94 and Sandro Wieser 61.

Midfielder Lorik Emini is a Kosovo international.

How did they qualify for Europe?

They play in the Swiss second tier – in the ten team Swiss Challenge League – where last season they finished in third place 30 points behind the winners FC Sion.



They have qualified, like St. Patrick’s Athletic, as the winners of their domestic up competition. They have a record 50 wins in the Liechtenstein Cup and have won the last eight cups in a row (there was no cup competition due to Covid in 2019/20 and 2020/21).

What European pedigree do they have?

They are on an unbroken run of 12 seasons in Europe.

Like Shamrock Rovers they made the Europa Conference League group stages in 2022. They knocked out Slovenian side Koper, Konyaspor from Turkey and then Rapid Wien in the qualifiers. Like the Hoops, they drew two of  their group games – home to Apollon Limassol and an away game with Dnipro.

Last year they were dumped out of Europe at the first hurdle by Belarussian side Neman Grodno 3-2 on aggregate.

How has their season gone?



They have played just the one league game so far – kicking off their 2024/25 Challenge League season with a scoreless draw at home to Stade Nyonnais. Their opponents had a man sent off just before half time in that game played last Sunday. They played 4-1-4-1 in that match.

What formation do they play?

It was generally always a back four in the league last season with 4-3-1-2 used the most (22% of the time), 4-4-1-1 (17%) and 4-2-3-1 (14%). They went 3-4-1-2 for only 7% of the time.

Who will the winners play in the next round?

The winners of this Ireland v Lichtenstein clash will enter the Europa Conference League third qualifying round with the winner taking on either Maccabi Haifa of Israel or FC Sabah of Azerbaijan.

The losers exit Europe.

Who is the match official for this tie?

We have Welsh whistler Tom Owen in charge on Thursday.

How much money have both teams banked so far?

For entering and exiting the competition in the second qualifying round the losing team will earn €525,000 (the €350,000 elimination bonus for exiting at this stage of the competition and €175,000 for playing one tie in Europe).

The winners if they exit in the next round would make €900,000 figure (€550,000 elimination fee for the third qualifying round plus two sets of €175,000 for playing two rounds).

About Macdara Ferris

Macdara Ferris is a contributor since 2007 to Hoops Scene (Shamrock Rovers' match day programme) and is the co-author of two books on Shamrock Rovers - 'Tallaght Time: Shamrock Rovers 2009 to 2012' (with Karl … View Full Profile