Liechtenstein is a small landlocked principality in the Alps, bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and Austria to the east. Football is the most popular sport. The country has no national league of its own, so its seven clubs play in the Swiss league system. The biggest club, FC Vaduz, won the Swiss Challenge League in 2025–26 and plays in the Swiss Super League from 2026–27.

Liechtenstein clubs also compete for the Liechtenstein Cup, and the winner earns a place in UEFA club competition. In 2022 Vaduz became the first Liechtenstein club to reach the group stage of a European competition, in the UEFA Europa Conference League. The national team is one of the weakest in Europe. It lost all eight of its 2026 World Cup qualifiers without scoring a goal, but it has had some famous results, such as a 3–0 home win over Iceland in 2007.

Alpine skiing has brought Liechtenstein its greatest international success. All ten of the country’s Olympic medals have come in alpine skiing at the Winter Games, and Liechtenstein has never won a medal at the Summer Olympics. Hanni Wenzel won slalom bronze in 1976. At Lake Placid in 1980 she won gold in the giant slalom and slalom and silver in the downhill. That same season, she and her brother Andreas Wenzel both won the overall World Cup titles. Andreas won Olympic silver (1980) and bronze (1984) in the giant slalom. Hanni’s daughter Tina Weirather added super-G bronze in 2018, so seven of Liechtenstein’s ten Olympic medals have been won by one family.

Liechtenstein has a population of about 40,000. It is the smallest country by population to win an Olympic gold medal, and it has more Olympic medals per head of population than any other country. Other well-known skiers include brothers Willi and Paul Frommelt, Ursula Konzett and Marco Büchel. Tennis, cycling, running, swimming and mountain biking are also popular.

Below are details of sports, sporting events and sports people related to Liechtenstein. Is there something missing? If you know of something that should be listed here, please let us know.

Popular sports of Liechtenstein

  • Football (Soccer) – clubs play in the Swiss league system
  • Alpine skiing and other winter sports, including cross-country skiing and bobsleigh
  • Tennis, cycling, mountain running, swimming and mountain biking

Liechtenstein Sporting Success

  • 10 Winter Olympic medals (2 gold, 2 silver, 6 bronze), all in alpine skiing
  • Olympic gold: Hanni Wenzel – giant slalom and slalom, Lake Placid 1980
  • Alpine Skiing World Cup overall champions: Hanni Wenzel (1978, 1980) and Andreas Wenzel (1980)
  • Tina Weirather – World Cup super-G season champion in 2017 and 2018
  • FC Vaduz – reached the UEFA Europa Conference League group stage in 2022–23 and won the Swiss Challenge League in 2025–26

Great athletes from Liechtenstein

  • Hanni Wenzel (alpine skiing) – four Olympic medals, including two golds in 1980, and two overall World Cup titles
  • Andreas Wenzel (alpine skiing) – Olympic giant slalom silver in 1980 and bronze in 1984, and 1980 overall World Cup champion
  • Tina Weirather (alpine skiing) – Olympic super-G bronze in 2018, world championship silver in 2017 and 9 World Cup wins
  • Willi Frommelt (alpine skiing) – Olympic slalom bronze in 1976
  • Paul Frommelt (alpine skiing) – Olympic slalom bronze in 1988
  • Ursula Konzett (alpine skiing) – Olympic slalom bronze in 1984
  • Marco Büchel (alpine skiing) – skied at six Winter Olympics (1992–2010), won world championship giant slalom silver in 1999, and became the oldest World Cup winner at the time with a 2008 super-G win in Kitzbühel aged 36
  • Stephanie Vogt (tennis)
  • Peter Jehle (football) – goalkeeper and the national team’s most capped player, with 132 games
  • Mario Frick (football) – the national team’s all-time top scorer, with 16 goals

Liechtenstein Sports trivia

  • At the 1936 Olympic Games, Liechtenstein discovered that its flag was identical to the flag of Haiti. In 1937 the prince’s crown was added to the flag to tell the two apart.
  • Liechtenstein is the smallest country by population to win an Olympic gold medal, and it has more Olympic medals per head of population than any other country.
  • San Marino’s only three wins in international football have all come against Liechtenstein: 1–0 in a 2004 friendly, then 1–0 and 3–1 in the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League.
  • FC Vaduz has won the Liechtenstein Cup 52 times, a world record for a domestic cup competition.
  • Hanni Wenzel missed the 1984 Olympics because the International Ski Federation banned her for taking promotional payments directly, instead of through her national ski federation.
  • Liechtenstein hosted the 2010 UEFA European Under-17 Championship but chose not to enter its own team.

Liechtenstein at major events

Past sporting events hosted in Liechtenstein

  • Games of the Small States of Europe – 1999 (Vaduz) and 2011 (held in nine municipalities)
  • 2010 UEFA European Under-17 Championship – won by England
  • Tour de Suisse cycling – the final stage (a time trial in Vaduz) in 2022, and the opening stages in 2024
  • UEFA Europa Conference League group matches at Rheinpark Stadion (2022–23)

Upcoming sporting events in Liechtenstein

  • UEFA Nations League League D home matches – Liechtenstein v Lithuania (24 September 2026) and Liechtenstein v Azerbaijan (13 November 2026)
  • FC Vaduz home matches in the 2026–27 Swiss Super League
  • LGT Alpin Marathon – 26th edition, 12 June 2027

Annual sporting events held in Liechtenstein

  • LGT Alpin Marathon – a mountain marathon (with a half-marathon option) in June that climbs from the Rhine valley into the Liechtenstein Alps
  • Liechtenstein Football Cup – the winner qualifies for UEFA club competition

Sporting Facilities in Liechtenstein

  • Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz – national stadium and home of FC Vaduz, capacity 7,584, opened in 1998
  • Malbun – Liechtenstein’s main alpine ski resort
  • Steg – cross-country skiing trails
  • Sportpark Eschen-Mauren – home of USV Eschen/Mauren