Liechtenstein may be one of the smallest countries in international football, but that isn’t stopping coach Konrad Funfstuck from dreaming big. For almost two years, the German has been at the helm of the principality and has set himself the task of developing football in the tiny European country.
Funfstuck spoke to FIFA about the challenges he faces as the national coach of a perennial underdog, the progress his team has made and the tactics he uses against big opponents like Belgium in UEFA qualification for FIFA World Cup 26™.
You have worked for big clubs such as Bremen and Kaiserslautern. How did you come to be national coach of Liechtenstein?
Konrad Funfstuck: I had already been in contact with the officials at the association for a long time through my work as a head coach in the Swiss league. Having worked for many years in professional club football, the challenge of working as a national coach for a European football association appealed to me.
Do you have any particularly memorable experiences during your time as Liechtenstein coach?
Every match is a great experience for us as a national team. Being able to test ourselves against the top European nations is always an enormous challenge as the sixth smallest country in the world. That makes it all the sweeter that we have been able to come away with something from five of our 10 international games over the past year.
Most of your players play for Liechtenstein-based clubs. What does a typical weekend look like for you?
Like all other national coaches, my job at the weekend is to see as many of my players’ games live as possible. It’s essential for me to stay in touch with the clubs, coaches and sporting directors to discuss the development and the national players’ current situation.
Liechtenstein has around 40,000 residents. How does youth development work in the principality?
Here in Liechtenstein, we have invested heavily into the youth setup. For example, the Liechtenstein Football Association runs its own academy, where talent is identified from the U-12 age bracket and can play in the Swiss Football Association’s top football championship up to U-18 level. This has allowed us to start rejuvenating the squad and to get back on track with developing talent in the national team over the past two years. We have already seen some initial successes with this approach. Eleven players who are still young enough to play at U-21 level have already made their international debut at senior level.
What do you consider success when Liechtenstein comes up against an overwhelmingly superior opponent?
In every game, we are the clear underdog and it’s a role that we accept. Just like everyone else, we measure our success as a team in points and goals. Nonetheless, it fills us with pride when the opposing team and the crowd acknowledge our performance after the game. For example, when we held Romania to a goalless draw in Bucharest shortly before the Euros. These moments give our young players from Liechtenstein lots of motivation and a reward for all their hard work.
In the World Cup qualifiers, Belgium is your most notable opponent. How do you prepare tactically for a match like this?
Regardless of the team we are facing in the qualifiers, we are the underdog and the opponent expects to beat us comfortably. But our approach is that we don’t just want to chase the ball for 90 minutes. We also want to have spells of ball possession and take part in the game. However, we are also aware that we need to be well-organised at all times and keep a good structure on the pitch.
Your first qualifier will be against North Macedonia in Vaduz; what are you hopes for this game?
North Macedonia had an outstanding Nations League campaign. You only need to compare the market values of the two sides and that says it all. North Macedonia’s squad is worth almost 40 million [euros]. Ours is worth just under one million. So, any talk of them being a small opponent can be ignored. We need to be at our best for the entire game if we want to be competitive. Nonetheless, we are looking forward to the game and will try to represent our country to the best of our ability.
How would you describe your objectives for the qualification phase?
It’s an intriguing group and it will be a huge challenge for us. Our aim is to play each game with a good structure, clear principles and patterns of play. We want to make it as difficult as possible for the opposition to impose themselves on us. Even so, the roles are clearly defined and we go into these matches as the underdog.
How often do you interact with fans who have made a long journey to watch you play in away games?
The way we prepare for an international match is no different to how the big nations do. We are playing a competitive sport and we are focused on competing. That said, we are always happy to see the Liechtenstein fans with their blue and red scarves among the thousands of home fans when we travel for away games. It does make me smile sometimes when you look at some of the venues we play in and you find out that the capacity of the stadium is bigger than the entire population of Liechtenstein.
As a German, how do you rate the chances of Julian Nagelsmann’s team in the World Cup?
First of all, the same applies to Germany as to all other nations: qualification is far from a foregone conclusion for anyone. But I must admit that Rudi Voller, Andreas Rettig and Julian Nagelsmann have done an excellent job in restoring the German Football Association’s reputation. The performances on the pitch have been good and, most importantly, they have rebuilt their relationship with the fans. It will be interesting to see how things develop. I wish them all the best.
