Mario Frick

Early career

Born in Chur, Graubünden, Switzerland, Frick started his career with the youth team at Liechtensteiner club FC Balzers, in which he then played four seasons in the first team within the early 1990s. In 1994, Frick played abroad for the first time, signing with FC St. Gallen. In doing so, Frick became the first ever professional footballer in Liechtenstein history. Frick joined Basel's first team for their 1996–97 season under head coach Karl Engel. After playing in two test games, Frick played his debut for his new club in the 1996 UEFA Intertoto Cup in the away game against Antalyaspor on 29 June 1996 as Basel won 5–2. Then after playing in another test game, in which he scored a goal against Thun as Basel won 4–0, Frick played his domestic league debut for the club in the away game in the Stadion Brügglifeld on 10 July as Basel won 1–0 against Aarau. He scored his first goal for his club on 27 July in the away game in the Stadion Wankdorf against Young Boys as Basel drew 2–2. The game was later recorded as a 3–0 forfeit victory for FCB because YB used an unqualified player. Frick scored his first recorded domestic league goal for Basel on 11 August in the away game in the Stade Tourbillon as Basel drew 2–2 with Sion. Between the years 1996 and 1999 Frick played a total of 115 games for Basel scoring a total of 37 goals. 81 of these games were in the Nationalliga A, five in the Swiss Cup, three in the UIC and 26 were friendly games. He scored 30 goals…

Frick made his Liechtenstein debut in October 1993 in a friendly against Estonia, and established himself almost immediately as a key player for team. He went on to score his first goal for the national team in a 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Romania in September 1997. On 7 June 2000, Frick scored a notable goal away to Germany to level the scores at 2–2; Germany would score 6 goals in the last 10 minutes of the match though to win 8–2. Frick had a falling out with both the national coach, Ralf Loose, and the Liechtenstein Football Association near the end of the 2002 World Cup qualification stages, and he was left out of the team. This episode is chronicled in Charlie Connelly's book, Stamping Grounds: Liechtenstein's Quest for the World Cup. After changes concerning both the Liechtenstein Football Association and the coach, Frick returned to be part of the squad, which included playing in both games against England. During a Euro 2008 qualifier against Latvia, Frick netted the only goal of the game which brought Liechtenstein their first win over a side that had qualified for a major tournament. On 10 August 2011, Frick made a record 100th appearance for Liechtenstein. Frick announced his retirement from international football in October 2015, at the age of 41, after 125 appearances and 16 goals for the Liechtenstein national side. He made his final international appearance for Liechtenstein in a 3–0 defeat to Austria in a European qualifying match on 12…

Club

International

Scores and results list Liechtenstein's goal tally first.

On 17 September 2018, Frick was appointed manager of FC Vaduz. In his first season at the club, Frick led the club to a world record 47th Liechtenstein Football Cup title with a 3–2 win over FC Ruggell on 1 May 2019. In January 2020 his contract was extended until summer 2021. Frick guided the club back into the Swiss Super League on 10 August 2020 following a second place finish in the 2019–20 Swiss Challenge League and subsequent 5–4 aggregate victory over FC Thun in the relegation play-offs. On 20 December 2021, he was announced as the new head coach of struggling Super League club FC Luzern. Frick was named as the Liechtenstein coach of the year in October 2025. After the 2025-26 season, Luzern decided not to renew Frick's expiring contract. Luzern's U17 manager Jörg Portmann was announced as his replacement on 18 May 2026.