Franz Burgmeier

Burgmeier was born in Triesen, Liechtenstein, a small town with a population of 4,500, close to the border with Switzerland. He is the younger son of Heinz and Elsbeth, following Patrick Burgmeier, who played football for Vaduz and USV Eschen/Mauren. From a young age, Franz played both football and skied. He played for the Liechtenstein youth team in Swiss competitions from ages 11 to 16, winning the championship when he was 13. However, at 16, a knee injury, which he suffered while skiing, nearly ended his football career and prompted him to stop the former sport. Burgmeier is married to Monika. She also plays football, as a full back, for FC Triesen, and also is a coach at the youth level for Liechtenstein's women. ==Club career==

Vaduz Burgmeier started out as a youth at Triesen before moving to Vaduz in 2000. Although based in his home country, like all Liechtenstein clubs Vaduz played league football in Switzerland—at the time in the third tier—but also competed in the Liechtenstein Football Cup. In Burgmeier's first season the team won promotion to the Challenge League and won the Liechtenstein Cup with a 9–0 defeat against Ruggell in the final. He scored his first goal at the higher level on 31 July 2001, in a postponed game from the first round of the season, which finished in a 4–1 victory against Thun. However, Vaduz finished in 11th place in the Fall Season, before results improved and they finished in second place in the Final Table, avoiding being relegated. The team also successfully defended their Liechtenstein Cup defeating USV Eschen/Mauren 6–1 in the final. Vaduz's success in their nation's cup ensured they gained access to the UEFA Cup, and in August 2002, Burgmeier scored his first European goal during a 1–1 with Livingston, the Scottish side's first game in Europe. In the second leg, Vaduz had a late goal disallowed during a 0–0, and so they went out in the qualifying round for the third successive year, losing on the away goals rule. Vaduz topped the Fall Season table that season, but failed to win promotion to the Swiss Super League after finishing fourth in the Final League. Their failure was offset with another victory in the Liechtenstein Cup, this time defeating Balzers in the final. In June 2003, he was set to join St. Gallen; however, the deal never went through because the Swiss side could not afford the transfer fee. before they were defeated in the second qualifying round to Belgian-side Beveren, during which Burgmeier was injured forcing him to undergo a knee operation and miss the first month of the league season. and after playing only four league games, He played 17 times for Thun, On 13 July 2008, his contract with Basel was terminated early to allow him to find himself a new club after just 23 league appearances because he was seen as surplus to requirements by manager Christian Gross. Following a successful trial, Burgmeier, who was keen to move abroad, Burgmeier made his debut on 23 August, in a 2–1 defeat to Gillingham at The Darlington Arena. He scored his first goal for Darlington in a 2–1 win against Port Vale on 13 September. Manager Dave Penney praised Burgmeier for the start he made to the club, both as a goal scorer and creator, which also helped him to play his way into the affections of the club's supporters. When Burgmeier won his 49th cap for Liechtenstein against Wales, it was his fourth in the two months since he joined Darlington. It took him past the club record three caps of Canadian Jason de Vos and New Zealander Adrian Webster, with a coach-load of Darlington fans there to see him play at the Millennium Stadium. Darlington's promotion campaign was dealt a blow in February 2009, when club chairman George Houghton placed the club in administration. As a result, the club were deducted 10 points, a penalty from which they could not recover finally finishing 12th. Burgmeier finished with two goals during the season having played 35 games, ==International career==

Burgmeier is a Liechtenstein international who made his debut in a 2002 World Cup qualifier against Spain on 5 September 2001. It was the penultimate game of the side's qualifying campaign, in which they lost all eight games without scoring a goal. Despite starting the qualifying round for 2004 European Championships with a 1–1 draw with Macedonia, Liechtenstein lost their remaining games to finish bottom of their group. Burgmeier featured in seven of the qualification matches. Burgmeier scored his first international goal in April 2003 in a friendly against Saudi Arabia to give Liechtenstein a 1–0 victory. On 10 October 2004, he scored his first competitive international goal as he helped Liechtenstein to record their first point in World Cup qualification matches. He and Thomas Beck scored Liechtenstein's goals in a 2–2 with Portugal at the Rheinpark Stadion. Burgmeier describes the draw as the "biggest moment of my career". They followed it up with a 0–0 draw against Slovakia and another victory over Luxembourg, to finish the qualifying campaign with eight points from their 12 matches. Burgmeier played in nine games. Liechtenstein won another two games in their following qualifying campaign—for the 2008 European Championships. They had started with four defeats, A 1–0 victory against Latvia and a draw with Iceland followed, but Liechtenstein picked up only seven points to finish bottom of their group, Having earned eight points during the 2006 World Cup qualification games, Burgmeier said the target in the 2010 campaign was to pick up "as many points as possible", adding, "For us, the target is not to qualify but to just take each game as it comes, enjoy the matches, and try and do as well as possible." He won his 50th cap in a 4–0 friendly defeat to Slovakia on 19 November 2008. ==Career statistics==

Club International :''Scores and results list Liechtenstein's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Burgmeier Template goal.'' ==Honours==

Vaduz • 1. Liga Promotion: 2000–01 • Swiss Challenge League: 2002–03, 2013–14 • Liechtensteiner Cup: 2000–01, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18 Basel • Swiss Super League: 2007–08 • Swiss Cup: 2006–07, 2007–08 Individual • Liechtensteiner Footballer of the Year: 2005–06 ==See also==