Benjamin Büchel (born 4 July 1989) is a Liechtensteiner professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for

Swiss Challenge League The Challenge League (known as the Dieci Challenge League for sponsorship reasons) is the second-highest tier of the Swiss football league system and lower of two professional leagues in the country. Ten teams play in the Challenge League; the wi ...

club

Vaduz Vaduz (; or ; High Alemannic pronunciation: [])Hans Stricker, Toni Banzer, Herbert Hilbe: ''Liechtensteiner Namenbuch. Die Orts- und Flurnamen des Fürstentums Liechtenstein.'' Band 2: ''Die Namen der Gemeinden Triesenberg, Vaduz, Schaan.'' ...

, which he

captains Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

, and the Liechtenstein national team.

Club career

Born in Ruggell, Büchel spent his early career in Liechtenstein with FC Ruggell and

USV Eschen/Mauren USV Eschen/Mauren is a Liechtensteiner football club from Eschen and Mauren. They play at the Sportpark Eschen-Mauren, which used to be the national football stadium, until the Rheinpark Stadion in Vaduz was built. USV Eschen/Mauren, like al ...

, as well as Swiss club FC Widnau. He signed a six-month contract with English club

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

in August 2012. In doing so he became the second player from Liechtenstein to play in England (after

Franz Burgmeier Franz Burgmeier (born 7 April 1982) is a Liechtenstein former professional footballer, who played as a midfielder. Born in Triesen, Burgmeier was a burgeoning footballer and keen skier, until he gave up the latter sport at 16 following a seriou ...

, who played for

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

in the 2008–09 season), and only the fourth Liechtensteiner to play outside the country. He signed a one-month loan deal with Dorchester Town in February 2013, making three league appearances for the club. In December 2013 he joined

Southern Football League The Southern League is a football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from East Anglia, the South and Midlands of England, and South Wales. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven a ...

side Poole Town on loan until 18 January 2014, making 6 league appearances for them. In February 2014 he moved on loan to Havant & Waterlooville, where he made 18 league appearances. In October 2014 he moved on loan to Welling United. He was released by Bournemouth at the end of the 2014–15 season, and joined

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club () is a professional association football, football club based in Oxford, England. The club compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English football. Founded as Headingto ...

in September 2015. On 6 October 2015, he made his debut for Oxford United in a 2–0 win against close rivals

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

. He shared first-choice goalkeeping duties with Sam Slocombe for the 2015–16 season, both keepers making 23 League appearances, but the appointment of Simon Eastwood meant he failed to make any appearances in the first half of the following season and he was told he was free to leave during the January transfer window. Büchel joined Barnet on an emergency loan in March 2017 and was released by Oxford in May 2017, after the end of the 2016–17 season.

International career

He made his international debut for

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

in 2008, as a substitute in a friendly against

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

. In 2022, he was named Liechtenstein Footballer of the Year. He won the award again in 2023, as well as 2024

Honours

USV Eschen/Mauren * Liechtenstein Cup winner: 2011–12 Oxford United *

runner-up: 2015–16 FC Vaduz * Liechtenstein Cup winner: 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24 Individual * Liechtensteiner Footballer of the Year: 2022, 2023, 2024

References

External links

Benjamin Büchel Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buchel, Benjamin 1989 births Living people Liechtenstein men's footballers Liechtenstein men's international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers FC Ruggell players USV Eschen/Mauren players AFC Bournemouth players Dorchester Town F.C. players Poole Town F.C. players Havant & Waterlooville F.C. players Welling United F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Barnet F.C. players FC Vaduz players National League (English football) players Liechtenstein expatriate men's footballers Liechtenstein expatriate sportspeople in England Liechtenstein expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland English Football League players Southern Football League players Swiss Super League players Swiss Challenge League players People from Ruggell