Yanik Frick (born 27 May 1998) is a

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 ...

er former 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 last played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for FC Montlingen. He currently is a scout for

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a professional football club based in Zurich, Switzerland. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League thirteen times and the Swiss Cup ten times. ...

Club career

Frick began playing football in the academy of

AC Siena Siena Football Club Società Sportiva Dilettantistica, commonly referred to as Siena, is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Siena, Tuscany. The club was re-incorporated in 2020 after the bankruptcy of the previous legal entity ...

at age 6 while his father played with the senior team in

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

. At age four he would practice football with future

Italian international The Italian International in badminton is an international open held in Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsul ...

Nicolò Zaniolo Nicolò Zaniolo (; born 2 July 1999) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or right winger for club Fiorentina, on loan from Süper Lig club Galatasaray, and the Italy national team. Club career Early ca ...

while his father and Nicolo's father, Igor Zaniolo, played together at

Ternana Ternana Calcio, commonly referred to as Ternana, is an Italian football club based in Terni, Umbria and currently compete in the Serie C. The club was founded in 1925 and refounded in 1993. In its history, Ternana has twice played in Serie A ...

and became good friends. As a youth, he also played for the youth teams of

FC Vaduz Fussball Club Vaduz (En: ''Football Club Vaduz'') is a professional association football, football club from Vaduz, Liechtenstein that plays in the Challenge League (Switzerland), Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football. The club pla ...

FC St. Gallen Fussballclub St. Gallen 1879, commonly known as St. Gallen, is a Swiss professional football club based in the city of St. Gallen, Canton of St. Gallen. It is the oldest football club in continental Europe after Kjøbenhavns Boldklub. The tea ...

, 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 ...

. Frick started his professional career at Austrian club

SC Rheindorf Altach Sportclub Rheindorf Altach, also known as Rheindorf Altach, SCR Altach or simply SCRA, is an Football in Austria, Austrian association football club based in Altach, Vorarlberg. It plays in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. The club is currently ...

in 2016, signing for the reserve squad. His first appearance for the club came against an academy side of

, a match in which he impressed his coaches. He also trained with the first team once per week. He scored his first goal for the club on 31 July 2016 against

SV Austria Salzburg SV Austria Salzburg is an Football in Austria, Austrian professional association football, football club, based in the city of Salzburg. The club was formed in 2005 by some supporters of the original SV (Austria) Salzburg after it was renamed FC ...

. In total he scored five goals in twenty three Austrian Regionalliga West appearances for the team. After leaving Altach, several Italian clubs including Carpi expressed interest in the player. In July 2017, he was signed to a three-year deal by

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

on a free transfer. Frick made his

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

debut for the club on 19 September 2017. He made his competitive debut for the club the previous month in a 2–1

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

victory over

Gubbio Gubbio () is an Italian town and ''comune'' in the far northeastern part of the Italian province of Perugia (Umbria). It is located on the lowest slope of Mt. Ingino, a small mountain of the Apennine Mountains, Apennines. History Prehistory The ol ...

on 6 August 2017. In total, Frick made only three league appearances for Perugia after recurring injuries kept him out of the lineup. In January 2018 he was sold to

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...

and signed to a new, longer contract to 2021. He was then immediately loaned to

A.S. Pro Piacenza 1919 Associazione Sportiva Pro Piacenza 1919 Società a responsabilità limitata, S.r.l. or simply Pro Piacenza was an Football in Italy, Italian association football club, based in Piacenza, Emilia-Romagna. The club played in Serie C, the third ti ...

. On 6 March 2018 Frick made his

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing ...

debut for Pro Piacenza against

Cuneo Cuneo (; ; ; ) is a city and in Piedmont, Italy, the capital of the province of Cuneo, the fourth largest of Italy’s provinces by area. It is located at 550 metres (1,804 ft) in the south-west of Piedmont, at the confluence of the ri ...

. Seven minutes after entering the match he scored his first goal. He scored his second goal for the club on 7 April 2018 in a match against

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

. Livorno terminated Frick's contract on 17 November 2018. After a training stint with

, Frick joined

Rapperswil-Jona Rapperswil-Jona is a municipality in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of See-Gaster in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Besides Rapperswil and Jona, which were separate municipalities until 2006, Rapperswil-Jona also includes Bollinge ...

of the

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 ...

in January 2019 with his contract set to run until 31 June 2021. FC Rapperswil-Jona received clearance for the player to feature for them the following month. The club and player mutually agreed to part ways in September 2020, partially because of the club cutting costs and partly the player's desire to compete at a higher level following the club's relegation. During his final season with the club which was shortened by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Frick scored five goals in only nine league matches. In August 2020 he went on trial with

SV Waldhof Mannheim SV Waldhof Mannheim is a multi-sports club, located in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg. It is most known for its association football team; however, there are also professional handball and table-tennis sides. The club today has a membership of ov ...

of the German

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for t ...

but was not offered a contract despite scoring a goal in a friendly victory over FV Fortuna Heddesheim. Earlier that summer, other 3. Liga clubs were also reportedly interested in signing Frick. On 6 October 2020, it was announced that Frick had joined

Energie Cottbus FC Energie Cottbus (Lower Sorbian: ''Energija Chóśebuz'') is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany. After the German reunification, reunificatio ...

of the German

Regionalliga Nordost The Regionalliga Nordost is the fourth tier of German football league system, German football in the states of Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Thuringia. These comprise the states of former East Germany ...

for the 2020–21 season. He made his debut for the club on 28 October 2020, coming on as a 74th-minute substitute against

FC Carl Zeiss Jena FC Carl Zeiss Jena () is a German football club based in Jena, Thuringia. Founded in 1903, it was initially associated with the optics manufacturer Carl Zeiss. From the 1960s to the 1980s it was one of the top-ranked clubs in East Germany, won ...

. In summer 2021, Cottbus told the player he was free to find another club, despite having a year left on his contract. On 1 September 2021 it was announced that Frick had returned to Italy, signing for USD Pont Donnaz Hône Arnad Evançon of

Serie D The Serie D () is the highest level of semi-professional football in Italy, and the fourth tier of the Italian national league system. It sits beneath the third and lowest fully professional league, Serie C, and feeds in to it through promotion ...

. However, Frick was released less than a month later following the sacking of manager Fabrizio Daidola. He appeared in only one league match for the club before his departure, playing sixty-three minutes of a 0–3 defeat to A.C. Bra on 26 September. On 9 October 2022 it was announced that Frick would be joining FC Montlingen after the winter break, having been training with the club for about a month. This meant he would be playing alongside his brother Noah for the first time in his senior career.

International career

Frick made eight appearances for the Liechtenstein U21 team between 2015 and 2019. Frick is a member of the

Liechtenstein national football team The Liechtenstein national football team () is the national Association football, football team of the Principality of Liechtenstein and is controlled by the Liechtenstein Football Association. The organisation is known as the ''Liechtenstein ...

, making his debut in a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification match against

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

on 6 October 2016. After being left on the bench as an unused substitute for a 2018 World Cup qualification match against

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

on 5 September 2017, he rashly resigned from the national team at age 19. However, the player quickly apologized to national team manager Rene Pauritsch for his behavior, calling it a "mistake" and vowing to apologize to the full team if he received another call up. He earned his next cap on 8 June 2019 for a Euro 2020 qualifying match against

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

under new Liechtenstein manager

Helgi Kolviðsson Helgi Kolviðsson (born 13 September 1971) is an Icelandic former footballer who played as a defender. He is currently the Head of Sport and Organisation at SC Pfullendorf. Club career He started his career with now defunct side ÍK in 198 ...

. On 12 October 2019, he scored his first senior goal in the return leg against

in Vaduz.

Personal life

He is the eldest son of former footballer Mario Frick, who is the record goalscorer for the

. Yanik's younger brother,

Noah Noah (; , also Noach) appears as the last of the Antediluvian Patriarchs (Bible), patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5–9), the Quran and Baháʼí literature, ...

, is also a Liechtenstein international footballer. He and his brother are named after former French tennis player

Yannick Noah Yannick Noah (; born 18 May 1960) is a French former professional tennis player and singer, who was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2005. Noah won the French Open in 1983 French Open – Men's singles, 1983, and is a forme ...

Career statistics

International goals

:''Scores and results list Liechtenstein's goal tally first.''

References

External links

Energie Cottbus profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Frick, Yanik 1998 births Sportspeople from Liestal Living people Liechtenstein men's footballers 21st-century Liechtenstein sportsmen Swiss men's footballers Men's association football forwards Liechtenstein men's youth international footballers Liechtenstein men's under-21 international footballers Liechtenstein men's international footballers Swiss people of Liechtenstein descent Naturalised citizens of Liechtenstein AC Perugia Calcio players FC Rapperswil-Jona players FC Energie Cottbus players CSM Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț players Serie B players Serie C players Liga III players Liechtenstein expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Liechtenstein expatriate sportspeople in Austria Liechtenstein expatriate sportspeople in Italy Liechtenstein expatriate sportspeople in Romania Footballers from Basel-Landschaft 21st-century Swiss sportsmen