Yanik Frick (born 27 May 1998) is a

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarchy ...

er 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 le ...

who plays 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) ** Sm ...

for FC Montlingen.

Club career

Frick began playing football in the academy of

AC Siena Associazione Calcio Robur Siena 1904, commonly referred to as Siena, is an Italian football club based in Siena, Tuscany. The club was re-incorporated in 2020 after the bankruptcy of the previous legal entity Robur Siena, which itself was the r ...

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

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

. At age four he would practice football with future

Italian international The Italian International in badminton is an international open held in Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterrane ...

Nicolò Zaniolo Nicolò Zaniolo (; born 2 July 1999) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for club Roma and the Italy national team. Club career Early career Born in Massa, Tuscany, Zaniolo grew up in the Fiore ...

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. The club was founded in 1925 and refounded in 1993. In its history, Ternana has twice played in Serie A (in the 1972–73 and 1974–75 seas ...

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

FC Vaduz FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pakis ...

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. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the Swiss Super League. History Founde ...

, 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 all ...

. 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 Austrian association football club based in Altach, Vorarlberg. It plays in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. The club is currently also known as CAS ...

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

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a Swiss football club based in Zürich. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League 13 times and the Swiss Cup 10 times. The most recent titles a ...

, 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 Austrian professional 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 Red Bull Salzburg by its new owners, who al ...

. In total he scored five goals in twenty three

Austrian Regionalliga West The Austrian Regional League West (german: Regionalliga West) was a third-tier division of Austrian football introduced in the 1980–81 season as successor of the ''Alpenliga''. It covered the Austrian states of Salzburg, Tyrol (excepting East ...

appearances for the team. After leaving Altach, several Italian clubs including

Carpi Carpi may refer to: Places * Carpi, Emilia-Romagna, a large town in the province of Modena, central Italy * Carpi (Africa), a city and former diocese of Roman Africa, now a Latin Catholic titular bishopric People * Carpi (people), an ancie ...

expressed interest in the player. In July 2017, he was signed to a three-year deal by

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part o ...

on a free transfer. Frick made his

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, 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 ...

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 The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

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 Apennines. History The city's origins are very ancient. ...

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 Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronou ...

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 S.r.l. or simply Pro Piacenza was an Italian association football club, based in Piacenza, Emilia-Romagna. The club played in Serie C, the third tier of Italian football, until 18 February 2019 when t ...

. On 6 March 2018 Frick made his

Serie C The Serie C () 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 body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

debut for Pro Piacenza against

Cuneo Cuneo (; pms, Coni ; oc, Coni/Couni ; french: Coni ) is a city and ''comune'' in Piedmont, Northern 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 ...

. 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 ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' 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 its leaning tower, the cit ...

. 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, the municipality includes Bollingen, B ...

of the

Swiss Challenge League The Challenge League 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 winners of the league are promoted to the Super League, while the ...

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, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, 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 over ...

of the German 3. Liga 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 German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany. After the reunification of Germany, Energie played six seasons i ...

of the German

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

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. Formed in 1903 and initially associated with the Carl Zeiss AG factory, they were one of the strongest clubs in East Germany from the 1960s to the 1980s, winning the DDR-Obe ...

. 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 top level of semi-professional football in the country. The fourth tier of the Italian league system, the competition sits beneath the third professional league, Serie C. It is administered by the Lega Nazionale Dilettant ...

. 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 (german: Liechtensteinische Fussballnationalmannschaft) is the national football team of the Principality of Liechtenstein and is controlled by the Liechtenstein Football Association. The organisation is ...

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

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

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

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

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 (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

under new Liechtenstein manager

Helgi Kolviðsson Helgi Kolviðsson (born 13 September 1971) is a retired Icelandic 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 1988 ...

. 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 ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5– ...

, 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. Noah won the French Open in 1983, and is currently the captain of both France's Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup teams. During his nearly two-decade c ...

Career statistics

International goals

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

References

External links

Energie Cottbus profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Frick, Yanik 1998 births People from Liestal Living people Liechtenstein men's footballers 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 People with acquired Liechtenstein citizenship 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 Sportspeople from Basel-Landschaft