The first known information about sporting activity in Liechtenstein concerned shooting. Liechtenstein's first shooting ordinance of 1789 is preserved, as well as a membership register from 1802.

In addition to these shooting societies, which were likely also engaged in sports, but actually pursued other primary goals, the first sporting activities concerned skiing, gymnastics, cycling, tennis, motor sport, and football.

The Princely Hunter Master Josef Negele (Rotenboden) can be considered one of the first skiers, since he was given skis from Tyrol by the Princely Forestry Inspector. As a support, he used the alpenstock in fashion at the time, soap as ski wax, and trouser braces instead of furs as ties. As he skied down the Balischgut for the first time in 1895, the baffled witnesses proclaimed, "The son of the hunter Toni is crazy, he has boards on his feet!" A further pioneer was the artist Friedrich Kaufmann, who skied the Malbun Valley for the first time in 1910, for eight days. Many people regarded him as a "crazy person" or a "useless student".

Even before the first actual ski association, the "Liechtenstein Ski Club" founded 1926 in Vaduz, there apparently was a "Samina Ski Club". The Liechtenstein Ski Club, reorganized 1931 in Schaan, joined together with the Triesenberg Ski Club in 1936 to form an association.

In the field of gymnastics, an association developed in 1886 in Vaduz, which aimed to train "a skillful and efficient team for a future fire brigade".
The actual gymnastics movement grew further in the 30's, as the Balzers and Triesen gymnastic clubs were founded.

At about the same time as the founding of the gymnastics clubs, football clubs also began to develop. The founding year is also 1932, as the Vaduz, Balzers, and Triesen clubs were founded. Schaan followed in 1949, Mauren in 1954, Ruggell in 1958, USV Eschen-Mauren in 1963, and FC Triesenberg in 1972.

The opportunity to play tennis in Liechtenstein developed with the founding of the Vaduz Tennis Club on 25 August 1925. In the same year, the Liechtenstein Motor Club came into being, which engaged in many activities and gave birth to a sporting group in 1930.

A sporting group formed as a section of the Liechtenstein Boy Scouts in 1932. In the 30's and 40's, the Boy Scouts were characterized by very rich sporting activities and must be considered one of the motors of the early sporting movement in Liechtenstein.

Despite all these activities, sports in Liechtenstein were initially accepted only hesitantly. Sports were not highly regarded and were made fun of; life was difficult and the population suffered too many privations for such hobbies to become popular. Popular educational and philosophical goals did not (yet) exist. State support was impossible, sporting facilities a utopia. Despite the reluctance of society, church, and even school, sports slowly but surely established themselves in Liechtenstein beginning around 1930.

Sports in Liechtenstein:
a success story, despite a
hesitant start