FC Sheriff Tiraspol


Fotbal Club Sheriff, commonly known as Sheriff Tiraspol or simply Sheriff, is a football club based in Tiraspol, the capital of the unrecognized state of Transnistria. Founded in 1996 as Tiras Tiraspol, it quickly established itself within Moldovan football.
In 1997, the team was rebranded as Sheriff, taking the name of its main sponsor, a company which operates in various industries. "The Wasps" recorded their debut in the first league in the 1998–99 season, when they also won their first trophy, the Moldovan Cup. They have since amassed 18 championship titles, 10 Cups and 8 Super Cups–all competition records. On the European stage, Sheriff has reached the group stage of the UEFA Europa League on four occasions.
The team plays its home games in yellow and black kits at the Sheriff Stadium, on which it moved in 2002 and has a capacity of 12,746.

History

The club was originally established in 1996 and introduced in the Moldovan "B" Division as FC Tiras Tiraspol. On 4 April 1997, former policeman Victor Gușan, an employee of the security corporation Sheriff which remains a key sponsor, refounded it as FC Sheriff Tiraspol.
Sheriff achieved promotion to the second tier of Moldovan football, the Moldovan "A" Division, and under the guidance of Ahmad Alaskarov, was charged with leading the team to the Moldovan top division. Later that year the club won the championship by 14 points, being promoted to Divizia Națională. The club won its first major honour with the 1999 Moldovan Cup. In the final at the Republican Stadium, Sheriff scored an injury-time equaliser before winning the match against Constructorul Chișinău 2–1 after extra time. Sheriff's first National Division title came in the 2000–01 season, which also included their second Moldovan Cup triumph as they beat Nistru Otaci on penalties after a goalless match. The league triumph was the first of a run of ten consecutively up to 2010, also including league-cup doubles in 2002, 2006 and 2008–10. Sheriff won each Moldovan Super Cup from 2004 to 2010, but did not have to play a match on four occasions due to winning it on default through a double. Sheriff were denied an 11th-straight title by Dacia Chișinău in 2010–11, but reclaimed the title the following season. In 2014–15, Sheriff again lost the championship despite being level with both Milsami Orhei and Dacia Chișinău at the top of the table with 55 points; Milsami would finish in first place because of its superior head-to-head record against both Sheriff and Dacia, with Dacia second and Sheriff third, despite Sheriff having the superior goal difference amongst the clubs.
The team won the Commonwealth of Independent States Cup in 2003 and 2009, becoming the first team from Moldova to win an international title. Sheriff were the first club in Moldova to sign players from Brazil and Africa.

Europe

From 2001–02 to 2008–09, the club tried to reach the group stage in the UEFA Champions League every year, but failed in the second qualifying round every time. Its European fortunes improved after 2009. Sheriff has appeared in three UEFA Europa League group stages with decent results, although they didn't manage to qualify to the knock-out stage. In 2017 they qualified to the group stage for the fourth time, after beating favorites Legia Warsaw on away goals in the play-off round.

2009–10 UEFA Europa League

In the 2009–10 season, Sheriff finally reached the third qualifying round when they defeated Inter Turku. In the next round, Sheriff defeated Slavia Prague 1–1 on aggregate, progressing via the away goal rule due to Nadson's 94th-minute strike in the second leg. They were then eliminated from the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League by Greek club Olympiacos in the qualifying play-off for a spot in the group stage. Sheriff lost 2–0 in the first leg at home, and 1–0 in the second leg away.
However, by virtue of losing in the play-off round, Sheriff qualified for the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League group stage, where they were drawn into Group H alongside Fenerbahçe, Twente and Steaua București. On 17 September 2009, their first Europa League match, Sheriff drew 0–0 away against Steaua. On 1 October, Sheriff's first Europa League home match, the club lost 1–0 to Fenerbahçe. On 22 October, Sheriff produced a stunning 2–0 home victory over Twente, ending Twente's 17-match unbeaten run. 2 December, Sheriff drew 1–1 at home with Steaua. Sheriff failed to progress past the group stage after finishing third in Group H with five points, ahead of Steaua.

2010–11 UEFA Champions League

In the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League, on 14–20 July 2010, Sheriff defeated Dinamo Tirana in the second qualifying round. Then, on 4 August, the club defeated Dinamo Zagreb on penalties after identical 1–1 draws at home and away, thereby reaching the play-off round. On 18–24 August, in the play-off round against Basel, Sheriff lost 1–0 in Switzerland before losing 3–0 at home.

2010–11 UEFA Europa League

Dropping to the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League after their play-off defeat to Basel, Sheriff was drawn into Group E alongside Dynamo Kyiv, AZ and BATE Borisov. After losing their first match 2–1 away against AZ on 15 September 2010, on 30 September, Sheriff defeated Dynamo Kyiv 2–0 at home. After losing two-straight matches against BATE – 0–1 at home and 3–1 away on 21 October and 4 November respectively – on 2 December, Sheriff drew 1–1 with AZ at home, then on 15 December, Sheriff drew 0–0 against Dynamo Kyiv away in Kiev. Accumulating five points, Sheriff failed to progress past the group stage after finishing last in Group E.

Stadium

is the home ground of Sheriff Tiraspol and is owned by the corporation Sheriff. Construction of the ground began on 1 August 2000, being completed in May 2002, with official opening in July 2002. It was renovated in 2011. The stadium has a seating capacity for 12,746 spectators and is eligible for FIFA/UEFA international events. Beside Sheriff, the stadium hosted also matches of FC Tiraspol and the Moldova national team.
Asides from main arena of Sheriff Sports Complex, there is also an 8,000 seater stadium, Malaya Sportivnaya Arena, also situated in the same complex, along with eight training fields, a covered training centre, housing for the players, a college for students and a five-star hotel.

Current squad

Honours

Records and statistics

CompetitionPlayedWonDrewLostGFGAGDWin%

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Legend: GF = Goals For. GA = Goals Against. GD = Goal Difference.

Matches

UEFA rankings

At the end of the 2017–18 season, Sheriff Tiraspol ranked 97th in the UEFA club coefficient rankings, up from 145th the previous season.
RankTeamPoints
97 Sheriff Tiraspol14.750

As of 1 July 2018.

Club officials

Coaching staff

PositionName
Head coach Zoran Zekić
Assistant coach/
Assistant coach Victor Mihailov
Assistant coach Andrei Corneencov
Goalkeeping coach Eugene Ivanov
Fitness coach/
Fitness coach Dmitri Bogus
Team manager Oleg Turcanu
Sporting director Leonid Kuchuk

Board of directors

PositionName
President Victor Gușan
General director Vazha Tarkhnishvili

Managers

NameNat.FromToPWDLGSGA%WHonoursNotes
Veaceslav Rusnac12 July 201315 August 2014
2013–14 Divizia Națională-------
Zoran Zekić15 August 201426 May 2015
2014–15 Divizia Națională
2014–15 Moldovan Cup		-------
Lilian Popescu27 May 20155 October 2015
2015 Moldovan Super Cup-------
Zoran Vulić7 October 201512 June 2016
2015–16 Divizia Națională-------
Bruno Irles22 July 201623 September 2016
2016 Moldovan Super Cup-------
Victor Mihailov '23 September 20164 October 2016
-------
Roberto Bordin4 October 201624 April 2018
2016–17 Divizia Națională
2016-17 Moldovan Cup
2017 Divizia Națională		-------
Victor Mihailov '24 April 20187 June 2018
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Goran Sablić7 June 201827 April 2019
2018 Divizia Națională-------
Zoran Zekić30 April 2019Present
2018–19 Moldovan Cup-------

Information correct as of match played 5 August 2018. Only competitive matches are counted.