FC Zimbru Chișinău

Zimbru Stadium
Full name	Zimbru Stadium
Location	Botanica, Chișinău
Owner	Zimbru Chișinău
Capacity	10,400
Field size	105 x 68 m
Surface	Grass
Scoreboard	1,600 lux
Construction
Built	March 2004 – May 2006
Opened	20 May 2006
Construction cost	$11 million
Architect	Ceproserving SA
Structural engineer	INCONEX-COM

Zimbru Chișinău
	File:FC Zimbru logo.svg
Full name	Fotbal Club Zimbru Chișinău
Nickname(s)	Galben-verzii (The Yellow-Greens)
Founded	1947; 77 years ago
Ground	Zimbru Stadium
Capacity	10,400
President	Nicolae Ciornîi
Head Coach	Sorin Colceag
League	Divizia Națională
2017	8th
Website	Club website
Home colours	Away colours
	Current season

Fotbal Club Zimbru Chișinău, commonly known as Zimbru Chișinău, or simply as Zimbru, is a Moldovan football club based in Chișinău, currently playing in the Moldovan National Division.

Founded in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1947, Zimbru entered the Soviet Top League in 1956 and participated in 11 seasons before their last relegation in 1983. After the independence of Moldova in 1991, the team established itself as an early force in the country, winning all but one of the first nine national championships. However – primarily as a result of Sheriff Tiraspol's ascent – they have not conquered the title since. Zimbru have also won six Moldovan Cups and one Moldovan Super Cup.

Galben-verzii play their home matches at the 10,400-seater Zimbru Stadium.

History

Zimbru Chișinău was formed in 1947 in the Moldovan Soviet Republic (present day Republic of Moldova). 'Zimbru' is a Romanian word for a form of European bison, but the club also previously functioned under names such as Dynamo, Burevestnik, Moldova, Avântul, and Nistru. The Soviet Era was spent mostly in Class B of the regional league until eventual promotion to Class A. The club then flitted between Class A and Class B as well as spending time in the Soviet Top League and First League. In total, Zimbru spent 11 seasons in the Top League between 1956 and 1983. Zimbru had their biggest success in 1956 when they finished in 6th place out of 12 in the Soviet Top League and in 1963 when they reached the quarter-finals of the Soviet Cup.
Zimbru's fortunes changed after the fall of the USSR and the establishment of the Republic of Moldova. The club won all five of the initial seasons of the Moldovan National Division (1992–96), and apart from finishing as runners-up to Chișinău rivals Constructorul Chișinău in 1996–97, won eight of the first nine championships. Zimbru have also won the Moldovan Cup six times, including a double in 1997–98 and the Moldovan Super Cup once. Zimbru's biggest rivalry is with Sheriff Tiraspol, who in the last eighteen years have won sixteen championships.

Crest and colours

Since its foundation, Zimbru's colours always was yellow and green. Throughout history, Zimbru Chișinău had many logos. Traditional colours were always present on club crests.

Stadium

FC Zimbru's home ground is Zimbru Stadium, a football-specific stadium in Botanica sector of Chișinău. It was opened in 2006. The stadium has a natural grass playing surface, and its capacity is 10,400.

Rivalries

In the 1990s (the first decade of Moldova's independence), Zimbru's rival was the other team from Chișinău, Constructorul Chișinău. Then Contructorul was dissolved. In 1997, a new team was founded in Tiraspol, Sheriff Tiraspol. In a few years, Sheriff was promoted to the first league and became a force in Moldovan football. Considering the strength of team and the tensions between Moldovans and separatist Transnistrians, the match between Zimbru and Sheriff became a derby, the most important match in country. Thus, it has been named "Derby of Moldova", being labelled even as "Moldovan El Clasico" (Romanian: El Clasico de Moldova).^[2]^[3] Another rivalry was established in the mid 2000s when Dacia Chișinău, another team from Chișinău, became one of Moldova's top teams. The match between them is known as "The Derby of the capital" (Romanian: Derbyul capitalei).^[4]

Current squad

As of 16 September 2018^[5]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
12	GK	MDA	Victor Buga
25	GK	UKR	Maksym Kovalev
61	GK	POR	Mickaël Meira

15	DF	MDA	Denis Furtună
23	DF	RUS	Dmitri Telegin
26	DF	BFA	Narcisse Bambara
27	DF	MDA	Alexei Ciopa
90	DF	MDA	Ion Jardan (captain)
95	DF	BRA	Cassius Coelho
97	DF	MDA	Anatolie Prepeliță

6	MF	MDA	Victor Bogaciuc
7	MF	MDA	Ilie Damașcan
8	MF	POR	João Teixeira


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
17	MF	MDA	Dan Pîslă
20	MF	MDA	Cristian Nagornîi
21	MF	NOR	Willian Pozo
22	MF	MDA	Igor Țîgîrlaș
24	MF	MDA	Eugen Zasavițchi
77	MF	MDA	Nichita Iurașco
84	MF	MDA	Alexandru Onica (vice-captain)
89	MF	MDA	Eugen Sidorenco
99	MF	MDA	Radu Scoarță

9	FW	POR	Sandro Semedo
10	FW	CMR	Marius Obekop
11	FW	MDA	Ion Donțu
19	FW	BFA	Blaise Yameogo

Honours

Moldova

Divizia Națională / Liga Națională / Superliga

Winners (8): 1992, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–00

Runners-up (5): 1996–97, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2005–06, 2006–07

Third place (4): 2001–02, 2003–04, 2011–12, 2015–16

Cupa Moldovei

Winners (6): 1996–97, 1997–98, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2006–07, 2013–14

Runners-up (3): 1994–95, 1999–00, 2017–18

Supercupa Moldovei

Winners (1): 2014

Runners-up (3): 2003, 2004, 2007

Soviet Union

Soviet First League

Winners (1): 1955.

Runners-up (2): 1973, 1982.

Soviet Second League

Winners (2): 1987, 1988.

Player of the year

Zimbru players who received the award Moldovan Footballer of the Year:

Year	Winner
1992	Alexandru Spiridon
1993	Alexandru Curtianu
1994	Serghei Cleșcenco
1995	Ion Testemițanu
1997	Ion Testemițanu
1999	Sergiu Epureanu
2002	Boris Cebotari

League history

Timeline

Table

Season	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Cup	Europe		Top scorer (league)
1992	Divizia Națională	1	22	15	5	2	40	15	35	1/4	–		Alexandru Spiridon Iurie Miterev – 8
1992–93		1	30	22	6	2	66	17	50	1/8	–		Alexandru Spiridon – 12
1993–94		1	30	25	2	3	86	22	52	1/2	UCL	PR	Serghei Cleșcenco – 14
1994–95		1	26	21	4	1	69	10	67	RU	UC	PR	Serghei Cleșcenco – 11
1995–96		1	30	26	3	1	110	11	81	1/4	UC	R2	Vladislav Gavriliuc – 34
1996–97		2	30	22	4	4	112	21	70	W	UC	PR	Iurie Miterev – 34
1997–98		1	26	22	3	1	75	8	69	W	CWC	QR	Serghei Cleșcenco – 25
1998–99		1	26	18	7	1	43	9	61	1/4	UCL	Q1	Vladislav Gavriliuc – 10
1999–00		1	36	25	7	4	78	21	82	RU	UCL UC	Q3 R1	Victor Berco – 15
2000–01		2	28	20	6	2	46	15	66	1/2	UCL UC	Q3 R1	Iurie Miterev – 8
2001–02		3	28	12	10	6	52	20	46	1/2	UC	QR	Victor Berco – 12
2002–03		2	24	15	5	4	47	20	50	W	UC	R1	Vladimir Shishelov – 13
2003–04		3	28	14	7	7	40	23	49	W	UC	R1	Vladimir Shishelov – 15
2004–05		5	28	12	7	9	29	15	43	1/4	–		Sergiu Chirilov – 7
2005–06		2	28	15	8	5	47	20	53	1/2	–		Sergiu Chirilov – 11
2006–07		2	36	21	8	7	63	23	71	W	UC	Q2	Alexei Zhdanov – 14
2007–08		5	30	13	13	4	43	21	52	1/2	UC	Q1	Alexei Zhdanov – 12
2008–09		4	30	13	7	10	42	30	46	1/2	–		Oleg Andronic – 16
2009–10		4	33	17	8	8	47	29	59	1/4	UEL	Q2	Andrei Secrieru – 7
2010–11		4	39	22	10	7	56	20	76	1/8	–		Oleg Andronic – 9
2011–12		3	33	17	10	6	47	24	61	1/4	–		Oleg Molla – 14
2012–13		6	33	12	10	11	53	38	46	1/4	UEL	Q2	Oleg Molla – 7
2013–14		4	33	18	7	8	56	24	61	W	–		Sergey Tsyganov – 13
2014–15		6	24	7	6	11	23	19	27	1/4	UEL	PO	Alexandru Dedov – 4
2015–16		3	27	15	4	8	42	26	49	1/4	–		Rui Miguel – 9
2016–17		5	30	13	7	10	32	29	46	1/2	UEL	Q2	Hugo Neto – 6
2017		8	18	5	4	9	17	21	19	RU	–		Jean Theodoro – 5
2018											–

European record

UEFA Champions League

Season	Round	Opponents	Home leg	Away leg	Aggregate
1993–94	PR	Beitar Jerusalem	1–1	0–2	1–3
1998–99	Q1	Újpest	1–0	1–3	2–3
1999–00	Q1	St Patrick's Athletic	5–0	5–0	10–0
	Q2	Dinamo Tbilisi	2–0	1–2	3–2
	Q3	PSV Eindhoven	0–0	0–2	0–2
2000–01	Q1	KF Tirana	3–2	3–2	6–4
	Q2	Maribor	2–0	0–1	2–1
	Q3	Sparta Prague	0–1	0–1	0–2

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup

Season	Round	Opponents	Home leg	Away leg	Aggregate
1997–98	QR	Shakhtar Donetsk	1–1	0–3	1–4

UEFA Cup

Season	Round	Opponents	Home leg	Away leg	Aggregate
1994–95	PR	Budapest Honvéd	0–1	1–4	1–5
1995–96	PR	Hapoel Tel Aviv	2–0	0–0	2–0
	R1	RAF Jelgava	1–0	2–1	3–1
	R2	Sparta Prague	0–2	3–4	3–6
1996–97	PR	Hajduk Split	0–4	1–2	1–6
1999–00	R1	Tottenham Hotspur	0–0	0–3	0–3
2000–01	R1	Hertha BSC	1–2	0–2	1–4
2001–02	QR	Gaziantepspor	0–0	1–4	1–4
2002–03	QR	IFK Göteborg	3–1	2–2	5–3
2002–03	R1	Real Betis	0–2	1–2	1–4
2003–04	QR	Litex Lovech	2–0	0–0	2–0
2003–04	R1	Aris	1–1	1–2	2–3
2006–07	Q1	Qarabağ	1–1	2–1 (aet)	3–2
2006–07	Q2	Metalurh Zaporizhya	0–0	0–3	0–3
2007–08	Q1	Artmedia Bratislava	2–2	1–1	3–3 (a)

UEFA Europa League

Season	Round	Opponents	Home leg	Away leg	Aggregate
2009–10	Q1	Okzhetpes	1–2	2–0	3–2
2009–10	Q2	Paços de Ferreira	0–0	0–1	0–1
2012–13	Q1	Bangor City	2–1	0–0	2–1
2012–13	Q2	Young Boys	1–0 (aet)	0–1	1–1 (1–4 pen.)
2014–15	Q1	FK Shkëndija	2–0	1–2	3–2
	Q2	CSKA Sofia	0–0	1–1	1–1 (a)
	Q3	SV Grödig	0–1	2–1	2–2 (a)
	PO	PAOK	1–0	0–4	1–4
2016–17	Q1	Chikhura Sachkhere	0–1	3–2	3–3 (a)
2016–17	Q2	Osmanlıspor	2–2	0–5	2–7

Notes: PR – preliminary round. QR – qualifying round. R1 – First round. R2 – Second round Q1, Q2, Q3 – qualifying rounds. PO – play-off round.

Club officials

Technical staff

As of 1 August 2018^[6]

Role	Name
Head coach	Sorin Colceag
Assistant coach	Dinu Carp
Goalkeeping coach	Vitalie Galat
Club doctor	Adrian Mihaluța
Masseur	Petru Caraman

Club management

As of 1 August 2018^[7]

Role	Name
President	Nicolae Ciornîi
General director	Sevastian Botnari
Sporting director	Alexei Popa

Former players

Former managers

References

^ "Stadium capacity" (PDF).uefa.com
^ "El clasico de Moldova".publika.md
^ "El clasico".prime.md
^ "Derbyul capitalei".publika.md
^ "Zimbru squad". zimbru.md.
^ "Technical staff". zimbru.md.
^ "Club management". zimbru.md.

External links

[1] "Stadium capacity" (PDF).uefa.com

[2] "El clasico de Moldova".publika.md

[3] "El clasico".prime.md

[4] "Derbyul capitalei".publika.md

[5] "Zimbru squad". zimbru.md.

[6] "Technical staff". zimbru.md.

[7] "Club management". zimbru.md.

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