FC Sheriff Tiraspol

The story behind the "Sheriff"

In the summer of 1996 a debut team called Tiras was registered to play in Division B of the Football Championship of Moldova. So a company called "Sheriff" became the sponsor for the team just before the beginning of the second round. Then by April of 1997 a club was created with the same name under Victor Gushan’s hand.

The team’s objective: enter the National Division of the Championship of Moldova.

With an experienced coach invited to head the team, well known football coach in the soviet premier league, A.L. Aleskerov, the Sheriff team surpassed all other teams and entered the national Division of Moldova.

The team debuted in the National Division at the Tiraspol city council stadium on July 1998. A year later on May 27^th, 1999, football made history: FC Constructorul vs. FC Sheriff, it was a nerve wrecking match; for teams, management and fans more than anything else. Once the game ended the score was 1-1, they went on for extra time and on the very last minute a golden goal was scored! The Sheriff became the holder of the Moldova Cup for the first time and for next season it held silver medals of the Championship of Moldova.

Awards for the Sheriff: The Champion of Moldova 2001; The Moldova Cup Holder 1998-1999; The Champion of Moldova 2002; The Moldova Cup Holder 2000-2001; The Champion of Moldova 2003; The Moldova Cup Holder 2001-2002; The Moldova SuperCup Holder 2003; The Commonwealth Cup holder 2003.

The Team. Goalkeepers: Alexandru Melenciuk (Moldova); Sebastian Hutan (Romania); Sergey Pashenko (Moldova). Defenders: Vazha Tarkhnishvili (Georgia); Abdoul-Gafar Mamah (Togo); Alexander Epuraynu (Moldova); Ben Idrisse Derme (Burkina Faso); Eninful Kwami Akoete (Togo); Ibrahim Gnanou (Burkina Faso); Cristian Arbanas (Romania); Fernando Pereira Walles (Brazil). Forwards: Alexandr Suvorov ; Alexey Kuchuk (Belorussia); Razak Omotoyossi (Beninoise); Rezvan Kochish (Romania); Leandro Farias (Brazil); Marian Pirsa (Romania). Midfielders: Wilfried Benjamin Balima (Burkina Faso); Vitaly Bulat (Moldova); Andrei Corneencov (Moldova); Oleg Gumenyuk (Ukraine); Sumaila Tassembedo (Burkina Faso); Florent Rouamba (Burkina Faso); George Florescu (Romania). Head Coach: Leonid Kuchuk.

The Sheriff Sports Complex:

The territory of the complex is more than 40 hectares, apart from the Main football arena it also includes: the Small arena (5 – at the moment) training pitches, covered football hall, dwelling complex for "Sheriff" players, 5-star hotel, and football college for children. Many foreign companies took part when building the complex, including "FieldTurf" from Canada (artificial turf), Swiss "Motomatic" (drainage, irrigation, natural turf); leading European companies supplied lighting and public address systems.

The Main arena is a football stadium with a sitting capacity of 13,000 and all seats are collapsible. Stands are roofed to protect fans from bad weather and the stadium is equipped with a TV live-broadcasting system. Both teams have inside halls for warm-up near the dressing rooms. The playing field is of natural grass turf and it’s equipped with effective drainage system, automatic irrigating system and underground heating system to prepare for the autumn-winter period.