FC Zimbru Chișinău

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 Dinamo, 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.[1]
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.

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.

Zimbru Stadium

Full name	Zimbru Stadium
Location	Botanica, Chișinău
Owner	Zimbru Chișinău
Capacity	10,400[2]
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

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.

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).[3][4] 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).[5]

As of 20 November 2020[6]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  UKR Maksym Kovalov 25 GK  MDA Silviu Șmalenea 30 GK  MDA Alexandru Ostrovar 2 DF  KAZ Danil Kuznetsov 3 DF  MDA Ștefan Burghiu (captain) 4 DF  MDA Denis Furtună 5 DF  MDA Gheorghe Brînzaniuc 6 DF  MDA Alexei Ciopa 18 DF  POR Bruno Moura 23 DF  MDA Alexandru Vacarciuc — DF  MDA Tudor Iapără — DF  MDA Vladislav Zavalișca 8 MF  MDA Artur Pătraș 10 MF  MDA Petru Neagu 12 MF  NGA Okezie Ebenezer

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 MF  MDA Cristian Dani 19 MF  MDA Ion Postica 20 MF  MDA Alexandru Graur 21 MF  NGA Saleh Yahaya 29 MF  MDA Artur Barabaș — MF  MDA Vlad Răileanu — MF  MDA Alexandru Gău — MF  MDA Iulian Bejan — MF  POR Fábio Paim 9 FW  MDA Vadim Cemîrtan 11 FW  BRA Jhonata Santos 17 FW  MDA Maxim Şoimu 22 FW  BRA Junior Lopes — FW  MLI Boubacar Traoré

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

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
	R1	Real Betis	0–2	1–2	1–4
2003–04	QR	Litex Lovech	2–0	0–0	2–0
	R1	Aris	1–1	1–2	2–3
2006–07	Q1	Qarabağ	1–1	2–1 (aet)	3–2
	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
	Q2	Paços de Ferreira	0–0	0–1	0–1
2012–13	Q1	Bangor City	2–1	0–0	2–1
	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)
	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.

• Official website (in Romanian, Russian, and English)
• Profile at soccerway.com (in English)
• Zimbru Chișinău at weltfussballarchiv.com
• Zimbru Chișinău supporters website – ”OASTEA FIARĂ”
• Profile at footballfacts.ru (in Russian)