From Creation to Bernabeu wins in a Quarter-Century – How FC Sheriff Tiraspol has done the seemingly impossible
Jim James
On Wednesday Sheriff Tiraspol, a team that I have been a pseudo-fan of for a couple years, did the impossible, and beat Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu, a team making its first appearance in the Champions League and is its country’s first participant in the competition, as well as being just 25 years old, beating a 122-year old 13-time winners from the most successful country in the competition at the most iconic stadium in football. How did they do this? A brief sum-up of Sheriff Tiraspol.
Before we start on the story of the Football club, we have to start with the history of a company, named Sheriff.
Sheriff is a company founded in 1993 and isn’t specific to one specific thing, owning gas stations, supermarkets, a construction company, and even a TV channel. It is based in Tiraspol, and was founded by Denis Venutti, who still owns it today.
In 1996 a club, called FC Tiras Tiraspol were founded, and the following year, Sheriff employee and former policeman Victor Gusan renamed it FC Sheriff Tiraspol.
They started in the third division of Moldovan football, and moved up the rankings to te second division soon after. In 1999, they won the Moldovan Cup, their first major honor. By 2001, mainly under the funding of the Sheriff company, Sheriff Tiraspol won their first Moldovan first division title, as well as their second Moldovan Cup.
Their Moldovan crown meant they were in Champions League qualification. They started in the first qualifying round, and played now defunct Araks-Impeks in the first round. They won 3-0 on aggregate. This team that 5 years ago were in the Moldovan third tier were now in the second round of Champions League qualifying. Unfortunately they got Belgian giants Anderlecht in the second round, you can guess how that went. A 6-1 aggregate loss.
They won the Moldovan league again in 2002 and got another crack at it. They won in the first round on away goals to Zhenis Astana, a current second division Kazakh side, and then lost 6-1 on aggregate to GAK, an Austrian team.
All the way up until 2009, they won all the Moldovan leagues, and lost in the second round each time, beating Flora Tallinn, Jeuesse Esch, Sliema Wanderers, Pyunik, Ranger’s, and Aktobe in the first round and losing to Shakhtar Donetsk, Rosenborg, Partizan, Spartak Moscow, Besiktas, and Sparta Prague in the second round.
In 2009-10 they got to the group stage of the Europa League in its inaugural season, in a group with Fenerbahce, FC Twente, and Steaua București. They got one lone win vs Twente, and two draws vs Steaua, getting them 3rd. The next season they got there again, coming last in a group with Dynamo Kyiv, BATE, and AZ. They got a win vs Kyiv, Kyiv’s only loss in the group, and a draw vs them, as well as a draw vs AZ.
It took them a few years to get back to the Europa, but they did in 13-14, in a group with Spurs, Anzhi, and Tromso. They won once, vs Tromso, drew twice vs them and got a draw vs Anzhi. They finished 3rd. In 2017-18 they got put in a group with Lokomotiv Moscow, Copenhagen, and Fastav Zlin. They won twice, vs Zlin & Moscow, and drew 3 times, vs Moscow, Copenhagen, and Zlin. they got 9 points, but finished 3rd on Goal Differential.
That brings us to now. After another win of the Moldovan top flight, Sheriff faced Albanian side Teuta in the first round, and a 4-0 first leg win sealed to deal for a 5-0 aggregate win. In the second round, they got Armenian side Alashkert, and they won 3-1 in Tiraspol, followed up by a 1-0 win in Armenia. Sheriff had been in this situation a few times before, in the third round, but had never got to the playoffs. Red Star Belgrade. The leg in Serbia finished 1 all and then to Moldova, where a first half stoppage time goal by Danilo Arboleda made it 2-1, and the win.
The playoffs, the furthest they had ever been in the Champions League. They were facing Dinamo Zagreb. Moldova, when Sheriff had got to the 45th minute without scoring, Dinamo were looking smug that they would get the crucial first leg advantage, but then, seconds later, Adama Traore scored. 1-0. 54th minute, Dimitris Koloyos scored, 2-0. 80th minute, 3-0. Sheriff were 90 minutes away from qualifying and had a 3 goal cushion. Then, the second leg in Croatia was a 0-0 draw, meaning that Sheriff had qualified, everything you;ve read in this post leading up to that moment.
The rest, as they say, is history. I’m Jim James, and I’ll see you soon!