Moldova national football team

The Moldova national football team (Romanian: Echipa națională de fotbal a Moldovei) represents Moldova in association football and is controlled by the Moldovan Football Federation, the governing body for football in Moldova. Moldova's home ground is Zimbru Stadium in Chișinău and their head coach is Igor Dobrovolski. After the break-up of the Soviet Union, they played their first match against Georgia on 2 July 1991.

This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Moldova women's national football team.

Moldova

Association	Federația Moldovenească de Fotbal (FMF)
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Engin Fırat
Captain	Alexandru Epureanu
Most caps	Alexandru Epureanu (91)
Top scorer	Serghei Cleșcenco (11)
Home stadium	Zimbru Stadium, Chișinău
FIFA code	MDA
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	175 (16 July 2020)[1]
Highest	37 (April 2008)
Lowest	175 (June 2018, August 2018, October 2019 – June 2020)
First international
Moldova 2–4 Georgia  (Chişinău, Moldova; 2 July 1991)
Biggest win
Moldova 5–0 Pakistan  (Amman, Jordan; 18 August 1992)
Biggest defeat
Sweden 6–0 Moldova (Gothenburg, Sweden; 6 June 2001)

Two of their three best results in the 1990s years, came during the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 1996, with wins over Georgia (1–0) in Tbilisi and Wales (3–2) in Chișinău. In 2007, Moldova obtained a very good result, defeating Hungary 3–0 in Chișinău in Euro 2008 qualifying. Their best recent result was a 5–2 win over Montenegro during 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying. The team has never qualified for the final stages of the UEFA European Championship nor the FIFA World Cup as of present time.

Following Moldova's 4–0 defeat to England in September 1997, British writer and comedian Tony Hawks travelled to Moldova to challenge and beat all 11 Moldovan international footballers at tennis. The feature film version of the book of the same name, Playing the Moldovans at Tennis, was filmed in and around Chișinău in May and June 2010 and was released in the spring of 2012.

History

The Moldovan Football Federation was founded in 1990. However, the national football team of Moldova did not play an official international match until 1991, when Moldova lost to Georgia.

Moldova's first attempt to qualify for the FIFA World Cup was in 1998, but they failed to qualify for the tournament. Moldova has finished either last or second last in all tournament qualifying campaigns entered to date, except UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying, in which they finished fifth in the seven-team Group C with 12 points.

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup record											Qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Squad		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930 to 1938	Part of  Romania
1950 to 1990	Part of  Soviet Union
1994	Not a FIFA member										Not a FIFA member[2]
1998	Did not qualify										8	0	0	8	2	21
2002											10	1	3	6	6	20
2006											10	1	2	7	5	16
2010											10	0	3	7	6	18
2014											10	3	2	5	12	17
2018											10	0	2	8	4	23
2022	To be determined
Total	0/6										58	5	12	41	35	115

UEFA European Championship

UEFA European Championship record											Qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Squad		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1960 to 1992	Part of  Soviet Union and CIS
1996	Did not qualify										10	3	0	7	11	27
2000											8	0	4	4	7	17
2004											8	2	0	6	5	19
2008											12	3	3	6	12	19
2012											10	3	0	7	12	16
2016											10	0	2	8	4	16
2020											10	1	0	9	4	26
2024	To be determined
Total	0/7										68	12	9	47	55	140

UEFA Nations League

UEFA Nations League record
Year	Division	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
2018–19	D	48th	6	2	3	1	4	5
2020–21	C	To be determined
Total			6	2	3	1	4	5

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification

Main article: 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group D

{{2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group D table |show_matches=yes}}

UEFA Euro 2020 qualification

Main article: UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying Group H

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	France	10	8	1	1	25	6	+19	25	Qualify for final tournament		—	1–1	4–0	4–1	3–0	2–1
2	Turkey	10	7	2	1	18	3	+15	23			2–0	—	0–0	1–0	1–0	4–0
3	Iceland	10	6	1	3	14	11	+3	19			0–1	2–1	—	1–0	2–0	3–0
4	Albania	10	4	1	5	16	14	+2	13			0–2	0–2	4–2	—	2–2	2–0
5	Andorra	10	1	1	8	3	20	−17	4			0–4	0–2	0–2	0–3	—	1–0
6	Moldova	10	1	0	9	4	26	−22	3			1–4	0–4	1–2	0–4	1–0	—

Source: UEFA

Fixtures and results

Recent results

2019

UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying

7 September 2019

16:00 UTC±0

Iceland	3–0	Moldova
Sigþórsson  31' Bjarnason  55' Mudrac  77' (o.g.)	Report

Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík

Referee: João Pinheiro (Portugal)

---

UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying

10 September 2019

21:45 UTC+3

Moldova	0–4	Turkey
	Report	Tosun  37', 79' Türüç  57' Yazıcı  88'

Zimbru Stadium, Chișinău

Referee: Davide Massa (Italy)

---

UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying

11 October 2019

20:45 UTC+2

Andorra	1–0	Moldova
Vales  63'	Report

Estadi Nacional, Andorra la Vella

Referee: Jonathan Lardot (Belgium)

---

UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying

14 October 2019

21:45 UTC+3

Moldova	0–4	Albania
	Report	Cikalleshi  22' Bare  34' Trashi  40' Manaj  90'

Zimbru Stadium, Chișinău

Referee: Chris Kavanagh (England)

---

UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying

14 November 2019

20:45 UTC+1

France	2–1	Moldova
Varane  35' Giroud  79' (pen.)	Report	Rață  9'

Stade de France, Saint-Denis

Referee: Gediminas Mažeika (Lithuania)

---

UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying

17 November 2019

21:45 UTC+2

Moldova	1–2	Iceland
Milinceanu  56'	Report	Bjarnason  17' G. Sigurðsson  65'

Zimbru Stadium, Chișinău

Referee: Pavel Královec (Czech Republic)

---

2020

Friendly

9 January 2020

TBA UTC+3

Sweden	1–0	Moldova
Larsson  32'

Hamad bin Khalifa Stadium, Doha

Referee: Saoud Al-Athba (Qatar)

---

Friendly match

31 March 2020

Moldova	Cancelled	Russia

Zimbru Stadium, Chișinău

---

2020–21 UEFA Nations League

3 September 2020

21:45 UTC+3

Moldova	v	Kosovo

Zimbru Stadium, Chișinău

---

2020–21 UEFA Nations League

6 September 2020

18:00 UTC+2

Slovenia	v	Moldova

Stožice Stadium, Ljubljana

---

2020–21 UEFA Nations League

10 October 2020

21:45 UTC+3

Greece	v	Moldova

Olympic Stadium, Athens

---

2020–21 UEFA Nations League

13 October 2020

21:45 UTC+3

Moldova	v	Slovenia

Zimbru Stadium, Chișinău

---

2020–21 UEFA Nations League

13 November 2020

21:45 UTC+2

Moldova	v	Greece

Zimbru Stadium, Chișinău

---

2020–21 UEFA Nations League

16 November 2020

20:45 UTC+1

Kosovo	v	Moldova

Fadil Vokrri Stadium, Pristina

---

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for the Friendly Match against Sweden on January 9, 2020.[3]

Caps and goals are correct as of 9 January 2020 after the game against Sweden.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Nicolai Calancea	(1986-09-29) 29 September 1986	19	0	Dunărea Călărași
23	1GK	Denis Rusu	(1990-08-02) 2 August 1990	1	0	Politehnica Iași
12	1GK	Nicolai Cebotari	(1997-05-24) 24 May 1997	0	0	Sfântul Gheorghe Suruceni
6	2DF	Igor Armaș (Captain)	(1987-07-14) 14 July 1987	58	5	Voluntari
22	2DF	Dinu Graur	(1994-12-27) 27 December 1994	16	0	Astra Giurgiu
15	2DF	Sergiu Plătică	(1991-06-09) 9 June 1991	14	0	Milsami Orhei
2	2DF	Anatolie Prepeliță	(1997-08-06) 6 August 1997	3	0	Spartaks Jūrmala
5	2DF	Constantin Bogdan	(1993-12-29) 29 December 1993	2	0	Milsami Orhei
4	2DF	Maxim Focșa	(1992-04-21) 21 April 1992	1	0	Sfântul Gheorghe Suruceni
8	2DF	Denis Marandici	(1996-09-18) 18 September 1996	0	0	União de Leiria
7	3MF	Andrei Cojocari	(1987-01-21) 21 January 1987	39	2	Petrocub Hîncești
19	3MF	Artur Pătraș	(1988-10-01) 1 October 1988	29	0	Zimbru Chișinău
10	3MF	Eugeniu Cociuc	(1993-05-11) 11 May 1993	19	0	Sabah
9	3MF	Dan Spătaru	(1994-05-24) 24 May 1994	9	0	Noah
18	3MF	Gheorghe Anton	(1993-01-27) 27 January 1993	8	0	Zira
21	3MF	Vadim Rață	(1993-05-05) 5 May 1993	7	1	Chindia Târgoviște
14	3MF	Dan Taras	(1994-04-13) 13 April 1994	3	0	Petrocub Hîncești
11	3MF	Cristian Dros	(1998-04-15) 15 April 1998	1	0	Politehnica Timișoara
16	4FW	Alexandru Suvorov	(1987-02-02) 2 February 1987	57	7	Sfântul Gheorghe Suruceni
20	4FW	Vladimir Ambros	(1993-12-30) 30 December 1993	12	1	Petrocub Hîncești
17	4FW	Alexandru Boiciuc	(1997-08-21) 21 August 1997	9	0	Academica Clinceni

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up for the team within the last 12 months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Alexei Koșelev	(1993-11-19) 19 November 1993	21	0	Fortuna Sittard	v.  Iceland, 17 November 2019
GK	Dumitru Celeadnic	(1992-04-23) 23 April 1992	0	0	Sheriff Tiraspol	v.  Iceland, 17 November 2019
DF	Veaceslav Posmac	(1990-11-07) 7 November 1990	37	2	Sheriff Tiraspol	v.  Iceland, 17 November 2019
DF	Ion Jardan	(1990-01-10) 10 January 1990	29	0	Petrocub Hîncești	v.  Iceland, 17 November 2019
DF	Oleg Reabciuk	(1998-01-16) 16 January 1998	16	0	Paços de Ferreira	v.  Iceland, 17 November 2019
DF	Artur Crăciun	(1998-06-29) 29 June 1998	2	0	Universitatea Cluj	v.  Iceland, 17 November 2019
DF	Artiom Rozgoniuc	(1995-10-01) 1 October 1995	10	0	Sfântul Gheorghe Suruceni	v.  Albania, 14 October 2019
DF	Ștefan Efros	(1990-05-08) 8 May 1990	3	0	Speranța Nisporeni	v.  Albania, 14 October 2019
DF	Victor Mudrac	(1994-03-03) 3 March 1994	3	0	Alashkert	v.  Albania, 14 October 2019
MF	Artur Ioniță	(1990-08-17) 17 August 1990	45	3	Cagliari	v.  Iceland, 17 November 2019
MF	Alexandru Antoniuc	(1989-05-23) 23 May 1989	44	3	Milsami Orhei	v.  Iceland, 17 November 2019
MF	Radu Gînsari	(1991-12-10) 10 December 1991	39	7	Krylia Sovetov Samara	v.  Iceland, 17 November 2019
MF	Cătălin Carp	(1993-10-20) 20 October 1993	29	1	Ufa	v.  Iceland, 17 November 2019
MF	Eugen Zasavițchi	(1992-11-24) 24 November 1992	1	0	Dnyapro Mogilev	v.  Iceland, 17 November 2019
MF	Alexandr Belousov	(1998-05-14) 14 May 1998	0	0	Sheriff Tiraspol	v.  Iceland, 17 November 2019
MF	Evgheni Oancea	(1996-01-05) 5 January 1996	0	0	SKA-Khabarovsk	v.  Iceland, 17 November 2019
MF	Eugeniu Cebotaru	(1984-10-16) 16 October 1984	65	1	Academica Clinceni	v.  Albania, 14 October 2019
MF	Alexandru Dedov	(1989-07-26) 26 July 1989	55	3	Petrocub Hîncești	v.  Albania, 14 October 2019
MF	Maxim Mihaliov	(1986-08-22) 22 August 1986	13	0	Dinamo-Auto Tiraspol	v.  Albania, 14 October 2019
MF	Constantin Sandu	(1993-09-15) 15 September 1993	6	0	Speranța Nisporeni	v.  Albania, 14 October 2019
MF	Iaser Țurcan	(1998-01-07) 7 January 1998	4	0	Petrocub Hîncești	v.  Albania, 14 October 2019
MF	Valeriu Macrițchii	(1996-02-13) 13 February 1996	1	0	Dinamo-Auto Tiraspol	v.  Albania, 14 October 2019
MF	Mihail Ghecev	(1997-11-05) 5 November 1997	1	0	Sheriff Tiraspol	v.  Turkey, 10 September 2019
FW	Eugen Sidorenco	(1989-03-19) 19 March 1989	35	7	Vllaznia	v.  Iceland, 17 November 2019
FW	Vitalie Damașcan	(1999-01-24) 24 January 1999	14	1	Fortuna Sittard	v.  Iceland, 17 November 2019
FW	Nicolae Milinceanu	(1992-08-01) 1 August 1992	10	1	Vaduz	v.  Iceland, 17 November 2019
FW	Virgiliu Postolachi ^WIT	(2000-03-17) 17 March 2000	0	0	Mouscron	v.  France, 14 November 2019
FW	Maxim Cojocaru	(1998-01-13) 13 January 1998	1	0	Sheriff Tiraspol	v.  Albania, 14 October 2019
FW	Vadim Cemîrtan	(1987-07-21) 21 July 1987	4	0	Sfântul Gheorghe Suruceni	v.  Turkey, 10 September 2019

Notes

• ^WIT Withdrew from squad.
• ^INJ Injured, ill or recovering from surgery.
• ^RET Retired from international football.

Player history

Main article: List of Moldova international footballers

Players in bold are still active.

Last match updated was against  Sweden on 9 January 2020.

Most capped players

Alexandru Epureanu is Moldova's most capped player.

Rank	Player	Appearances	Goals
1	Alexandru Epureanu	91	7
2	Victor Golovatenco	82	4
3	Radu Rebeja	74	2
4	Serghei Cleșcenco	69	11
5	Eugeniu Cebotaru	65	1
6	Alexandru Gațcan	63	5
7	Igor Armaș	58	5
8	Alexandru Suvorov	57	5
9	Ion Testemițanu	56	5
10	Alexandru Dedov	55	3
	Valeriu Catînsus	55	0

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Goals
1	Serghei Cleșcenco	11
2	Serghei Rogaciov	9
3	Igor Bugaiov	8
	Sergiu Dadu	8
	Iurie Miterev	8
6	Alexandru Epureanu	7
	Eugen Sidorenco	7
	Viorel Frunză	7
	Radu Gînsari	7
10	Alexandru Suvorov	5
	Serghei Alexeev	5
	Serghei Alexandrov	5
	Alexandru Gațcan	5
	Ion Testemițanu	5
	Igor Armaș	5

Clean Sheets

Rank	Player	CS
1	Stanislav Namașco	12
2	Evgheni Hmaruc	10
3	Alexei Koșelev	6
	Vasile Koșelev	6
	Serghei Dinov	6
	Ilie Cebanu	6
	Nicolae Calancea	6
	Denis Romanenco	6
9	Artiom Gaiduchevici	5
10	Alexei Jmurco	1
	Alexandru Melenciuc	1

Moldova all-time record against all nations

Last match updated was against  Sweden on 2020-01-09.

Against	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	GF	GA	GD	% Won
Albania	5	0	1	4	2	12	−10	000.00
Andorra	6	4	1	1	8	3	+5	066.67
Armenia	5	1	3	1	7	5	+2	020.00
Austria	6	1	0	5	2	8	−6	016.67
Azerbaijan	10	3	5	2	8	6	+2	030.00
Belarus	9	2	4	3	7	10	−3	022.22
Bosnia and Herzegovina	2	1	1	0	3	2	+1	050.00
Bulgaria	2	0	0	2	1	7	−6	000.00
Cameroon	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1	000.00
Canada	1	0	1	0	1	1	+0	000.00
Congo	1	1	0	0	3	1	+2	100.00
Ivory Coast	1	0	0	1	1	2	−1	000.00
Croatia	2	0	0	2	0	2	−2	000.00
Cyprus	1	0	0	1	2	3	−1	000.00
Czech Republic	2	0	0	2	0	7	−7	000.00
El Salvador	1	0	0	1	0	2	−2	000.00
England	4	0	0	4	0	16	−16	000.00
Estonia	5	1	1	3	1	3	−2	020.00
Finland	4	1	1	2	5	7	−2	025.00
France	2	0	0	2	2	6	−4	000.00
Georgia	12	4	4	4	14	17	−3	033.33
Germany	4	0	0	4	3	18	−15	000.00
Greece	5	0	1	4	2	9	−7	000.00
Hungary	7	1	2	4	6	10	−4	014.29
Indonesia	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1	100.00
Iraq	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1	000.00
Iceland	2	0	0	2	1	5	−4	000.00
Israel	6	0	3	3	4	8	−4	000.00
Italy	4	0	0	4	2	9	−7	000.00
Jordan	2	1	0	1	2	1	+1	050.00
Kazakhstan	5	2	1	2	4	5	−1	040.00
Kyrgyzstan	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1	100.00
Latvia	3	1	0	2	5	6	−1	033.33
Liechtenstein	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1	000.00
Lithuania	8	2	4	2	9	11	−2	025.00
Luxembourg	6	1	4	1	3	6	−3	016.67
North Macedonia	3	0	3	0	3	3	+0	000.00
Malta	7	3	3	1	7	6	+1	042.86
Montenegro	4	1	0	3	5	7	−2	025.00
Netherlands	4	0	0	4	1	9	−8	000.00
Northern Ireland	2	0	2	0	2	2	+0	000.00
Norway	5	0	1	4	1	6	−5	000.00
Pakistan	1	1	0	0	5	0	+5	100.00
Poland	6	0	1	5	2	10	−8	000.00
Portugal	1	0	0	1	0	3	−3	000.00
Qatar	1	0	1	0	1	1	+0	000.00
Republic of Ireland	2	0	0	2	1	5	−4	000.00
Romania	5	0	1	4	3	12	−9	000.00
Russia	3	0	1	2	2	4	−2	000.00
San Marino	8	8	0	0	17	0	+17	100.00
Saudi Arabia	2	1	0	1	4	3	+1	050.00
Scotland	2	0	1	1	1	3	−2	000.00
Serbia	2	0	0	2	0	6	−6	000.00
Slovakia	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	033.33
Slovenia	2	0	0	2	1	5	−4	000.00
South Korea	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1	000.00
Sudan	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1	100.00
Sweden	8	0	0	8	3	21	−18	000.00
Switzerland	3	0	0	3	1	6	−5	000.00
Turkey	11	0	2	9	3	29	−26	000.00
Ukraine	5	0	2	3	3	6	−3	000.00
United Arab Emirates	1	0	0	1	2	3	−1	000.00
United States	2	0	1	1	1	4	−3	000.00
Venezuela	1	0	0	1	0	4	−4	000.00
Wales	4	1	0	3	3	9	−6	025.00
Total	239	46	57	136	191	388	−197	019.25

Managers

Statistics correct as of match played on 9 January 2020[4]

Coach	Nat.	Period	Played	Win	Drawn	Loss	% Won
Ion Caras		1991–1992, 1992–1997 & 2012–2014	56	11	11	34	019.64
Evghenii Piunovschii		1992	5	3	0	2	060.00
Ivan Daniliants		1998–1999	14	2	7	5	014.29
Alexandru Mațiura		1999–2001	17	4	4	9	023.53
Alexandru Spiridon		2001 & 2018–2019	20	4	5	11	020.00
Viktor Pasulko		2002–2006	35	7	8	20	020.00
Anatol Teslev		2006–2007	6	1	2	3	016.67
Igor Dobrovolski		2007–2009 & 2016–2017	48	9	14	25	018.75
Gavril Balint		2010–2011	18	5	2	11	027.78
Alexandru Curtianu		2014–2015	10	0	4	6	000.00
Ștefan Stoica		2015	3	0	0	3	000.00
Semen Altman		2019	4	0	0	4	000.00
Engin Fırat		2019–	3	0	0	3	000.00

Current sponsorship

The Official kit provider is currently manufactured by German sports company Jako since 2000.

• Official sponsors: Bere Chișinău, Jako, Rusnac, Infront Sports & Media (Moldova), Bemol, iTicket (Moldova), Vizită, Orange (Moldova)

See also

• Moldova national football team results
• Category:Moldovan footballers
• Category:Moldova international footballers
• Category:Moldovan football biography stubs

References

1. "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. 16 July 2020. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
2. FIFA member since 16 June 1994.
3. "LOTUL FINAL AL NAȚIONALEI PENTRU PARTIDA CU SUEDIA" [Enlarged national team for the matches with Sweden]. fmf.md (in Romanian). Moldovan Football Federation. 5 January 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
4. "Moldova national team managers". eu-football.info. Retrieved 9 January 2020.

External links

• Federația Moldovenească de Fotbal (in Russian and Romanian)
• RSSSF archive of results: 1991–present (in English)
• Reports for all matches of Moldova national team (in English)