FC Zimbru Chișinău in European football

Zimbru in European football
Club	Zimbru Chișinău
First entry	1993–94 Champions League
Latest entry	2023–24 Conference League

FC Zimbru is a Moldovan football club based in Botanica, Chișinău. They were the first Moldovan club to enter European competition, entering the UEFA Champions League in 1993. Since then, the club has competed in every UEFA-organised competition, with the exception of the now-defunct Intertoto Cup.
Zimbru played their first European match on 18 August 1993 against Beitar from Jerusalem. The match took place at Republican Stadium in Chișinău, ended in a 1–1 draw, with Radu Rebeja scoring the equalizer in front of 13,000 spectators.^[1]
Midfielder Boris Cebotari holds the record for playing in the most European matches for Zimbru with 31 appearances while Vadim Boreț, Victor Berco and Sergiu Epureanu are the club's top scorers with five goals each. In total, Zimbru have appeared in 20 European competitions.^[2]

Matches[edit]

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Agg.
1993–94	Champions League	Preliminary round	Beitar Jerusalem	1–1	0–2	1–3

1994–95	UEFA Cup	Preliminary round	Kispest Honvéd	0–1	1–4	1–5

1995–96	UEFA Cup	Preliminary round	Hapoel Tel Aviv	2–0	0–0	2–0
		First round	RAF Jelgava	1–0	2–1	3–1
		Second round	Sparta Prague	0–2	3–4	3–6

1996–97	UEFA Cup	Preliminary round	Hajduk Split	0–4	1–2	1–6

1997–98	Cup Winners' Cup	Qualifying round	Shakhtar Donetsk	1–1	0–3	1–4

1998–99	Champions League	First qualifying round	Újpest	1–0	1–3	2–3

1999–00	Champions League	First qualifying round	St Patrick's Athletic	5–0	5–0	10–0
		Second qualifying round	Dinamo Tbilisi	2–0	1–2	3–2
		Third qualifying round	PSV Eindhoven	0–0	0–2	0–2
	UEFA Cup	First round	Tottenham Hotspur	0–0	0–3	0–3

2000–01	Champions League	First qualifying round	KF Tirana	3–2	3–2	6–4
		Second qualifying round	Maribor	2–0	0–1	2–1
		Third qualifying round	Sparta Prague	0–1	0–1	0–2
	UEFA Cup	First round	Hertha Berlin	1–2	0–2	1–4

2001–02	UEFA Cup	Qualifying round	Gaziantepspor	0–0	1–4	1–4

2002–03	UEFA Cup	Qualifying round	IFK Göteborg	3–1	2–2	5–3
2002–03	UEFA Cup	First round	Real Betis	0–2	1–2	1–4

2003–04	UEFA Cup	Qualifying round	Litex Lovech	2–0	0–0	2–0
2003–04	UEFA Cup	First round	Aris	1–1	1–2	2–3

2006–07	UEFA Cup	First qualifying round	Qarabağ	1–1	2–1 (a.e.t)	3–2
2006–07	UEFA Cup	Second qualifying round	Metalurh Zaporizhya	0–0	0–3	0–3

2007–08	UEFA Cup	First qualifying round	Artmedia Petržalka	2–2	1–1	3–3 (a)

2009–10	Europa League	First qualifying round	Okzhetpes	1–2	2–0	3–2
2009–10	Europa League	Second qualifying round	Paços de Ferreira	0–0	0–1	0–1

2012–13	Europa League	First qualifying round	Bangor City	2–1	0–0	2–1
2012–13	Europa League	Second qualifying round	Young Boys	1–0 (a.e.t)	0–1	1–1 (1–4 p)

2014–15	Europa League	First qualifying round	Shkëndija Tetovo	2–0	1–2	3–2
		Second qualifying round	CSKA Sofia	0–0	1–1	1–1 (a)
		Third qualifying round	Grödig	0–1	2–1	2–2 (a)
		Play-off round	PAOK	1–0	0–4	1–4

2016–17	Europa League	First qualifying round	Chikhura Sachkhere	0–1	3–2	3–3 (a)
2016–17	Europa League	Second qualifying round	Osmanlıspor	2–2	0–5	2–7

2023–24	Europa Conference League	First qualifying round	La Fiorita	1–0	1–1	2–1
2023–24	Europa Conference League	Second qualifying round	Fenerbahçe	0–4	0–5	0–9

Overall record[edit]

By competition[edit]

Competition	S	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
UEFA Champions League	4	16	7	2	7	24	17	+7	43.75
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1	2	0	1	1	1	4	–3	0.00
UEFA Europa League / UEFA Cup	14	50	13	15	22	46	71	–25	26.00
UEFA Europa Conference League	1	4	1	1	2	2	10	–8	25.00
Total	20	72	21	19	32	73	102	–29	29.17

By country[edit]

Opponents	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Albania	2	2	0	0	6	4	+2
Austria	2	1	0	1	2	2	0
Azerbaijan	2	1	1	0	3	2	+1
Bulgaria	4	1	3	0	3	1	+2
Croatia	2	0	0	2	1	6	−5
Czech Republic	4	0	0	4	3	8	−5
England	2	0	1	1	0	3	−3
Georgia	4	2	0	2	6	5	+1
Germany	2	0	0	2	1	4	−3
Greece	4	1	1	2	3	7	−4
Hungary	4	1	0	3	3	8	−5
Ireland	2	2	0	0	10	0	+10
Israel	4	1	2	1	3	3	0
Kazakhstan	2	1	0	1	3	2	+1
Latvia	2	2	0	0	3	1	+2
Macedonia	2	1	0	1	3	2	+1
Netherlands	2	0	1	1	0	2	−2
Portugal	2	0	1	1	0	1	−1
San Marino	2	1	1	0	2	1	+1
Slovakia	2	0	2	0	3	3	0
Slovenia	2	1	0	1	2	1	+1
Spain	2	0	0	2	1	4	−3
Sweden	2	1	1	0	5	3	+2
Switzerland	2	1	0	1	1	1	0
Turkey	6	0	2	4	3	20	−17
Ukraine	4	0	2	2	1	7	−6
Wales	2	1	1	0	2	1	+1

Player statistics[edit]

Players in bold are still active at the club. Correct as of 1 August 2023.^[2]

Goal scorers[edit]

Key

UCL	UEFA Champions League
CWC	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
UEL	UEFA Europa League / UEFA Cup
ECL	UEFA Europa Conference League

Ranking	Name	Years	UCL	CWC	UEL	ECL	Total
1	Vadim Boreț	1999–2000	5	0	0	0	5
1	Victor Berco	1999–2000	5	0	0	0	5
1	Sergiu Epureanu	1999–2000	4	0	1	0	5
4	Boris Cebotari	2001–2003	0	0	4	0	4
5	Konstantin Kulik	1998–2000	3	0	0	0	3
5	Igor Oprea	1999–2000	3	0	0	0	3
5	Vladislav Gavriliuc	1995	0	0	3	0	3
5	Ion Testemițanu	1995	0	0	3	0	3
5	Daniel Bălașa	2003–2006	0	0	3	0	3
10	Boris Tropaneț	1999	2	0	0	0	2
10	Radu Rebeja	1993–1995	1	0	1	0	2
10	Viorel Frunză	2002	0	0	2	0	2
10	Levan Gvazava	2002	0	0	2	0	2
10	Aleksei Zhdanov	2007	0	0	2	0	2
10	Oleg Molla	2012	0	0	2	0	2
10	Serghei Alexeev	2014	0	0	2	0	2
10	Emerson	2016	0	0	2	0	2
18	Serghei Dodul	1999	1	0	0	0	1
18	Serhiy Zgura	1997	0	1	0	0	1
18	Anatol Tîmbur	1994	0	0	1	0	1
18	Alexandru Suharev	1995	0	0	1	0	1
18	Iurie Miterev	1996	0	0	1	0	1
18	Vladimir Shishelov	2003	0	0	1	0	1
18	Galust Petrosyan	2006	0	0	1	0	1
18	Sergiu Chirilov	2006	0	0	1	0	1
18	Kyrylo Kovalchuk	2007	0	0	1	0	1
18	Ion Demerji	2009	0	0	1	0	1
18	Oleg Andronic	2009	0	0	1	0	1
18	Gheorghe Andronic	2009	0	0	1	0	1
18	Akhmet Barakhoev	2012	0	0	1	0	1
18	Alexandru Grosu	2014	0	0	1	0	1
18	Landry Amani	2014	0	0	1	0	1
18	Alexandru Pașcenco	2014	0	0	1	0	1
18	Ștefan Burghiu	2014	0	0	1	0	1
18	Ion Jardan	2016	0	0	1	0	1
18	Veaceslav Zagaevschi	2016	0	0	1	0	1
18	Ilie Damașcan	2016	0	0	1	0	1
18	Marin Căruntu	2023	0	0	0	1	1
18	Denys Dedechko	2023	0	0	0	1	1

Own goal

Simon Handle (in the match Grödig – Zimbru)

Most appearances[edit]

Place	Name	Period	Apps
1	Boris Cebotari	1993–2006	31
2	Iurie Miterev	1993–2001	29
3	Vadim Boreț	1994–2000	27
4	Denis Romanenco	1994–2001	24
5	Igor Oprea	1996–2003	23
6	Valeriu Catînsus Sergiu Epureanu	1998–2001 1998–2001	20
8	Konstantin Kulik	1998–2001	19
9	Victor Berco	1998–2001	18
10	Ion Testemițanu Radu Rebeja Andriy Telesnenko Ruslan Gilazev	1993–1998 1993–1998 1998–2000 1999–2000	16

Record results[edit]

Biggest home win: Zimbru – St Patrick's Athletic 5:0 (21 July 1999)^[2]
Biggest home defeat: Zimbru – Hajduk Split 0:4 (17 July 1996), Zimbru – Fenerbahçe 0:4 (1 August 2023)
Biggest away win: St Patrick's Athletic – Zimbru 0:5 (14 July 1999)
Biggest away defeat: Osmanlıspor – Zimbru 5:0 (21 July 2016), Fenerbahçe – Zimbru 5:0 (26 July 2023)

UEFA ranking 2024[edit]

Rank	Team	Points
350	Zimbru Chișinău	2.625

As of 18 December 2023. Source

References[edit]

^ "First UEFA match". fc-dynamo.ru.
^ ^a ^b ^c Club records

External links[edit]

Zimbru Chișinău at UEFA.com
Zimbru Chișinău at worldfootball.net
Zimbru Chișinău at mackolik.com
Zimbru Chișinău at soccerway.com

[1] "First UEFA match". fc-dynamo.ru.

[Club_records-2] Club records

[1]

[2]