FC Sheriff Tiraspol

Fotbal Club Sheriff Tiraspol (Russian: ФК Шериф Тирасполь), commonly known as Sheriff Tiraspol or simply Sheriff, is a professional football club based in Tiraspol, a city located in the unrecognised breakaway state of Transnistria, that plays in the Liga, the top tier of Moldovan football. Founded in 1997 as Tiras Tiraspol and rebranded the following year as Sheriff, it quickly established itself within Moldovan football.

"The Wasps" recorded their debut in the first league in the 1998–99 season, when they also won their first trophy, the Moldovan Cup. They have since amassed 21 championship titles, 13 Cups, and seven Super Cups–all competition records. On the European stage, Sheriff has reached the group stage of the UEFA Europa League on six occasions and in 2021 became the first ever Moldovan side to reach the group stages of the UEFA Champions League, where they would go on to notch a win against eventual champions Real Madrid before eventually exiting the competition.

The club takes its current name from its main sponsor, Sheriff, a company which operates nearly all forms of profitable private industries in Transnistria. Both FC Sheriff and the parent company Sheriff are considered intimately aligned with Transnistrian separatism and pro-Russian sympathies.

Home games are played in yellow and black kits at the Sheriff Arena, to which the club moved in 2002 and which has a capacity of 12,746.

History

The club was originally established in 1996 and introduced in the Moldovan "B" Division as FC Tiras Tiraspol. On 4 April 1997, former KGB officer Viktor Gushan, owner of the conglomerate Sheriff which remains a key sponsor, renamed it FC Sheriff Tiraspol.