Where Is Sheriff Tiraspol From? Transnistria's Dominant Club

Real Madrid had 31 shots. Sheriff had 4. It was the 89th minute at the Santiago Bernabéu on 28 September 2021, and the team in yellow and black was about to win.

Sheriff Tiraspol are from Tiraspol, the capital of Transnistria, a breakaway strip of Moldova between the Dniester River and Ukraine. No country recognises Transnistria, but the club plays in Moldova's league and is owned by the Sheriff company. It beat Real Madrid 2-1 that night.

So who are Sheriff Tiraspol, and how does a club like this end up in the Champions League? Chris Horwedel takes the question on in the "FC Sheriff Tiraspol" episode of Why We Love This Club. He puts it more politely than most. "Football has produced simpler away trips," he says.

Is Sheriff Tiraspol in Transnistria?

Yes. Tiraspol sits on the eastern bank of the Dniester and is the de facto capital of Transnistria. Legally it is inside Moldova's borders.

Transnistria split from Moldova as the Soviet Union fell apart. A short war ended in 1992. The territory now has its own government, security forces, currency and border checkpoints, and Russian military personnel are stationed there, officially to keep the peace. Russian is the most common language.

Tiraspol is also about 90 kilometers (55 miles) from the Ukrainian city of Odesa. That distance matters later in this story.

The club still plays in the Moldovan league. An agreement reached in the weeks after the 1992 conflict made clubs from the Transnistrian region full members of the Moldovan Football Federation, which gave them a route into UEFA competition. UEFA lists Sheriff as Moldovan. Supporters in Tiraspol see the club as their own.

Who owns Sheriff Tiraspol?

A company called Sheriff owns it, and the football club is the smaller part of what the company does. The episode says Viktor Gushan and Ilya Kazmaly, both former Soviet security officers, founded the firm in the early 1990s. It began in trade and retail. Then it grew.

Chris lists what the firm now runs: supermarkets, petrol stations, telecoms, media, banking and food production. His point is that in Tiraspol you could buy dinner, fill the car and text a friend about the result without ever leaving the company. Al Jazeera adds a cognac distillery and a caviar farm to the list.

The club's badge is a five-pointed sheriff's star with a football in the middle. It looks like it came from a Western film, and the episode says it comes from the parent company. I couldn't find anyone explaining why the firm picked the name, so I won't guess.

Critics see the team as the glamorous face of a business tied closely to the territory's leadership. Anatoly Dirun, a Tiraspol political analyst, told AFP that Gushan is the person with the most influence there, in both politics and economics. Chris says fans can fairly answer that it is also their local club and the most successful thing Transnistrian football has produced. Both are true. I'd say neither cancels the other.

How did Sheriff win 10 Moldovan titles in a row?

With money, mostly, and better planning than anyone else in the league.

Tiras Tiraspol was reorganised as Sheriff in 1997. At the time Zimbru Chișinău had won eight of the league's first nine championships. Sheriff reached the top division in 1998 and won the Moldovan Cup in 1999. They scored an injury-time equaliser in the final and beat Constructorul Chișinău 2-1 after extra time.

The first league title came in 2001. That was the first of ten in a row, up to 2010. They won the 2006-07 season undefeated. Dacia Chișinău denied them an 11th straight title in 2010-11.

The method, as Chris describes it, was a processing system. Sign players from Eastern Europe, Africa and South America. Give them facilities no Moldovan rival could match. Win the league, play European qualifiers, sell the best players on. Sheriff were the first Moldovan club to sign players from Brazil and Africa.

The facilities were real. The Sheriff Arena opened in July 2002 and seats 12,746. Planet Football put the cost of the whole complex at around $200 million. It also noted that no other Moldovan club, apart from Zimbru, owns its own stadium or training facilities.

On the title count, the episode says 20. That matches AFP's report that the 2022 title was their 19th, plus the 2023 one. Some websites say 21. I'd go with the number that adds up.

How did Sheriff Tiraspol beat Real Madrid?

Slowly, then all at once. Sheriff won the Moldovan title and entered Champions League qualifying in 2021. The group stage had been out of reach for years. Under Ukrainian coach Yuriy Vernydub they beat Teuta, Alashkert and Red Star Belgrade. Then came Dinamo Zagreb, and a 3-0 aggregate win made them the first Moldovan team in the group stage.

The draw put them with Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Shakhtar Donetsk. Chris calls it a reward that might quickly become a punishment. Sheriff beat Shakhtar 2-0 in the opening match instead. Then they went to Madrid.