Moldova national football team

Moldova
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)Tricolorii (The Tricolours)
AssociationMoldovan Football Federation
(Federația Moldovenească de Fotbal, FMF)
ConfederationUEFA (Europe)
Head coachSerghei Cleșcenco
CaptainVadim Rață
Most capsAlexandru Epureanu (100)
Top scorerIon Nicolaescu (16)
Home stadiumZimbru Stadium
FIFA codeMDA
First colours
Second colours
Third colours
FIFA ranking
Current 150 Decrease 1 (24 October 2024)[1]
Highest37 (April 2008)
Lowest181 (October 2021 – February 2022)
First international
Unofficial
 Moldova 2–4 Georgia 
(Chișinău, SSR Moldova, Soviet Union; 2 July 1991)
Official
 United States 1–1 Moldova 
(Jacksonville, United States; 16 April 1994)
Biggest win
 Pakistan 0–5 Moldova 
(Amman, Jordan; 18 August 1992)
Biggest defeat
 Denmark 8–0 Moldova 
(Herning, Denmark; 28 March 2021)
Websitefmf.md
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(in Romanian)

The Moldova national football team (Romanian: Echipa națională de fotbal a Moldovei) represents Moldova in men's international football and is administered 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 Serghei Cleșcenco. Shortly before the break-up of the Soviet Union, they played their first match against Georgia on 2 July 1991.

Two of their three best results in the 2020s came during the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2024, with a win over Poland (3–2) in Chișinău, coming back from a 0–2 deficit, and a draw against Czech Republic (0–0) in Chișinău. In 2007, Moldova upset Hungary 3–0 in Chișinău in Euro 2008 qualifying. Another notable 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 since first entering qualifying in 1994.

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.

  1. ^ "The FIFA/Coca-Cola Men's World Ranking". FIFA. 24 October 2024. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
  2. ^ Elo rankings change compared to one year ago. "World Football Elo Ratings". eloratings.net. 16 October 2024. Retrieved 16 October 2024.