"Milsami" celebrates the championship at its stadium in Orhei Photo: fmf.md
For the second year in a row, the championship trophy is not going to Tiraspol, as it happened for many years. The hegemony of “Sheriff” is coming to an end, which cannot but please ordinary fans who are eager for a competitive struggle and a bright spectacle.
However, the Tiraspol club still remains the main contender for all titles, having the most solid budget, a good selection of quality players and the most impressive army of fans. Matches at the stadium in Tiraspol remain the most attended (see “Superleague 2024/25 in figures and facts”).
According to the financial statements for 2023, Sheriff’s budget amounted to about €10 million. This is about 10 times the funding of Zimbru and 20 times that of Milsami. The Tiraspol club conducts quality transfer campaigns, training camps, where sparring matches with clubs from different countries are organized. And retains the status of the most titled club in the history of independent Moldova. What other Superleague club can boast a victory over one of the best teams in the world – Real Madrid?
The head coach of “Milsami” Igor Picuschac after the match of the final round of the second stage of the Super League, in which his wards played in Tiraspol with “Sheriff” in a draw (0:0) and thus secured the championship, spoke about the confrontation with the main rival as follows: “Sheriff”, of course, the leader, multiple champion, etc. But let’s not remember the past regalia. We endured and played according to the score, left zero at the end. The guys have done a great job, starting with the training camp. And it’s safe to say, we deserved this title.”
It is noteworthy that these words were said by the pupil of SDYUSHOR No. 4 in Tiraspol, who played for Sheriff and became the top scorer of the championship in the season-2007/08.
After the first stage of the Super League, Milsami was in fifth place among eight clubs, 15 points behind Sheriff. The system introduced by the Moldovan Football Federation (FMF) in the season-2022/23, nullifies all participants of the championship points, and the second stage of the clubs start with a “clean sheet”. If in the first season the innovation did not prevent Sheriff from winning the race for the next title (Petrocub from Hincesti was three points behind), the next season Petrocub took revenge and earned 6 points more than the Tiraspol club.
Having analyzed the last three seasons of the Super League, FMF this spring decided to keep the points for the teams that entered the second phase, with a small correction: the points will be divided by two. Thus, “Sheriff”, consistently becoming the winner at the end of the first phase, will be able to protect themselves from such an abrupt change of situation in the spring stage of the championship. The other teams, in turn, will need to make more efforts in the summer and fall stages to claim high places at the end of the season. The second stage of the Super League will be less spectacular and the teams that finished fifth, like Milsami last season, will have a hard time claiming the championship. But the efforts made by the clubs to keep their place (according to the results of the first stage, two clubs with less points will leave the Super League), will be reinforced and the opportunity to feel more confident in the second stage.
“Milsami” was on its way to its second championship for ten years. In 2015, there was a unique situation – three clubs (“Milsami”, Chisinau “Dacia” and “Sheriff”) earned the same number of points (55 points each), and the fate of the championship was determined by additional indicators. At that time Milsami head coach Yuriy Osipenko said after winning the championship: “We deserved the victory on the soccer field and became champions, although before the start of the season few people believed it”.
This year the words spoken 10 years ago have not lost their relevance. Indeed, before the second stage many people wrote off the club from Orhei. Misami had the task to be among the top four clubs to ensure their participation in the Conference League at least and to cover the expenses for the whole next year. The budget of “Milsami” varies between €500-600 thousand euros, and for participation in only two qualifying rounds of the Conference League last year the club earned €700 thousand. Agree, a good support for a club that does not have a multi-million dollar budget and the ability to attract expensive foreigners.
The examples of Petrocub and Milsami are illustrative – even those clubs that can rely mainly on domestic players can fight with the hegemon, which has high quality foreigners, on equal terms. The Orhei-based club’s attack this season consisted of the experienced 33-year-old midfielder Radu Ginsari, Moroccan international Nabil Hali, Nigerian Ime Udo Ndon, Belgian Danny Lupano and Zambian-born Norwegian striker Kabamba Tumba Kalabatama, who joined the Red Eagles just before the start of the second leg. Radu Ginsari has become the club’s top scorer for the season with nine goals (two on penalties). He shared the second place in the Super League scorers’ table with Spartanii-Sportul forward Isaac Oppong. Only CSF Bălți player Caio Ferreira Martins was better than them, scoring 12 times (one goal from a penalty).
It is necessary to mention the work of the assistants who performed goal assists. Three Milsami players – Alexandru Antoniuc, Daniel Lisu and Radu Ginsari – made five goal assists each. The leader in this indicator in the season-2024/25 was Petrocub striker Vladimir Ambros, whose passes to partners 11 times in the season led to the capture of the opponents’ goal.
The 27-year-old Emil Tymbur played very reliably at the goal in the spring, conceding eight goals in 10 matches. Other goalkeepers of “Milsami” – Mikhail Choban and Denis Vornik – at the first stage of the Super League conceded 18 goals in 14 games (1.29 goals per game). Emil’s reliable actions were the key to his club’s success in the decisive match in Tiraspol: he made six saves, seven interceptions, made one clearance, and most of his long and short passes reached their goal without errors. He was deservedly recognized as the best player of the match between Sheriff and Milsami, receiving a rating of 8.8 based on the data of the sports statistics service SofaScore.
The coaching staff headed by Igor Pikuschak conducted during the winter break a brilliant selection work and contributed to the cohesive actions of the team, improving the quality of the game. Earlier, due to limited funding, “Milsami” often attracted players who had not extended their contracts with previous clubs and became free agents. This led to an imbalance that negatively affected the quality and hence the performance of the game. In the completed Super League season Igor Pikuschak tried to avoid such situations, and this, as we can see, led to very good results.
The soccer season is not over yet – on May 24 at the main arena in Tiraspol “Milsami” and “Sheriff” will fight for the Cup of Moldova in the decisive match. At stake for the club from Orhei is the coveted “golden double”. And the Tiraspol team has the last opportunity to smooth the end of the season by taking one of the national club trophies.
Such a bright and tense end of the season is quite a rare phenomenon in our soccer. Therefore, the fans try to fully enjoy the real competitive struggle and hope that such denouements and fierce struggle will become commonplace for Moldovan soccer.
Super League 2024/25 in figures and facts
The Super League featured 86 matches (56 in the first phase and 30 in the second phase) in which 255 goals were scored (153 in the first phase and 102 in the second phase). Milsami players scored the most goals in both stages (55 goals), Zimbru – in second place (54), Sheriff with 50 goals closed the top three.
The most attended match of the season was the match of the 10th round of the second leg between Sheriff and Milsami – 8.257 spectators were present at the stadium in Tiraspol. This was a record attendance in the completed Super League season. The previous record was set a few months before and also in Tiraspol – in the second round of the match “Sheriff” – “Zimbru” was attended by 7.023 spectators. The absolute record of attendance in the history of Moldovan championships has been held since May 16, 2003, when the match “Sheriff” – “Zimbru” was attended by 13.000 people. It should be noted that the main arena in Tiraspol, commissioned in 2002, has a capacity of 12,746 seats.
“Sheriff” did not become the champion, despite the fact that it has not lost a single match in the Super League (11 wins, three draws in the first stage and five wins, five draws in the second stage), “Milsami” has 6 defeats in the season.
FC Florești was the only club that did not score a single goal in the season. The club conceded 59 unanswered goals in the first phase of the Super League, losing 13 matches and drawing one (0-0).
|
Final standings of the 2nd stage of Super League 2024/25 |
|||||||
| Place | Club |
И |
В | Н | П | М |
О |
|
1 |
“Milsami” |
10 |
6 | 3 | 1 | 25-8 |
21 |
|
2 |
“Sheriff” |
10 |
5 | 5 | 0 | 17-6 |
20 |
|
3 |
“Zimbru” |
10 |
6 | 2 | 2 | 22-9 |
20 |
|
4 |
“Petrocub” |
10 |
4 | 2 | 4 | 20-17 |
14 |
|
5 |
CSF Bălți |
10 |
1 | 2 | 7 | 9-24 |
5 |
|
6 |
“Spartanii-Sportul” |
10 |
0 | 2 | 8 | 9-38 |
2 |
