In the evening, Real Madrid will meet the best football club in Moldova. The balance of power is clear and the outcome can be expected. A Cinderella story? Not at all.
By Fabian Huber
When Real Madrid meets FC Sheriff Tiraspol in the Champions League group stage this Tuesday (9 p.m. / live on DAZN and im stern-Ticker), the matter should be clear. Anything but a clear victory for the Spanish billionaire troops against the eleven from eastern Moldova would be a sensation. But in his own country, the FC Sheriff himself is something like Real Madrid.
In comparison, more dominant than FC Bayern in Germany
Tiraspol, the capital of Transnistria, lies in the 200-kilometer-long strip of land that split off from Moldova in the early 1990s. The stadium of the Champions League newcomer is enthroned here on the outskirts, mighty and sublime. A state-of-the-art football temple, next to it two more arenas, eight training fields and a youth academy. While the competition from the first Moldovan league is playing in better fields, FC Sheriff Tiraspol receives in a complex that is said to have cost 200 million dollars.
Since the turn of the millennium, Tiraspol has been Moldovan champion 19 times. “Sheriff is miles away from the other clubs in Moldova, significantly further than Bayern from the rest of the league in Germany. They are completely dominant,” says Sascha Düerkop. He is the former general secretary of Conifa, the football association for unrecognized states, minorities and regions. A connoisseur of the exotic corners of the ball game.
Ultra-rich club president controls the whole region
The club president of FC Sheriff is Wiktor Guschan, an ex-policeman who has risen to become an oligarch and who runs the Sheriff conglomerate with his former work colleague Ilja Kasmaly. The two ultra-rich hardly appear in public, but have Transnistria in their hands.
The sheriff group sells clothes in German Aldi branches, exports spirits abroad, owns a Mercedes agency in Tiraspol, has a monopoly on the telecommunications market, owns all Transnistrian petrol stations, all noteworthy radio and TV stations, housing associations and advertising agencies , a caviar factory, a large bakery and the only nightclub in the country. He has extensive connections in politics, the president under his wing and his own football club in his portfolio.
“FC Sheriff’s rise to the Champions League is anything but a Cinderella story,” says Sascha Düerkop. “It is a marketing product from a group from a non-recognized state that stands for a difficult human rights situation.”
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
