2008–09 Moldovan National Division

Moldovan National Division

Season	2008–09
Champions	FC Sheriff Tiraspol
Relegated	Politehnica Chişinău
Champions League	FC Sheriff Tiraspol
Europa League	FC Zimbru Chişinău, FC Iskra-Stal Rîbniţa, FC Dacia Chişinău
Matches played	165
Goals scored	389 (2.36 per match)
Top goalscorer	Oleg Andronic, FC Zimbru Chisinau (14)
← 2007–08 2009–10 →

The Moldovan National Division 2008-09 (Moldovan: Divizia Naţională) was the 18th season of top-tier football in Moldova. The season started on 2 July 2008 and ended on 17 May 2009.

Just prior to the start of the season, FC Politehnica Chişinău withdrew from the competition, causing the league to play with 11 teams this year. Further, CSCA-Steaua Chişinău merged with FC Rapid Ghidighici. The new club play under the name CSCA-Rapid Chişinău.

Clubs

Olimpia

Dinamo

Chisinau

CSCA-Rapid

Nistru

Iskra-Stali

Tiraspol

Chisinau teams:
Academia
Dacia
Politehnica
Zimbru

Tiraspol teams:
Sheriff
Tiligul-Tiras
FC Tiraspol

Location of teams in Moldovan National Division 2008–09

Club	Location	Stadium	Capacity
FC Academia UTM	Chişinău	Dinamo Stadium (Chişinău)	2,692
CSCA-Rapid Chişinău	Ghidighici	Stadionul Ghidighici	2,000
FC Dacia	Chişinău	Stadionul Republican	8,100
FC Dinamo	Bender	Dinamo Stadium (Bender)	1,000
FC Iskra-Stali	Rîbniţa	Orăşenesc Stadium	2,000
FC Nistru	Otaci	Călărăseuca Stadium	3,000
FC Olimpia	Bălţi	Olimpia Bălţi Stadium	5,000
Politehnica Chişinău	Chişinău	Dinamo Stadium (Chişinău)	2,692
FC Sheriff	Tiraspol	Sheriff Stadium	14,300
CS Tiligul-Tiras	Tiraspol	Stadionul Municipal	3,525
FC Tiraspol	Tiraspol	Sheriff Stadium	14,300
FC Zimbru	Chişinău	Zimbru Stadium	10,500

Promotion and relegation

Due to the withdrawal of FC Rapid Ghidighici in mid-November 2007, no teams were relegated to Moldovan "A" Division. Promoted to Moldova's top-tier football were FC Academia UTM Chişinău.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Sheriff Tiraspol (C)	30	25	3	2	61	15	+46	78	2009–10 UEFA Champions League Second qualifying round
2	Dacia Chişinău	30	20	3	7	47	17	+30	63	2009–10 UEFA Europa League Second qualifying round 1
3	Iskra-Stal Rîbniţa	30	14	10	6	28	15	+13	52	2009–10 UEFA Europa League Second qualifying round
4	Zimbru Chişinău	30	13	7	10	42	30	+12	46	2009–10 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round 2
5	Dinamo Bendery	30	11	9	10	42	45	−3	42
6	Olimpia Bălţi	30	11	7	12	30	32	−2	40
7	Tiraspol	30	9	5	16	30	36	−6	32
8	Nistru Otaci	30	8	6	16	30	43	−13	30
9	CSCA–Rapid Chişinău	30	7	8	15	28	47	−19	29
10	Tiligul-Tiras	30	7	4	19	24	60	−36	25	Folded 3
11	Academia UTM Chişinău	30	6	6	18	27	49	−22	24
—	Politehnica Chişinău (R)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Relegation to the Moldovan "A" Division 4

Source: Moldovan Football Federation (Romanian)
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2rd head-to-head points; 3rd head-to-head goal difference; 4th goal difference; 5th goals scored; 6th number of wins; 7th Fair play competition.
¹Dacia have qualified for the second qualifying round of Europa League through league performance and their being a finalist in the domestic cup competition.
²Zimbru were at first denied a license for competing in Europa League next year, so their spot should have been taken by 5th placed team Dinamo Bender.^[1] However, Zimbru appealed successfully and eventually were allowed to enter the Europa League.^[2]
3Tiligul-Tiras folded on 6 June 2009 due to financial problems.^[3] As a consequence, Academia Chişinău were spared from relegation.⁴Withdrew from league prior to 1st round, reason unknown.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

The schedule consists of three rounds. During the first two rounds, each team played each other once home and away for a total of 20 matches. The pairings of the third round were then set according to the standings after the first two rounds, giving every team a third game against each opponent for a total of 30 games per team.

First and second round

Home \ Away1	ACA	CRC	DAC	DIN	ISK	NIS	OLI	SHE	TIL	TIR	ZIM
Academia UTM Chişinău		0–2	0–2	2–2	0–0	1–0	0–2	0–1	2–1	2–3	1–5
CSCA–Rapid Chişinău	0–1		1–3	0–0	0–1	1–0	4–0	0–2	1–2	2–1	0–2
Dacia Chişinău	1–0	3–1		3–0	1–0	1–0	2–0	0–2	4–1	2–0	1–1
Dinamo Bendery	1–1	2–0	1–3		2–2	2–1	1–2	0–2	2–2	4–2	2–1
Iskra-Stal Rîbniţa	2–0	0–0	0–1	1–0		0–1	2–0	1–0	4–0	1–1	0–0
Nistru Otaci	3–2	4–1	2–1	3–3	0–0		0–1	1–3	1–3	3–2	0–1
Olimpia Bălţi	3–1	1–1	0–0	1–2	1–1	0–0		1–2	2–0	0–0	1–0
Sheriff Tiraspol	1–0	6–2	2–0	1–2	2–0	2–0	1–0		3–0	2–1	1–1
Tiligul-Tiras	1–0	3–2	0–4	0–0	0–2	1–3	1–2	1–4		1–0	0–4
Tiraspol	3–0	3–2	0–1	2–0	0–1	2–0	1–2	1–2	1–2		0–1
Zimbru Chişinău	2–3	4–0	2–1	2–0	2–0	1–1	3–0	0–2	2–0	1–1

Source: Moldovan Football Federation (Romanian)
¹The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Third round

Key numbers for pairing determination:

23rd round  24th round 25th round  26th round 27th round  28th round
   1 - bye     1 -  2     2 - bye     1 -  4     3 - bye     1 - 6
   2 - 11      8 -  6     3 -  1      2 -  3     4 -  2      2 - 5
   3 - 10      9 -  5     4 - 11      9 -  7     5 -  1      3 - 4
   4 - 9      10 -  4     5 - 10     10 -  6     6 - 11     10 - 8
   5 - 8      11 -  3     6 -  9     11 -  5     7 - 10     11 - 7
   6 - 7     bye -  7     7 -  8    bye -  8     8 -  9    bye - 9

29th round  30th round 31st round  32nd round 33rd round
   4 - bye     1 -  8     5 - bye     1 - 10     6 - bye
   5 -  3      2 -  7     6 -  4      2 -  9     7 -  5
   6 -  2      3 -  6     7 -  3      3 -  8     8 -  4
   7 -  1      4 -  5     8 -  2      4 -  7     9 -  3
   8 - 11     11 -  9     9 -  1      5 -  6    10 -  2
   9 - 10    bye - 10    10 - 11    bye - 11    11 -  1

Home \ Away1	ACA	CRC	DAC	DIN	ISK	NIS	OLI	SHE	TIL	TIR	ZIM
Academia UTM Chişinău						0–0	0–4	3–3		0–1	3–0
CSCA–Rapid Chişinău	1–0		0–0	1–1	0–0				0–0
Dacia Chişinău	2–0					3–0	2–0			1–0	3–0
Dinamo Bendery	2–2		2–1		0–3	2–1				1–0
Iskra-Stal Rîbniţa	0–3		1–0			2–0	0–0			1–0
Nistru Otaci		1–2					1–3	0–3	2–0		2–0
Olimpia Bălţi		1–2		1–2				0–1	1–1		1–0
Sheriff Tiraspol		4–1	1–0	2–0	0–0				2–0
Tiligul-Tiras	1–0		0–1	0–5	1–2					0–1
Tiraspol		2–1				0–0	1–0	0–2			1–1
Zimbru Chişinău		0–0		3–1	0–1			0–2	3–2

Source: Moldovan Football Federation (Romanian)
¹The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top goalscorers

Pos	Player	Scored for	Goals
1	Oleg Andronic	FC Zimbru Chisinau	14
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External links

• Official page (Romanian)

References

1. ^ Вместо «Зимбру» в Лиге Европы сыграет бендерское «Динамо» (Russian)
2. ^ «Зимбру» пустили в Лигу Европы (Russian)
3. ^ "Tiligul-Tiras has stopped existing". Moldova.Sports. 6 June 2009. http://moldova.sports.md/en/football/national_division/articles/06-06-2009/1351/tiligul_tiras_has_stopped_existing/. Retrieved 30 June 2009.