Dropping out of the third qualifying round of the Champions League, which was the best result in the history of our team in the most prestigious European football tournament, Pyunik will continue its performances in the playoff round of the Europa League.
Our team’s rival is Moldova’s champion Sheriff Tiraspol, which is well known to Armenian football fans, as it has already played with Armenian teams several times in the European Cups.
It should be noted that this will be the second confrontation of Pyunik and Sheriff in the European Cups. The teams first played in the first qualifying round of the 2006/07 Champions League where in both legs the luck was on the Moldovan club’s side (0:0, 2:0).
The history
The club was based in 1997 and represents the city of Tiraspol. Sheriff is the most titled club of Moldova and the unchanging champion of the country for the last 7 years. During its 25-year history Sheriff has become the Moldovan champion 20 times, the Cup winner 11 times and the Super Cup winner 7 times. Sheriff also won the CIS and Baltic States Commonwealth Cup twice (2003, 2009).
The stadium
The team plays its home matches at the Sheriff stadium, which was opened in June 2002. The stadium has a capacity of 12,746 spectators.
Sheriff in the Eurocups
The Moldovan champion has considerable experience in playing in the European Cups. Sheriff made its debut in the European Cups in the 1999/00 UEFA Cup. Its first serious achievement in the Eurocups was in the 2009/10 season, when it reached the playoff round of the Champions League, but lost both legs to Greek Olympiacos and qualified for the group stage of the first Europa League.
In the Eurocups Sheriff has played with Armenian clubs four times and managed to win all the matches. Moreover, all the matches took place within the framework of the Champions League. In the 2001/02 season Sheriff won Araks Ararat in both legs (2:0, 1:0), it also overcame Pyunik (2006/07 season, 2:0, 0:0), Ulis (2012/13 season,1:0, 1:0) and Alashkert (2021/22 season, 3:1, 1:0).
The previous season was the best in Sheriff's history. The Moldovan club became the dark horse of the Champions League, reaching the group stage and having sensational wins over Shakhtar Donetsk and the future winner of the tournament, Real Madrid.
