At a time when people talk about Manchester United, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Chivas USA, and other teams; the soccer/football world tends to forget the gems that are present in but not appreciated. One of the gems in the soccer/football world is Zembru Chisinau. The time has come to talk about the history and times of Zimbru Chisinau.

 

FC Zimbru Chisinau was formed after World War II in the Moldovan Soviet Republic [once a Republic within the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or USSR] which is present day Moldova. It should be remembered that Moldova and the Moldovan Soviet Reprublic was formed from territory taken from Romania by Russia [when it was the USSR] during World War II. There are people who say that Moldova became a part of the USSR on a voluntary basis. 

 

Zimbru Chisinau is the Romanian Word for a form of European Bison.

After finishing this detail of history, we can continue with FC Zimbru Chisinau. FC Zimbru Chisinau functioned under various names such as Dynamo, Burevestnik, Moldova, Avintul, and Nistra. FC Zimbru Chisinau had two eras which of course were the Soviet and Moldovan Era which will be discussed fully.

 

The Soviet Era of FC Zimbru Chisinau was characterized by being in Class B of its football league until its eventual promotion to Class A. There was a  time of relegation and promotion between Class A, Class B, as well as Top League and First League. FC Zimbru Chisinau was once in the quarterfinals of the Soviet Cup in 1963.

 

For those who are not familiar with the Soviet Cup, it was a football/soccer cup which existed in the USSR from 1936 to 1991. I remember hearing some of the games on Radio Moscow with my shortwave radio.

 

The fortunes of FC Zimbru Chisinau changed after the fall of the USSR and the establishment of the Republic of Moldova. FC Zimbru Chisinau won the Divizia Nationala eight times with five consecutive victories between 1992 to 1996. They won the Moldovan Cup five times.

 

Before continuing with the history of FC Zimbru Chisinau, it is important to discuss the history of the Divizia Nationala and the Moldovan Cup. The Divizia Nationala is the Moldovan National Division and is the top division in Moldovan Football. It was formed in 1992 and is composed of 12 teams. After the end of football/soccer season in Moldova, the club that is in the bottom tier is relegated to the A Division. The Moldovan Cup is a national cup in which all teams in Moldova compete.

 

FC Zimbru Chisinau have participated in the UEFA Cup as second round and the Championship League in the third qualifying round. At the time of this article, FC Zimbru Chisinau is in third place in the Divizia Nationala with 34 points behind FC Dacia and FC Sheriff.

 

Regardless, they are club with pride in its history as manifested by a Museum and a Hotel in their honour. FC Zimbru Chisinau also treat their supporters like family. It is for this reason that the gems of football/soccer such as FC Zimbru Chisinau should not be overlooked.

 

Reference:

 

http://www.helium.com/items/1308114-fc-zimbru-chisinau

 

http://www.fmf.md/champion_en.htm

 

http://www.fmf.md/champion_ro.htm

 

http://www.zimbru.md/?module=pages&pageid=17&PHPSESSID=45892f09c5365ff8a154f4c7422ba507

 

http://www.zimbru.md/?module=pages&pageid=41