Moldova Home 2011

 

 

First international: Moldova 2-4 Georgia (1991)

Biggest win: Moldova 5-0 Pakistan (1992)

Biggest loss: Sweden 6-0 Moldova (2001)

Most capped: Radu Rebeja (74 caps)

Top scorer: Serghei Clescenco (11 goals)

Star player: Alexandru Gatcan (Rostov FC)

Moldova was formed after the break up of the Soviet Union and then played their first international match in 1991 which they lost to Georgia. They have not been a dominant footballing nation over the last 21 years having not qualified for any major tournamentss but still have a few interesting facts about them. 

To start with, probably the most famous footballer David Beckham started his international career against Moldova. After England then beat the Moldovans 4-0 it inspired a British writer and comedian called Tony Hawks (no, not the skateboarder) to travel to Moldova and play the starting eleven at a game of tennis. You can read a bit more about the book and film called "Playing the Moldovans at tennis" here.

Moldovan football was also at the heart of a hoax once before to. The Times newspaper published a list of the top 50 youngsters in world football and at number 30 was a Moldovan prodigy called Masal Bugduv. This guy was reported to be moving to Arsenal at the age of 16 before it was all revealed that he was not even a real person. You can also read a bit more about that story here.