Ground #409 - Stadionul Zimbru

Date: 25th March 2025
Location: Sectorul Botanica, Chișinău, Moldova
Ground: Stadionul Zimbru

My second new ground of 2025 was on Tuesday 25th March at Stadionul Zimbru in Sectorul Botanica, Chișinău, Moldova. The game was Moldova vs. Estonia in 2026 World Cup Qualifying.

Stadionul Zimbru sits near the southern tip of the city of Chișinău next to the main Dacia Boulevard road. It has three pitches within the sports complex and is surrounded by a mixture of residential and commercial residences. It is hemmed in by a large tower block on its southern side which overlooks the ground. The venue is 2 miles south of Chișinău-3 station but with the neighbouring Dacia Boulevard being the main road into the city centre it is well served by buses. The venue opened in 2006 and hosts the Moldovan national team and club side FC Zimbru Chișinău.

The stadium is a two-tier bowl on three sides with a 14-row upper deck and a 4-row lower deck. This is mostly uniform with the exception of the middle of the south stand which has a media section taking up the lower deck of this are and one row fewer on the top deck. This section of the ground also has hospitality boxes at the back of the lower deck. 

The southern stand is smaller than the others with the lower deck only having 4 rows of seating. There is a gap in the middle of the stand for the dugouts and player seating at the bottom and the TV gantry on the top level. This stand is the least used in the ground with less attended games utilising the main bowl. When in use for popular games it allows the attendance to reach 10,104.

This World Cup qualifying group match pitted the 151st ranked side in the world against the 123rd ranked side. Moldova had lost their opening match 5-0 to Norway a few days prior, with Estonia going down to a narrow 2-1 defeat to Israel. Moldova had a nightmare start as they were reduced to ten men with less than five minutes on the clock. Vlasiy Sinyavskiy got in behind the home defence and he raced towards goal the last defender Maxim Cojocaru brought him down and received a straight red. Estonia utilised their advantage to get ahead in the 18th minute. It came about when a Michael Schjønning-Larsen shot from 25 yards was deflected by a Moldovan defender towards goal. Andrei Cojunar saved but was only able to parry straight to Rasmus Peetson who tapped in from six yards out. The Moldovan keeper was then at fault for Estonia's second goal on the half-hour mark - a corner from the right was headed towards Cojunar by Rauno Sappinen and though Cojunar caught the ball he had positioned himself well behind the goal line with the ball crossing the line on its way to his hands. The hosts tried to get back into the game and created their best chance in the 36th minute as Ion Nicolaescu's mazy run finished with his curled shot being tipped round the post by Matvei Igonen. 

Moldova's man disadvantage was rectified three minutes into the second half as Estonia's Kevor Palumets received his second booking of the game. The second half was an end-to-end affair with Moldova initially doing well attacking the visiting goal. The Estonians almost went 3-0 up in the 58th minute with Rauno Sappinen clean through on the counter but Andrei Cojunar saved well. At the other end Moldova went close through a header at a corner and then in the 67th minute got on the scoresheet as Ion Nicolaescu picked up the ball after a deflection, strongly held off his man and turned to power home. Hopes of an equaliser didn't last long though with Estonia's Mattias Kait striking a low 20-yard shot past Cojunar to make it 3-1 a couple of minutes afterwards. Moldova did grab another late goal through a deft free-kick by Mihail Caimocov but that was the last of the action as Moldova's World Cup qualifying campaign was effectively consigned to failure within the space of a few days of starting.

Result: Moldova 2-3 Estonia

Competition: World Cup Qualifying

Attendance: 6,112