Today, on June 11 in Chisinau, the Ukraine national team will play a friendly match as part of their preparation for Euro-2024. We present our opponent.

Moldova

General Information

As of April 2024, Moldovans held the 153rd place in the official FIFA ranking. The first match in history for the Moldova national team was played on April 16, 1991 against the United States (1-1), their biggest victory came on August 18, 1994 over Pakistan (5-0), and their worst defeat occurred on March 28, 2021 against Denmark (0-8). The team has the nickname "Tricolors."

The Moldova national team has never qualified for the finals of World Cup or European Championships.

Squad

In the friendly match against Ukraine, head coach Sergei Klichev will be able to count on 26 players.

Goalkeepers: Oleksiy Koshelev ("Lamia 1964", Greece), Dorian Ryljan ("Dinamo" Bucharest, Romania), Cristian Avram ("Araz-Nakhichevan", Azerbaijan), Nicolai Chebotar ("Zimbru").

Defenders: Vyacheslav Posmak ("Boluспор", Turkey), Oleg Ryabchuk ("Spartak", Russia), Ioan-Kelin Revenco, Arthur Krechun (both - "Puszcza Niepomnychi"), Vladyslav Baboglo ("Karpaty", Ukraine), Denis Marandich ("Turan Tovuz", Azerbaijan), Sergiy Pletike, Viktor Mudrak (both - "Petrol Kuban").

Midfielders: Arthur Ionice ("Lecce 1912", Italy), Vadim Rats ("Voluntari", Romania), Mikhail Kaimakov ("Slaven Belupo", Croatia), Nikita Motpan ("Fakel", Russia), Viktor Stine ("Larissa", Greece), Viktor Bogachuk ("Kindia Targoviste", Romania), Seraphim Kozokary ("Uniera Slobozia", Romania), Mikhail Pletike ("Petrol Kuban").

Forwards: Ion Nicolae ("Heerenveen", Netherlands), Vitaliy Damashkan ("Stade Lausanne-Ouchy", Switzerland), Virgiliu Postolacu ("Grenoble", France), Maxim Kozokaru ("Kindia Targoviste", Romania), Dmitrii Mandrychenko ("Dinava", Lithuania), Niki Klichev ("Petrol Kuban").

The most players in the Moldova national team come from Romanian and Moldovan Super League. Four clubs in Romania's championship - "Dinamo" B, "Voluntari", "Kindia Targoviste", and "Uniera Slobozia", as well as two clubs in Moldova's championship - "Zimbru" and "Petrol Kuban" - each have five players representing them. The oldest player is midfielder Mikhail Pletike from "Petrol Kuban", who is 34 years and 2 months old, while the youngest is his teammate, 22-year-old forward Niki Klichev.

Head Coach

52-year-old Moldovan specialist Sergei Klichev has been coaching the national team since December 2021. He replaced Italian Roberto Bordina in this position.

Previously, Klichev worked with Moldovan "Milsami" and "Zimbru", Portuguese "Leiria", Russian "Rostov", as well as the Moldova national teams U-17 and U-21. With "Milsami," he won the Moldovan Cup (2011/2012) and the Super Cup of Moldova (2011/2012).

Under this coach, the Moldova national team has played 24 matches, winning seven, drawing seven, and losing ten.

The specialist is a supporter of the playing system 3-4-2-1.

Leader

Currently, the undisputed leader of the Moldova national team is forward Ion Nicolae from Dutch "Heerenveen."

The 25-year-old Nicolae has played in 43 matches for the national team, scoring 15 goals. He is the top scorer in the history of the national team.

Previously, Nicolae defended the colors of Moldovan "Zimbru", Belarusian "Shakhter" and "Vitebsk", Slovak DAC 1904, Israeli "Maccabi" P-T and "Beitar". With Soligorsk Shakhtar he won the Belarus Cup (2018), was a silver and bronze medalist of the Belarus championship (2018, 2019).

We remind you that the friendly match between Moldova and Ukraine national teams will take place on June 11 in Chisinau at the "Zimbru" stadium (kickoff - 7 PM Kyiv time).