The Zimbru Stadium () is a football-specific stadium in

Chișinău Chișinău ( , , ; formerly known as Kishinev) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Moldova, largest city of Moldova. The city is Moldova's main industrial and commercial centre, and is located in the middle of the coun ...

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

, completed in May 2006 with a capacity of 10,104 people, meeting all norms required by

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

and

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

for national and international matches. Starting from June 2016, the

Moldovan Football Federation The Moldovan Football Federation (; FMF) is the governing body of football (soccer), football in Moldova. It oversees all national football competitions, including the top-tier Moldovan Super Liga, Moldovan Liga. The federation organises the natio ...

took over the administration of Zimbru Stadium for a period of 10 years. Through this decision, the FMF assumed responsibility towards international football structures to modernize the stadium, ensuring that it meets all the necessary conditions for organizing matches in the international football tournament preliminaries held in Chișinău.

Construction

The construction of the sports complex on Dacia Boulevard began in 2004. The project for the future facility was developed by the staff of the Ceproserving Institute. The majority of the work was carried out by Inconex-Com. Other companies, including Moldovan ones, also participated in the construction that lasted for 27 months. During the construction process, numerous problems arose that were not easily resolved. However, the Zimbru Stadium was still built. Foreign specialists actively participated in the construction and development of the stadium in Chișinău. The grass field on the pitch was laid by the well-known Swiss company Matomatic. The projectors for illuminating the arena were made at the German Siteco factory, and Ukrainian specialists were involved in the production of video boards.

Opening

The stadium was inaugurated on 20 May 2006, in a match between Zimbru Chișinău and Krylia Sovetov Samara, which ended in a 1–1 draw.

Facilities

The VIP box is reserved for 250 people. Sports journalists have 44 places at their disposal. The arena meets all the requirements for holding official international matches. For the sound insulation of the Zimbru Arena, it was covered with special soundproof panels produced in

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

along the entire perimeter. The Zimbru sports complex includes three stadiums, a mini-football field, tennis courts, a gym, residential blocks for football players, a medical centre, an administrative block, a ''Young Football Player Training Center,'' a

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

, and a museum. The club also has three standard-sized outdoor tennis courts intended for tennis matches. The courts are equipped with artificial covering, ensuring conditions for playing lawn tennis.

Usage

The Zimbru Stadium in Chișinău is currently used mostly for

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

matches and is the home stadium of Zimbru Chișinău and the

Moldova national football team The Moldova national football team () represents Moldova in men's international Association football, football and is administered by the Moldovan Football Federation, the governing body for football in Moldova. Moldova's home ground is Zimbru ...

. Other Moldovan clubs also play their home games here in European tournaments. In September 2022 Sheriff Tiraspol played their

2022–23 UEFA Europa League The 2022–23 UEFA Europa League was the 52nd season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 14th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. Sevilla defeated Roma in the final pl ...

, due to the

decision prohibiting games in

Transnistria Transnistria, officially known as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic and locally as Pridnestrovie, is a Landlocked country, landlocked Transnistria conflict#International recognition of Transnistria, breakaway state internationally recogn ...

due to

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. It also hosted concerts of

Scorpions Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the Order (biology), order Scorpiones. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by a pair of Chela (organ), grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward cur ...

, Okean Elzy.

Zimbru-2 Stadium and CPTF Stadium

Zimbru-2 Stadium, with natural grass, and CPTF Stadium, with artificial grass, both situated within the Zimbru sports complex, and have a seating capacity of 2,000. Stadiums serves as the home ground for Zimbru Chișinău, Zimbru-2 Chișinău and Zimbru youth teams.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zimbru FC Zimbru Chișinău Football venues in Moldova

Stadiums in Chișinău Multi-purpose stadiums in Europe Moldova national football team Sports venues completed in 2006 2006 establishments in Moldova