sports

With four goals against Tiligul's zero, FC Sheriff Tiraspol now heads to the UEFA Champions League with four games to spare. Despite neither of them wanting to be part of Moldova, the two teams had to battle it out for supremacy in the Moldovan National League. FC Sheriff has held the title uninterrupted for the past eight years.

With the latest arrival of Fred Nelson De Oliveira, Pridnestrovie's capital is feeling the Brazilian invasion on the soccer field. The midfielder is the fifth Brazilian to have signed with FC Sheriff Tiraspol. The team also has contract players from Argentina and a number of African countries.

On the latest list of the world's leading football clubs, Pridnestrovie's top team is now number 137. FC Sheriff Tiraspol is just a few spots away from overtaking such teams as Holland's Ajax or Lokomotiv from Moscow. The rankings are published monthly by IFFHS in Germany.

FC Sheriff is preparing itself to put Pridnestrovie's name on the map this year. The Tiraspol-based team has set its sights on the UEFA Champions League. To get there, it has hired new players from Argentina, Romania and from within Pridnestrovie itself.

Luis Rodriguez is the latest player from Argentina to sign with FC Sheriff Tiraspol. The team already has players from a total of ten different countries. It is the leading football club in Transdniestria (Transnistria, in Romanian).

Tiraspol's leading football club, FC Sheriff, currently holds the ecord for the longest winning streak of any team in the world. That is reported by FIFA, the International Federation of Association Football. The previous record was held by Luxembourg, a country only half the size of Pridnestrovie.

Pridnestrovie's dreams of the UEFA Champions League have gone "cold Turkey". On Wednesday, Turkey's Besiktas soccer club beat FC Sheriff Tiraspol 3-0. The international match took place in Tiraspol, Pridnestrovie's capital.

Playing in the capital of the independent country of Andorra, Tiraspol's FC Sheriff won 3-0 over the home team. The repeat win came after last week's victory over Andorra in Tiraspol, the capital of Pridnestrovie. Andorra is one of Europe's smallest countries: It fits inside Pridnestrovie nine times.

Some of Pridnestrovie's women are flexing their muscles - and bringing home gold medals as a result. In the regional bodybuilding finals in Odessa, PMR took first prize for female body fitness. In May, Tiraspol will host an international bodybuilding tournament.

Tiraspol's leading football club is celebrating its 10th birthday today. Founded on 4 April 1997, the club wasn't sure if it would still live in an independent country ten years later. But to celebrate its staying power (and that of Pridnestrovie) it is now leaving behind its former Moldovan Internet domain.