This week, Farul Constanța of Romania and Sheriff Tiraspol of Moldova will face off in the opening leg of the Champions League first round of qualification for the 2023–24 season at the Stadionul Central.
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Farul enters the 2018 season having shocked Romania with a surprising victory in the SuperLiga. Farul is led by the illustrious Romanian Gheorghe Hagi, who also owns the team.
After finishing sixth the previous season, they were only in the top division of football for two seasons.
The team finished the regular season with 63 points before sweeping six out of the ten matches in the playoff round and dropping only one during this time.
The Supercupa Romaniei final, which Sepsi won by a score of 1-0 last weekend, was one of their most recent losses.
Farul lost 3-0 to Warta Poznan in a club friendly, 5-0 to Banik in a different friendly, and 2-1 to Pogon Szczecin earlier in the season.
After the season's finish, Farul attempted to overcome Politehnica Iași 1-0 in a friendly match in addition to losing to PAOK of Greece 3-0.
After defeating Sepsi in the SuperLiga play-off game, Farul returned to fierce competition and won the regular-season finale with goals from Adrian Mazilu and Constantin Grameni.
The team scored 54 goals while conceding 28 in just four additional losses and victories in 19 of the 30 games.
Despite having hardly played in the previous six weeks, Sheriff entered this match having defeated FC Balti on penalties after a scoreless draw.
The team won 10 of its 14 regular-season games to win the Moldovan National Division once more.
After that, they go on to win seven of their ten games in the Championship round while also being undefeated.
For the previous few years, Sheriff has also constantly competed in European football, and during the most recent season, they advanced to the round of 16 of the Europa Conference League.
