A trip to Moldova or Luxembourg
Skrevet av Håvard Lindheim, 28. juni 2004, 12:38

Rosenborg will meet the winner of the double meeting between Sheriff Tiraspol (Moldova) and Jeunesse d'Esch (Luxembourg) in the second qualifying stages of this autumn's Champions League.

This was clear after the draw in the UEFA HQ in Nyon, Switzerland.

Rosenborg will play the home leg at Wednesday July 28th, while the away leg is at Wednesday August 4th.

The complete draw for the 2nd qualifying stage:

Pobeda Prilep (MAC)/Pyunik Yerevan (ARM) - Skakhtar Donetsk (UKR)
APOEL Nicosia (CYP) - Sparta Praha (CZE)
Rosenborg - Sheriff Tiraspol (MOL)/Jeunesse d'Esch (LUX)
Young Boys (SUI) - Røde Stjerne (SRB)
Flora Tallinn (EST)/Nova Gorica (SLO) - FC København (DEN)
Siroki Brijeg (BOS)/Neftchi Baku (AZB) - CSKA Moskva (RUS)
Zilina (SVK) - Dinamo Bucuresti (ROM)
HJK Helsinki (FIN)/Linfield (NIR) - Maccabi Tel Aviv (ISR)
Skonto Riga (LAT)/Rhyl (WAL) - Trabzonspor (TUR)
Club Brugge (BEL) - Lokomotiv Plovdiv (BUL)
Gomel (BLS)/Tirana (ALB) - Ferencvaros (HUN)
Hajduk Split (CRO) - KR Reykjavik (ISL)/Shelbourne (IRL)
Djurgården (SWE) - Sliema Wanderers (MLT)/Kaunas (LIT)
WIT Georgia Tbilisi (Georgia)/HB Torshavn (FAR) - Wisla Krakow (POL)

- We will meet Sheriff
rbkweb.com is not in doubt: Sheriff Tiraspol is a far better team than Jeunesse d'Esch. It will be a trip to Moldova at August 4th!

Facts

Fotbal Club Sheriff Founded: 04.04.1997 Belongs in: Tiraspol, Moldova Stadium: Bolshaya Sportivnaya Arena Capacity: 13 000 Suit colours: Yellow shorts, yellow shirt Merits: 4 league and 3 cup golds Coach: Leonid Kuchuk Top scorer 03/04: Andrei Nesteruc, 10 goals in 28 matches Official home page Sheriff in e-cup

A.S. La Jeunesse d'Esch Founded: 1907 Belongs in: Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg Stadium: Stade de la Frontière Capacity: 5400 Suit colours: Black and white striped shirt Merits: 27 league and 12 cup golds Coach: Michel Leflochmoan Top scorer 03/04: Sacha Schneider, 13 goals in 22 matches Unofficial home page Jeunesse d'Esch in e-cup

Jeunesse d'Esch is the most meritted club in Luxembourg, and in May they secured the 27th leagueship in the history. The team consist of players from the home country plus France and Germany.

The club is also meritted in the European cups. Jeunesse has since their debut against IFK Göteborg autumn 1958 played a whooping 65 matches. The statistics looks bad, tough: It has only resulted in 7 wins and 7 draws, the remaining 51 matches has ended with losses - at times very ugly ones.

The last time Jeunesse participated in Europe was autumn 2000. Celtic was the opponent in the qualifications to the UEFA cup, and the Scots won a mildly put comfortable 11-0 combined victory.

FC Sheriff is a club 90 years younger than Jeunesse d'Esch. The immensely wealthy bussinesman Victor Gushan, owner of Moldova's Sheriff imperium, wanted his own football club - an idea shared with other moguls from the ex-Soviet states, and Gushan saw his dream come true in 1997.

The new club automatically was placed in the top division, and has since been the dominant club in Moldova. The last years has given four league titles in a row, plus three cup titles.

The almighty owner, Gushan, has sponsored millions. He has for instance gotten players from Brasil (Norbrego de Lima) and Panama (Roberto Brown) to the club. But not least, he has payed for a luxurious top-nothc stadium: Bolshaya Sportivnaya Arena was finished in 2002 and takes 13.000 spectators.

This season they won the league eight points ahead of Nistru Otaci. Tough they lost the cup finals 1-2 against Zimbru Chisinau, who finished third in the league. Hence, no double this time.

Sheriff made their European debut in autumn 1999, and has played 16 games so far. This has resulted in four victories, five draws and seven losses. Last year Flora Tallin was conquered 2-1 in the 1st qualifying stage for the Champions League. In the second stage, the big Ukrainian team Shakhtar Donetsk were the opponents, and Sheriff did well. The first leg in Tiraspol ended in a 1-1 draw, but the away leg saw a 0-2 loss for Sheriff.


BOLSHAYA SPORTIVNAYA ARENA: Where RBK most likely will play Wednesday August 4th.

Conclusion:
Neither Sheriff Tiraspol nor Jenuesse d'Esch are big clubs in Europe, but the first of these should be the stronger. rbkweb.com foresees an easy combined victory for the Moldovians.