Sheriff Arena

Sheriff Arena has hosted Real Madrid twice, both times in the 2021 group stage of the UEFA Champions League — a ground that seats fewer than 13,000 holding its own against the competition's record champions. It stands inside the Sheriff sports complex on Karl Liebknecht Street in Tiraspol, the administrative centre of Transnistria, a territory that runs its own affairs but remains, on paper, part of Moldova.

That distinction stopped being academic in June 2022, when UEFA barred European fixtures from being played on Transnistrian soil. FC Sheriff, the arena's permanent tenant, has since carried its Champions League and Europa League home games to Chișinău instead.

The Sheriff corporation broke ground on 1 August 2000 and opened the stadium to spectators in July 2002, with a natural grass pitch from the start. A 2011 rebuild replaced the seating to bring the ground up to UEFA standard, trimming capacity slightly in the process. Domestically, it has never come closer to a sell-out crowd than the 11,000-plus who watched Sheriff beat Zimbru 3-2 during the 2002-03 season — still the arena's national-championship attendance record. FC Tiraspol shared the venue between 2001 and 2015, and the Transnistria national team plays there as well.