the start of the UEFA Europa League knockout rounds. The departure of important players such as Cristiano da Silva Leite, Frank Castañeda, Danilo Arboleda, Dimitris Kolovos and Fernando Peixoto Costanza caused serious problems in the squad. Sheriff replaced all the departures with new players like Regi Lushkja, Gaby Kiki, Renan Guedes and Patrick Kpozo. However, the rules of the Moldovan championship allow teams to announce their new players from 23 February. Since the deadline for registration in the Europa League was February 2, coach Yuriy Vernydub was obliged to include players who had not played much in the starting line-up, such as Stjepan Radeljić, Stefanos Evangelou and Charles Petro. They were the first ever Moldovan side to play in the knockout stages of a European competition, and were drawn against S.C. Braga of Portugal. They won 2–0 in the initial home leg - with the goalscorers being Sébastien Thill and Adama Traoré in a game where Sheriff put in a solid performance despite having a vastly different squad to the one that stunned Real Madrid. Finally, the European campaign ended with a 2–0 defeat and a dramatic penalty shootout that ended 3–2 in favour of Braga. Stadium Sheriff Stadium is the home ground of Sheriff Tiraspol and is owned by the corporation Sheriff. Construction of the ground began on 1 August 2000 and was completed in May 2002, with the official opening in July 2002. It was renovated in 2011. The stadium has a seating capacity for 12,746 spectators and is eligible for FIFA/UEFA international events. Beside Sheriff, the stadium has also hosted matches for FC Tiraspol and the Moldova national team. Aside from the main arena of Sheriff Sports Complex, there is also an 8,000 seater stadium, Malaya Sportivnaya Arena, also situated in the same complex, along with eight training fields, a covered training centre, housing for the players, a college for students and a five-star hotel. In June 2022, UEFA ordered that no European games would be permitted to be played in Transnistria, as a direct consequence of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Sheriff played all of their home fixtures in the 2022-23 UEFA Europa League and 2022-23 UEFA Europa Conference League at Zimbru Stadium in Chișinău. Current squad Out on loan Honours Records and statistics Most appearances (443): Vazha Tarkhnishvili Most goals (71): Alexey Kuchuk Record victory (19 October 2005, Moldovan Cup): Sheriff–Viitorul Orhei, 16–0 Record