# 2019 Moldovan National Division

The 2019 Moldovan National Division (Romanian: Divizia Națională) was the 29th season of top-tier football in Moldova. The season started on 16 March 2019 and ended on 9 November 2019. Sheriff Tiraspol were the defending champions. The winners of the league this season earned a spot in the first qualifying round of the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League, and the second, third and fourth placed clubs earned a place in the first qualifying round of the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League.

## Teams

A total of 8 teams will contest the league. These include 7 teams from the 2018 season and one promoted team from the "A" Division: Codru Lozova, making their debut in the top flight. Zaria Bălți were relegated from the Divizia Națională, ending a streak of 13 seasons at the highest level.
| Team | Place | Ground | Capacity | Coach |
| Codru | Lozova | Zimbru-2 Stadium | 2,000 | Valeriu Andronic |
| Dinamo-Auto | Tiraspol | Dinamo-Auto Stadium | 1,300 | Igor Dobrovolski |
| Milsami | Orhei | CSR Orhei | 3,000 | Veaceslav Rusnac |
| Petrocub-Hîncești | Sărata-Galbenă | Hîncești Stadium | 1,000 | Lilian Popescu |
| Sfîntul Gheorghe | Suruceni | Suruceni Stadium | 1,500 | Serghei Cebotari |
| Sheriff | Tiraspol | Sheriff Stadium | 12,726 | Zoran Zekić |
| Speranța | Nisporeni | CSR Orhei | 3,000 | Cristian Efros |
| Zimbru | Chișinău | Zimbru Stadium | 10,400 | Veaceslav Sofroni |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Replaced by | Date of appointment |
| Sheriff | Goran Sablić | Resigned | 27 April 2019 | 1st | Zoran Zekić | 30 April 2019 |
| Zimbru | Sorin Colceag | Resigned | 8 July 2019 | 7th | Vladimir Aga | 15 July 2019 |
| Zimbru | Vladimir Aga | Resigned | 31 October 2019 | 7th | Veaceslav Sofroni (interim) | 1 November 2019 |

## League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Sheriff Tiraspol (C) | 28 | 22 | 4 | 2 | 60 | 9 | +51 | 70 | Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round |
| 2 | Sfîntul Gheorghe | 28 | 16 | 5 | 7 | 40 | 28 | +12 | 53 | Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round |
| 3 | Petrocub-Hîncești | 28 | 14 | 8 | 6 | 34 | 21 | +13 | 50 | Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round |
| 4 | Dinamo-Auto | 28 | 12 | 5 | 11 | 38 | 37 | +1 | 41 | Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round |
| 5 | Milsami Orhei | 28 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 30 | 28 | +2 | 39 | |
| 6 | Speranța Nisporeni | 28 | 8 | 11 | 9 | 29 | 34 | −5 | 35 | |
| 7 | Zimbru Chișinău | 28 | 3 | 7 | 18 | 16 | 43 | −27 | 16 | |
| 8 | Codru Lozova (O) | 28 | 0 | 5 | 23 | 8 | 55 | −47 | 5 | Qualification to Relegation play-off |
* ↑ Since the winners of 2019–20 Moldovan Cup, Petrocub-Hîncești, qualified for European competition based on their league position, the spot awarded to the Cup winner (Europa League first qualifying round) was passed to the next best-placed team (the fourth-placed team).

## Results
### Matches 1−14

Teams will play each other twice (once home, once away).
| Home \ Away | COD | DIN | MIL | PET | SFÎ | SHE | SPE | ZIM |
| Codru Lozova | — | 2–5 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 1–3 | 0–3 |
| Dinamo-Auto | 3–0 | — | 0–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 0–4 | 0–3 | 0–0 |
| Milsami Orhei | 0–0 | 3–1 | — | 2–0 | 0–3 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 3–0 |
| Petrocub-Hîncești | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | — | 2–2 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 1–0 |
| Sfîntul Gheorghe | 2–0 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | — | 0–3 | 0–0 | 2–0 |
| Sheriff Tiraspol | 2–1 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 5–0 | — | 1–0 | 3–0 |
| Speranța Nisporeni | 2–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 0–4 | — | 1–0 |
| Zimbru Chișinău | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–4 | 0–2 | — |

### Matches 15−28

Teams will play each other twice (once home, once away).
| Home \ Away | COD | DIN | MIL | PET | SFÎ | SHE | SPE | ZIM |
| Codru Lozova | — | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–4 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 0–2 |
| Dinamo-Auto | 4–0 | — | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–3 | 3–4 | 4–0 |
| Milsami Orhei | 3–0 | 0–2 | — | 0–3 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 |
| Petrocub-Hîncești | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | — | 0–2 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 1–0 |
| Sfîntul Gheorghe | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 0–2 | — | 0–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 |
| Sheriff Tiraspol | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | — | 3–0 | 3–0 |
| Speranța Nisporeni | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 0–0 | — | 0–0 |
| Zimbru Chișinău | 0–0 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 | — |

## Results by round

The following table represents the teams game results in each round.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| Codru Lozova | L | L | L | L | D | L | L | L | D | L | L | L | L | D | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | D | L | L | D |
| Dinamo-Auto | W | W | L | D | L | D | L | W | L | L | D | W | L | W | W | L | L | D | L | W | L | W | W | L | W | D | W | W |
| Milsami Orhei | L | W | W | W | W | D | D | D | D | D | L | W | W | W | L | W | L | L | D | L | D | L | W | D | D | W | L | L |
| Petrocub-Hîncești | W | L | L | D | D | D | W | W | W | D | L | W | W | L | W | W | W | L | W | W | D | W | L | D | W | W | D | D |
| Sfîntul Gheorghe | W | D | W | D | L | W | W | D | D | W | W | L | W | L | W | W | W | W | L | W | W | W | D | W | L | L | W | L |
| Sheriff Tiraspol | W | W | W | L | W | W | L | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | D | D | W | W | D | W | W | D |
| Speranța Nisporeni | L | D | W | W | W | D | D | L | D | W | W | L | L | L | L | L | L | W | W | L | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | W |
| Zimbru Chișinău | L | L | L | D | L | L | W | L | L | L | D | L | L | D | L | L | W | D | D | L | W | L | L | D | L | L | L | D |

## Top goalscorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Yury Kendysh | Sheriff | 13 |
| 2 | Maxim Iurcu | Speranța | 11 |
| 3 | Maxim Mihaliov | Dinamo-Auto | 10 |
| 4 | Robert Tambe | Sheriff | 9 |
| 5 | Vadim Cemîrtan | Sf. Gheorghe | 6 |
| 5 | Dmitri Mandrîcenco | Sf. Gheorghe | 6 |
| 5 | Sergiu Istrati | Sf. Gheorghe | 6 |
| 5 | Vadim Gulceac | Petrocub | 6 |
| 5 | Dan Taras | Petrocub | 6 |
| 10 | Alexandru Boiciuc | Sf. Gheorghe | 5 |
| 10 | Vladimir Ambros | Petrocub | 5 |
| 10 | Alexandru Antoniuc | Milsami | 5 |
| 10 | Dan Pîslă | Zimbru | 5 |

## Clean sheets

| Rank | Player | Club | Clean sheets |
| 1 | Dumitru Celeadnic | Sheriff | 15 |
| 2 | Nicolai Cebotari | Sf. Gheorghe | 12 |
| 3 | Cristian Avram | Petrocub (7) & Dinamo-Auto (3) | 10 |
| 4 | Denis Macogonenco | Speranța | 7 |
| 4 | Radu Mîțu | Milsami | 7 |
| 6 | Dorian Railean | Petrocub | 6 |
| 7 | Victor Străistari | Dinamo-Auto | 5 |
| 7 | Maksym Kovalov | Zimbru | 5 |
| 9 | Zvonimir Mikulić | Sheriff | 4 |
| 9 | Alexandru Zveaghințev | Dinamo-Auto | 4 |

## Attendances

| Pos | Team | Total | High | Low | Average | Change |
| 1 | Sheriff Tiraspol | 13,000 | 1,500 | 500 | 928 | −33.1%$^†$ |
| 2 | Petrocub-Hîncești | 10,100 | 1,500 | 200 | 721 | −22.1%$^†$ |
| 3 | Milsami Orhei | 9,850 | 1,800 | 250 | 703 | −34.0%$^†$ |
| 4 | Zimbru Chișinău | 6,350 | 1,000 | 200 | 453 | −64.8%$^†$ |
| 5 | Sfîntul Gheorghe | 3,150 | 400 | 100 | 225 | −7.8%$^†$ |
| 6 | Speranța Nisporeni | 2,900 | 400 | 100 | 207 | −36.3%$^†$ |
| 7 | Codru Lozova | 2,900 | 400 | 50 | 207 | n/a$^†$ |
| 8 | Dinamo-Auto | 1,740 | 400 | 40 | 124 | +24.0%$^†$ |
| | League total | 49,990 | 1,800 | 40 | 446 | −45.2%$^†$ |
Source: fmf (in Romanian)

## Relegation play-off

A play-off match was played between the eight-placed team from Divizia Națională and the third-placed team from Divizia A for one place in the next season. The "home" team (for administrative purposes) was determined in a draw held on 12 November 2019.