# 2021–22 Moldovan National Division

The 2021–22 Moldovan National Division (Romanian: Divizia Națională) was the 31st season of top-tier football in Moldova. The season started on 1 July 2021 and ended on 14 May 2022. Sheriff Tiraspol were the defending champions. The winners of the league this season earned a spot in the first qualifying round of the 2022–23 UEFA Champions League, and the second, third and fourth placed clubs earned a place in the first qualifying round of the 2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League.

## Teams

A total of 8 teams are competing in the league. These include 7 teams from the 2020–21 season and one promoted team from the "A" Division: Bălți.

### Changes

Bălți (promoted after a two-year absence) were promoted from the "A" Division. Dacia Buiucani (relegated after one year in the top flight) and Codru Lozova (relegated after two years in the top flight) were relegated to "A" Division. Additionally, Speranța Nisporeni were expelled from the league, and thus ending their six-year stay in the top flight.
| Team | Place | Ground | Capacity | Coach |
| Bălți | Bălți | Bălți Stadium | 7,000 | Serghei Cebotari |
| Dinamo-Auto | Tiraspol | Dinamo-Auto Stadium | 1,300 | Oleg Bejenar |
| Florești | Florești | Bender Stadium | 5,000 | Iurie Groșev |
| Milsami | Orhei | CSR Orhei | 3,000 | Serghei Dubrovin |
| Petrocub | Hîncești | Hîncești Stadium | 1,200 | Lilian Popescu |
| Sfîntul Gheorghe | Suruceni | Zimbru-2 Stadium | 1,500 | Nicolai Mandrîcenco |
| Sheriff | Tiraspol | Sheriff Stadium | 12,726 | Victor Mihailov |
| Zimbru | Chișinău | Zimbru Stadium | 10,400 | Michele Bon |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Replaced by | Date of appointment |
| Sfîntul Gheorghe | Serghei Cebotari | Resigned | 27 September 2021 | 6th | Stanislav Luca | 28 September 2021 |
| Zimbru | Vlad Goian | Demoted to assistant coach | 18 November 2021 | 7th | Michele Bon | 18 November 2021 |
| Bălți | Ihor Rakhayev | Resigned | 2 December 2021 | 6th | Serghei Cebotari | 10 January 2022 |
| Sheriff | Yuriy Vernydub | Temporary leave to join Ukrainian Army | 28 February 2022 | 1st | Victor Mihailov (caretaker) | 1 March 2022 |
| Dinamo-Auto | Igor Dobrovolski | UEFA Pro Licence expired on 31.12.2021 | 13 March 2022 | 5th | Oleg Bejenar | 13 March 2022 |
| Sfîntul Gheorghe | Stanislav Luca | No UEFA Pro Licence | 19 March 2022 | 4th | Nicolai Mandrîcenco | 19 March 2022 |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Sheriff Tiraspol (C) | 28 | 22 | 4 | 2 | 75 | 8 | +67 | 70 | Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round |
| 2 | Petrocub Hîncești | 28 | 20 | 4 | 4 | 62 | 20 | +42 | 64 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round |
| 3 | Milsami Orhei | 28 | 15 | 6 | 7 | 50 | 31 | +19 | 51 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round |
| 4 | Sfîntul Gheorghe | 28 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 38 | 39 | −1 | 38 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round |
| 5 | Bălți | 28 | 11 | 3 | 14 | 39 | 39 | 0 | 36 | |
| 6 | Dinamo-Auto | 28 | 9 | 5 | 14 | 35 | 72 | −37 | 32 | |
| 7 | Zimbru Chișinău (O) | 28 | 7 | 6 | 15 | 32 | 46 | −14 | 27 | Qualification to Relegation play-off |
| 8 | Florești (R) | 28 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 12 | 88 | −76 | −6 | Relegation to Liga 1 |
* ↑ Florești had 6 points deducted for alleged match-fixing.
* ↑ On 17 January 2022, Florești were excluded from competition for match-fixing allegations and relegated to the second tier league for next season. All remaining 9 matches were awarded 0–3 against them.

## Results

Teams played each other four times (twice at home, twice away).

### Rounds 1−14

Matches 1−14 :
| Home \ Away | BĂL | DIN | FLO | MIL | PET | SFÎ | SHE | ZIM |
| Bălți | — | 2–4 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 2–4 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 2–1 |
| Dinamo-Auto | 1–4 | — | 1–0 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 0–7 | 3–3 |
| Florești | 1–3 | 0–1 | — | 0–3 | 0–1 | 1–5 | 1–3 | 1–3 |
| Milsami Orhei | 1–1 | 4–1 | 4–1 | — | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 |
| Petrocub Hîncești | 3–0 | 6–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | — | 5–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 |
| Sfîntul Gheorghe | 1–1 | 0–1 | 4–1 | 3–4 | 0–1 | — | 0–3 | 1–0 |
| Sheriff Tiraspol | 0–1 | 7–1 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 4–0 | — | 6–0 |
| Zimbru Chișinău | 2–3 | 3–0 | 4–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | — |

### Rounds 15−28

Matches 15−28 :
| Home \ Away | BĂL | DIN | FLO | MIL | PET | SFÎ | SHE | ZIM |
| Bălți | — | 3–0 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 1–0 |
| Dinamo-Auto | 1–0 | — | 3–0 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 0–0 |
| Florești | 0–3 | 1–5 | — | 0–3 | 3–4 | 0–3 | 1–3 | 0–3 |
| Milsami Orhei | 0–2 | 2–5 | 5–0 | — | 1–3 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 3–0 |
| Petrocub Hîncești | 3–2 | 5–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | — | 1–1 | 0–0 | 5–1 |
| Sfîntul Gheorghe | 1–0 | 4–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 0–4 | — | 0–2 | 0–1 |
| Sheriff Tiraspol | 2–0 | 7–0 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | — | 4–0 |
| Zimbru Chișinău | 2–1 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 1–1 | — |
* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Technical wins/losses

### Positions by round

| Team ╲ Round | 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 |
| Bălți | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 |
| Dinamo-Auto | 7 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 |
| Florești | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| Milsami Orhei | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Petrocub Hîncești | 2 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Sfîntul Gheorghe | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Sheriff Tiraspol | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Zimbru Chișinău | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |

### 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 |
| Bălți | W | L | D | W | L | W | W | L | D | L | L | L | W | W | L | L | L | L | L | L | W | L | W | D | W | L | W | W |
| Dinamo-Auto | L | D | W | L | L | L | L | D | W | W | W | L | L | L | W | L | W | W | L | D | W | D | L | W | L | L | L | D |
| Florești | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L |
| Milsami Orhei | D | W | W | W | W | W | W | D | D | W | W | L | W | D | W | L | W | W | L | W | L | L | L | L | W | W | D | D |
| Petrocub Hîncești | W | L | W | W | W | W | W | L | D | W | W | W | W | W | L | W | D | W | D | D | W | W | L | W | W | W | W | W |
| Sfîntul Gheorghe | D | D | D | L | W | W | L | L | W | L | D | W | L | D | W | W | D | D | L | W | L | W | W | D | L | L | W | L |
| Sheriff Tiraspol | L | W | W | W | W | D | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | D | W | W | W | L | W | W | W | D | W | W | D | W |
| Zimbru Chișinău | W | W | L | L | L | L | D | W | D | L | D | L | L | L | W | L | L | D | L | W | L | D | W | D | L | W | L | L |

## Relegation play-off

A play-off match was played between the seventh-placed team from Divizia Națională and the fourth-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 19 May 2022.

## Season statistics
### Top goalscorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Vladimir Ambros | Petrocub | 17 |
| 2 | Sergiu Istrati | Milsami | 15 |
| 3 | Momo Yansané | Sheriff | 11 |
| 3 | Mihai Plătică | Petrocub | 11 |
| 5 | Emmanuel Alaribe | Bălți | 8 |
| 5 | Adama Traoré | Sheriff | 8 |
| 7 | Victor Stînă | Sf. Gheorghe | 7 |
| 7 | Artem Fedorov | Petrocub (2) & Dinamo-Auto (5) | 7 |
| 7 | Serhii Molochko | Bălți | 7 |
| 7 | Nichita Moțpan | Bălți | 7 |

#### Hat-tricks

| Player | Home | Away | Result | Date |
| Artiom Puntus | Milsami | Dinamo-Auto | 4–1 | 21 August 2021 |
| Radu Gînsari | Sf. Gheorghe | Milsami | 3–4 | 25 August 2021 |
| Vladimir Ambros | Petrocub | Bălți | 3–0 | 26 September 2021 |
| Momo Yansané | Sheriff | Zimbru | 4–0 | 11 December 2021 |
| Vladimir Ambros | Petrocub | Dinamo-Auto | 5–0 | 8 May 2022 |

### Clean sheets

| Rank | Player | Club | Clean sheets |
| 1 | Georgios Athanasiadis | Sheriff | 13 |
| 2 | Emil Tîmbur | Milsami | 8 |
| 3 | Igor Mostovei | Petrocub | 6 |
| 3 | Mickaël Meira | Petrocub | 6 |
| 3 | Nicolai Calancea | Sf. Gheorghe | 6 |
| 6 | Victor Străistari | Bălți | 4 |
| 6 | Maxim Bardîș | Dinamo-Auto | 4 |
| 8 | Razak Abalora | Sheriff | 3 |
| 8 | Silviu Șmalenea | Zimbru | 3 |
| 10 | Dušan Marković | Sheriff | 2 |
| 10 | Cristian Apostolachi | Dinamo-Auto | 2 |