FC Petrocup-Hincesti play their European home games at the Zimbru Stadium in Chisinau. (Photo: IMAGO / NurPhoto)
1. FC Köln will face either Fehérvár FC or FC Petrocup-Hincesti in the Conference League play-offs. That was the result of the draw in Nyon, Switzerland, on Tuesday. Cologne would go into both duels as favorites. But how are the teams to be assessed?
Only after the second leg on August 11 will FC fans know whether they can plan their away trip to Hungary or Moldova. The only thing that is certain is that 1. FC Köln will play away a week after the home game on August 18th. “With the home game we want to create a good starting position to qualify for the group stage after the second leg. After a long dry spell in the pandemic, we want to offer our fans great football festivals,” said Thomas Kessler after the draw for the play-off games.
Meanwhile, Steffen Baumgart spoke of “two interesting tasks that are challenging.” Nevertheless, FC have the feeling “that we can reach the group stage – and that should also be our goal.” The sporting director of the licensed player department also explained: “Our expectation is very clear that we will prevail in the play-offs – regardless of whether it is going to Moldova or Hungary. We will take it seriously and we want to represent German football in a very interesting competition.”
Fehérvár als Favorit against Hincesti
Hungarian representatives Fehérvár FC are seen by bookmakers as clear favorites to advance to the third qualifying round over Petrocup-Hincesti. With one of Transfermarkt.de With a reported market value of 19.53 million euros, the Hungarian club and its players are worth almost four times that of Petrocup-Hincesti and would be in the top third of the German second division between Fortuna Düsseldorf and Hannover 96.
Last season, the club from Székesfehévár, around 60 kilometers southwest of the Hungarian capital Budapest, finished fourth in the Nemzeti Bajnokság, the first Hungarian league. The team of German coach Michael Boris (including Sportfreunde Siegen, Sportfreunde Lotte and KFC Uerdingen) got into the second qualifying round of the Conference League and prevailed thanks to a 4-1 win in the first leg against FK Qabala. The team lost 2-1 in the second leg, but the defeat was enough to advance to the third round.
Greatest international success in the 1984/85 season
In addition to their German coach, there are also two German players in the Hungarian squad. 30-year-old Marcel Heister moved from Ferencváros to Fehérvár in 2021. The left-back was born in Albstadt-Ebingen and played in the Reutlingen and Hoffenheim junior squads, among others. In addition, Palko Dardai moved from the Hertha reserve to his father’s home country Pal Dardai in the summer of 2021. In the two qualifying games against Qabala, the right winger scored three assists. Since Boris took over the club in February, the team has mostly played in a 3-4-3 formation.
The three-time Hungarian champion (2011, 2015, 2018) and two-time cup winner (2006, 2019) plays his games in the MOL Aréna Sóstó, which has a capacity of 14,144 spectators. In the home game against Qabala, however, only 4750 spectators came, which means that the stadium was not even half full. Should this also be the case in a possible duel against FC, the Cologne supporters should hope to get more than the five percent (around 700) of the tickets they are entitled to.
Internationally, the club, founded in 1941, celebrated its greatest success in the 1980s. In the 1984/85 season, Hungary reached the final of the UEFA Cup but eventually lost to Real Madrid. However, the team previously kicked out Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United.
Market value of Petrocup-Hincesti in the third division area
FC Petrocup-Hincesti cannot come up with such a success. The Moldovan side have never reached the group stage of any international competition. In 13 games, the team has won three, drawn four and lost six. The team achieved two of the three victories in this year’s first and second qualifying rounds. The Moldovan runners-up of the past two years narrowly prevailed against Floriana FC thanks to a 0-0 and a 1-0 win. This was followed by a goalless draw and a 4-1 win over KF Laci.
With a market value of 4.73 million, Petrocup-Hincesti would rank in the lower half of the German third division alongside Rot-Weiss Essen or SV Wehen Wiesbaden. Meanwhile, the player with the highest market value is Vladimir Ambros, estimated at around 750,000 euros. Except for the Ukrainian Art Fedorov, only Moldovans play at Petrocup-Hincesti.
The club was only founded in 1994 and has been playing in the top league of the Republic of Moldova since 2014. The team actually plays their home games at the Municipal Stadium. However, since this does not meet UEFA standards with its 2672 seats, the team has to move to the capital Chisinau. There, the team plays in the Zimbru stadium in front of 10,400 spectators. While only 680 spectators were in attendance at the Stadion Municipal when they lost to FK Sfîntul Gheorghe Suruceni on the first day of the regular season, almost 5,500 fans showed up against Laci. Coach since this season is Ivan Tabanov, who, like his soon-to-be opponent from Hungary, mostly plays in a 3-4-3 system.
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