https://grantwahl.substack.com/p/the-craziest-sports-story-of-2021

This article is "must read" about a club owned by eastern European gangsters who have actually made a real run in the Champions League. It's long but worth the time.

Grant Wahl and amazing journalism should never be used in the same sentence. This story was broken and written by a young guy on twitter. Grant essentially verified the story.

"Amazing" might be hyperbole, but that was a nice read.

Furlock Bones said:

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Grant Wahl and amazing journalism should never be used in the same sentence. This story was broken and written by a young guy on twitter. Grant essentially verified the story.

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Fair enough. Still really cool

I spent some time in Moldova, and it's a bleak depressing place. Reading this did not make me want to go back. Everything is about bribes there. A friend had to bribe the teachers in high school so that they would grade his papers. So , everything he said about corruption is spot on.

90 bull said:

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I spent some time in Moldova, and it's a bleak depressing place. Reading this did not make me want to go back. Everything is about bribes there. A friend had to bribe the teachers in high school so that they would grade his papers. So , everything he said about corruption is spot on.

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That's kinda what I wondered when I read this… he writes this as if this particular sliver of disputed territory is some evil anomaly, but everything I've heard about the region, and former Soviet countries in general is that they're just riddled with corruption.

Doesn't necessarily excuse what the Sheriff organization is doing, but I have a strong suspicion that they're not some wildly evil exception to the norm.

I found the geopolitical discussion in the article to be really interesting, but I really didn't bat an eye about the corruption… I kinda take that as a given. (Even outside this particular region… let's not act like this is much different than FIFA-Qatar, etc… corruption and sports go hand in hand sadly).

Reminds me of the end of the movie "Red" where Bruce Willis and John Malkovich have to go to Moldova to solve a small nuclear program for Ivan and are running through the hills yelling "Moldova Sucks!"

Oh, for sure agree on the corruption as a way of life angle of the story. That doesn't surprise me for a second.

Moldova is a special kind of suck. It's a country of 2.5 MM that supplies most of the brothels in Europe. My friend who lives there always says their #1 export is teenage girls.