Chiara Dazi

Photographer
   
THE MOLDOVAN DERBY
Public Project
THE MOLDOVAN DERBY
Copyright Chiara Dazi 2024
Updated Nov 2023
Topics Borders, Documentary, Essays, Football, Landscape, Minority, Photography, Politics, Soccer, Sports, Travel, Youth


Not long ago, Moldova was one state within the Soviet Union. Today, the tiny country on the border of the European Union itself encompasses the semi-autonomous statelet of Transnistria in the east and Turkic-speaking region of Gagauzia in the south.

Transnistria’s ambitions for independence have led to militarized conflict with the Moldovan state. Yet Transnistria’s football teams continue to play in Moldova’s premier league, with the breakaway state’s FC Sheriff Tiraspol habitually beating Moldovan rivals.

Moldovan national football provides an arena where competing identities battle it out in studs and team colours. Clubs from across the polarised state literally cross borders for Sunday matches on a shared pitch, meeting in a common passion. Fans who would never otherwise traverse these geographical and ideological divides find themselves side-by-side on the bench. Captured on camera, their moments of dialogue and aggression reflect the wider truces and tensions of a country struggling to maintain an uncertain peace rooted in a fraught past.

"The Moldovan Derby" was supported by the grant Brouillons d’un rêve of the Société civile des auteurs multimédias (SCAM)."
6,248

Also by Chiara Dazi —

Project

MALGARA

Chiara Dazi / Padola, Italy
Project

INTO THE BLUE

Chiara Dazi / Magdeburg
Project

WANDERTAGE

Chiara Dazi
Project

Untitled

Chiara Dazi
Project

Special Olympics Germany - Opening Celebration in Berlin

Chiara Dazi / Berlin, Germany
Project

Republic of Moldova: a review

Chiara Dazi / Republic of Moldova, Chisinau
Project

PARIS ALBUM

Chiara Dazi / Paris
Project

LOCKE-DOWN

Chiara Dazi / Berlin
Project

UNPLAN

Chiara Dazi
Project

2nd March: Day of Remembrance and Gratitude

Chiara Dazi / Chisinau
Project

Victory Day in Transnistria

Chiara Dazi / Tiraspol
Project

Miami Bites

Chiara Dazi / Miami
Project

WHAT IF...?

Chiara Dazi
Project

Marshrutkascape #210

Chiara Dazi / Kaliningrad
Project

Malanca in Palanca

Chiara Dazi / Republic of Moldova
THE MOLDOVAN DERBY by Chiara Dazi
Sign-up for
For more access