Chișinău has 24 academies, schools and clubs that take children, from groups starting at 3 years old up to juniors of 18. The list below covers all of them, with district and ages accepted.
Data comes from the Moldovan Football Federation's official registrations for the 2025/26 youth championship, supplemented by club sites and pages. Checked in April 2026.
The academies and schools in Chișinău
| School / club | District | Ages |
|---|---|---|
| Tracia Football School | Ciocana, Botanica, Malina Mică, Buiucani, Gara Sud | from 3 |
| CSCT Buiucani (Dacia Buiucani) | Buiucani, Schinoasa | from 4 |
| FC Vector | Str. Mircea cel Bătrân 16 | from 4 |
| Academia Gloria | Str. Grenoble 191 | from 4 |
| Academia Viitorul | Str. Mircea cel Bătrân 8/2, Rîșcani | from 4 |
| Academia de Fotbal Steaua Chișinău | Buiucani | 4–15 |
| Football School Olimpus | Botanica | 4–10 |
| UTM — Academia de Fotbal Radu Rebeja | Buiucani | 5–17 |
| FC MoldProgress | Durlești | 5–14 |
| FC Zimbru — youth academy | Str. Butucului 1, Botanica | from 6 |
| Specialised Football Sports School No. 1 | Str. Toader Bubuiog 23 | 6–18 |
| FC Sportul | Str. Mircea cel Bătrân 22/1, Ciocana | from 6–7 |
| Dinamo Central Sports Club | Str. Alexei Șciusev 106A | from 10 |
| FC Chișinău | Str. Petru Zadnipru 19/4 | juniors |
| Dasschool (Serghei Dadu academy) | Chișinău | juniors |
| CF Univer | Chișinău | juniors |
| CS Getica | Str. Gheorghe Asachi 23A, Telecentru | juniors |
| CS Real Succes | Str. Hristo Botev 4/2, Buiucani | juniors |
| CSF Spartanii Sportul | Chișinău | juniors |
| Rapid Elite | Chișinău | juniors |
| Juniorul Chișinău | Chișinău | juniors |
| CSFCJT Atletico Chișinău | Chișinău | juniors |
| START Football School | Chișinău | children |
| Specialised Football Sports School No. 2 | Chișinău, Cricova | children and juniors |
Where it says "juniors" with no range, the club does not publish its starting ages — that is a message or a phone call.
How they actually divide
These 24 are not the same thing, and the difference matters more than the district.
Performance clubs play in Liga Tineret, the top tier of Moldovan youth football. Five are from Chișinău: FC Zimbru, Dacia Buiucani, UTM-Academia Radu Rebeja, Dasschool and CF Univer. Entry is by selection, and the programme is built around competition.
Several carry real history. FC Zimbru is the country's most decorated club, with eight national titles. Dacia Buiucani, founded in 1997, holds two youth championship titles, fourteen runner-up finishes and twelve bronze medals. Academia Radu Rebeja was founded in 2019 by the former international in partnership with UTM, and enters teams from U12 to U17.
Private schools take children considerably younger and emphasise play over results. Tracia is the largest network in the country — five locations in Chișinău alone, Dutch methodology, girls and boys in the same groups from age 3. FC Vector, Gloria, Viitorul, Steaua and Olimpus all accept from 4.
State sports schools — No. 1 on Toader Bubuiog and No. 2, which also operates in Cricova — are public bodies under the municipal education directorate. The programme is competitive and the age range wide, from 6 to 18.
Competitive clubs — Getica, Real Succes, Spartanii Sportul, Rapid Elite, Juniorul, Atletico — play in the LN and L1 leagues by age category. They are smaller than the academies above but genuinely competitive: Getica won U14 at the 2025 Chișinăul de Seară tournament, Spartanii won U13.
Football for girls
Not every school runs separate girls' groups, but they exist. Tracia enrols girls and boys in the same age groups. FC MoldProgress won the "Alba ca Zăpada" girls' tournament in 2024. Outside the capital, the Bălți sports school has run girls' groups since 2010.
It is the first question to ask if it applies — the answer differs by school and appears in no listing.
The rest of the country
Youth football does not stop at Chișinău. From the FMF 2025/26 registrations:
| City | Clubs and schools |
|---|---|
| Bălți | Specialised Football Sports School, CSF Bălți, Arsenal Bălți, Atletico Bălți, Steaua Nordului |
| Tiraspol | FC Sheriff football academy, FC Tiligul |
| Orhei | FC Milsami youth academy, CFȘS Orhei / Radavi |
| Hîncești | CS Petrocub youth section |
| Cahul | FC Cahul-2005 |
| Strășeni | Atletic Strășeni |
| Ungheni | FCM Ungheni |
| Costești, Ialoveni | FC Costești |
| Măgdăcești, Criuleni | CSF Măgdăcești |
| Soroca | SSR Soroca, FC Inter Soroca |
| Rîbnița | FC Iskra-Stali |
| Florești, Călărași | FC Florești, Codru Călărași |
Two are worth singling out. FC Sheriff's academy in Tiraspol, founded in August 2003, has trained over 400 children and runs a residential complex with a hotel, classrooms, a medical centre and two pitches. And CSF Măgdăcești, from a village in the Criuleni district, competes in LN-16 and several L1 categories — meaning directly against capital clubs.
Tracia also has branches beyond Chișinău: Hîncești, Anenii Noi, Ungheni and Cricova.
State sports schools with football sections operate in the northern districts too — Briceni, Edineț, Ocnița, Rîșcani, Glodeni — and centrally: Fălești, Sîngerei, Telenești, Rezina, Congaz.
What to ask before enrolling
The list above tells you where and from what age. The rest only comes from asking, and four things matter more than reputation:
- Who coaches your child's group? Not the club's head coach, but the person who will actually work with that age group. In the early years they are the only one who matters.
- How many children per group? The difference between twelve and twenty-five minutes on the ball per session shows within six months.
- Do they play matches or only train? Clubs registered in the FMF leagues have a fixture calendar; smaller private schools sometimes do not.
- Where exactly are the sessions? Networks with several sites — Tracia has five in the city — do not train every age group at every location.
On fees: you will not find figures in this article, because we could not verify each school's prices against a reliable public source. Most reply quickly on Facebook.
Data comes from the official FMF registrations for the 2025/26 youth championship and from club sites, checked in April 2026. Groups, ages and locations change from season to season — confirm directly with the school before you travel.
Sporta MD covers football, basketball, volleyball and tennis. The list above describes the country's schools, not a list of partners, and is not a recommendation of any of them.