Twente and Sheriff set for round two

After losing 2-0 in Moldova on Matchday 3, FC Twente will be determined to put three points between themselves and FC Sheriff as they compete for one of the two qualifying places in UEFA Europa League Group H.

Previous meetings
• Sheriff and Twente met for the first time on Matchday 3 in what was the Moldovan champions' first game against a Dutch outfit and Twente's maiden encounter with a club from the former Soviet republic.

Match background
• The 2-0 win against Twente on Matchday 3 was Sheriff's first victory in the UEFA Cup or UEFA Europa League.

• Twente have lost only one of their last seven European home games, going down 1-0 to Olympique de Marseille in last season's UEFA Cup Round of 32. Sheriff, by contrast, have just a sole victory from their last seven away matches, a 1-0 triumph at FC International Turku in this season's UEFA Champions League second qualifying round.

Team facts
• Twente coach Steve McClaren was a UEFA Cup runner-up as Middlesbrough FC manager in 2005/06. Once Sir Alex Ferguson's assistant at Manchester United FC, his reputation was undermined by a disappointing spell as England manager when his team missed out on UEFA EURO 2008™. However, he demonstrated his coaching acumen when Twente finished second in the Eredivisie last season, his first in the Netherlands.

• McClaren signed an extension to his contract on 27 October, committing to the Enschede club until the end of the 2010/11 season.

• Sheriff are coached by Belarussian trainer Leonid Kuchuk, who has led the club to the last six of their run of nine straight Moldovan titles since stepping up from his position as youth-team boss in January 2004. That is the longest current winning streak in European football. "The secret of our success is simple," Kuchuk has said. "Every draw for us is like a defeat and every defeat is like a natural disaster."

• The coach's son, Aleksei, is an important figure in the Sheriff attack.

• Sheriff's Vladimir Branković and Twente's Slobodan Rajković were team-mates at Serbian club OFK Beograd in the 2004/05 season.

• Moldova and the Netherlands' Under-21 sides met in qualifying for the 2004 UEFA European U21 Championship, drawing 2-2 in Chisinau and 0-0 in Helmond. Sheriff's Andrei Corneencov featured in both games.

• Twente striker Blaise Nkufo scored Switzerland's first goal in a 2-0 FIFA World Cup qualifying win over Moldova in Geneva on 1 April 2009. Sheriff's Stanislav Namaşco was in goal for the visitors. Both players were also involved as the Swiss won by the same margin in the earlier fixture in Chisinau on 28 March 2009.

• Twente host Fenerbahçe SK on Matchday 5, with Sheriff at home to FC Steaua Bucureşti on the same day, 2 December.