Georgia national football team

Georgia

Nickname(s)	"ჯვაროსნები" "Jvarosnebi" (Crusaders)
Association	Georgian Football Federation
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Temuri Ketsbaia
Captain	Kakhaber Kaladze
Most caps	Levan Kobiashvili (87)
Top scorer	Shota Arveladze (26)
Home stadium	Boris Paichadze Stadium
FIFA code	GEO
FIFA ranking	110
Highest FIFA ranking	42 (September 1998)
Lowest FIFA ranking	152 (March 1994)
Elo ranking	82
Highest Elo ranking	45 (1998)
Home colours Away colours
First international
Georgia 2 - 2 Lithuania  (Tbilisi, Georgia; May 27, 1990)
Biggest win
Georgia 7 - 0 Armenia  (Tbilisi, Georgia; March 30, 1997)
Biggest defeat
Denmark 6 - 1 Georgia (Copenhagen, Denmark; September 7, 2005)

The Georgia national football team is the national association football team of Georgia and is controlled by the Georgian Football Federation. The Georgian team's first match took place in 1990, while Georgia was still part of the Soviet Union. The team have attempted to qualify for each major tournament from Euro 96 onwards, but have not yet achieved qualification.

Georgia's home games are played at the Boris Paichadze Stadium in Tblisi.

History

Prior to 1990, Georgian players played for the USSR national football team. The first match played by the Georgian national team occurred while Georgia was still part of the Soviet Union, when they played Lithuania on May 27, 1990, a match which ended in a 2-2 draw.^[1](Curious fact:The match was between the two clubs FC Dinamo Tbilisi and Žalgiris Vilnius, but some time later, around 1992/93, officials football federations of these countries decided to change the status of the game to international. The decision was due to the fact that the clubs contained the best Georgian and Lithuanian players, so the countries designated the clubs their official teams). This was the Georgian team's only match prior to independence, which was declared on April 9, 1991.^[2]

The Georgian Football Federation became a member of both UEFA and FIFA in 1992^[3], enabling Georgia to play competitive matches. The first of these came in September 1994, a 1-0 defeat to Moldova^[1] as part of the qualifiers for Euro 96. Georgia finished third in their group, ahead of Moldova and Wales, but seven points behind second-placed qualifiers Bulgaria. Georgia have subsequently finished bottom of their group in qualification for the 2000 and 2004 European Championships, and have finished third, fourth and sixth in World Cup qualifying groups. Consequently, Georgia has never qualified for the finals of a major tournament. However, recently they have shown relative success on the international scene by beating twice World Cup winners Uruguay and well established Turkey both in friendly matches.

World Cup record

• 1930 to 1994 - Did not enter, was part of USSR
• 1998 to 2010 - Did not qualify

European Championship record

• 1960 to 1992 - Did not enter, was part of USSR
• 1996 to 2008 - Did not qualify

Manager History

• Giga Norakidze (1992)
• Aleksandr Chivadze (1993-1996)
• Vladimir Gutsaev (1996)
• David Kipiani (1997)
• Vladimir Gutsaev (1998)
• Gigla Imnadze (1998, caretaker)
• Vladimir Gutsaev (1998-1999)
• Johan Boskamp (1999)
• David Kipiani and Revaz Dzodzuashvili (2000-2001)
• Aleksandr Chivadze (2001-2003)
• Ivo Susak (2003)
• Merab Jordania (2003)
• Gocha Tqhebuchava (2004)
• Alain Giresse (2004-2005)
• Gayoz Darsadze (2005)
• Klaus Toppmöller (2006-2008)
• Héctor Cúper (2008-2009)
• Temuri Ketsbaia (2010-present)

FIFA World Cup qualification

Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Italy 10 7 3 0 18 7 +11 24  Republic of Ireland 10 4 6 0 12 8 +4 18  Bulgaria 10 3 5 2 17 13 +4 14  Cyprus 10 2 3 5 14 16 −2 9  Montenegro 10 1 6 3 9 14 −5 9  Georgia 10 0 3 7 7 19 −12 3

Bulgaria  – 2 – 0 6 – 2 0 – 0 4 – 1 1 – 1 Cyprus  4 – 1 – 2 – 1 1 – 2 2 – 2 1 – 2 Georgia  0 – 0 1 – 1 – 0 – 2 0 – 0 1 – 2 Italy  2 – 0 3 – 2 2 – 0 – 2 – 1 1 – 1 Montenegro  2 – 2 1 – 1 2 – 1 0 – 2 – 0 – 0 Republic of Ireland  1 – 1 1 – 0 2 – 1 2 – 2 0 – 0 –

UEFA Euro 2012 qualification

Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Croatia 4 3 1 0 8 1 +7 10  Greece 4 2 2 0 4 2 +2 8  Georgia 4 1 3 0 3 2 +1 6  Israel 4 1 1 2 5 5 0 4  Latvia 4 1 1 2 3 5 −2 4  Malta 4 0 0 4 1 9 −8 0

Croatia  — 4 Jun '11 0–0 6 Sep '11 11 Oct '11 3–0 Georgia  26 Mar '11 — 11 Oct '11 0–0 2 Sep '11 1–0 Greece  7 Oct '11 1–1 — 2–1 1–0 4 Jun '11 Israel  1–2 29 Mar '11 2 Sep '11 — 26 Mar '11 3–1 Latvia  0–3 1–1 6 Sep '11 4 Jun '11 — 7 Oct '11 Malta  2 Sep '11 6 Sep '11 26 Mar '11 11 Oct '11 0–2 —

Most capped Georgia players

As of March 27, 2008, the ten players with the most caps for Georgia are:

Top Georgia goalscorers

As of March 27, 2008, the seven players with the most goals for Georgia are:

Recent results and fixtures

Date	Competition	Venue	Home Team	Result	Away Team	Scorers
2010-03-03	Friendly	Boris Paichadze Stadium, Tbilisi	Georgia	2–1	Estonia	Levan Kobiashvili  45' (pen.) David Siradze  90+4'
2010-05-25	Friendly	Dolomitenstadion, Linz	Georgia	0–0	Cameroon
2010-08-11	Friendly	Zimbru Stadium, Chişinău	Moldova	0–0	Georgia

Current squad

The following 18 players were called up for the Euro 2012 qualifiers against Greece and Israel scheduled for 3 and 7 September 2010.

Caps as of 11 August 2010, after the friendly against Moldova

0#0 Pos. Player Date of Birth (Age) Caps Goals Club 1 GK Nukri Revishvili 2 March 1987 (1987-03-02) (age 23) 10 0 Anzhi Makhachkala 12 GK Giorgi Loria 27 January 1986 (1986-01-27) (age 25) 6 0 Dinamo Tbilisi 2 DF Ucha Lobzhanidze 23 February 1987 (1987-02-23) (age 23) 16 0 Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 3 DF Malkhaz Asatiani 4 August 1981 (1981-08-04) (age 29) 38 4 Lokomotiv Moscow 4 DF Kakha Kaladze (captain) 27 February 1978 (1978-02-27) (age 32) 70 1 Genoa 5 DF Aleksandr Amisulashvili August 20, 1982 (1982-08-20) (age 28) 12 1 Kayserispor 6 DF Zurab Khizanishvili 6 October 1981 (1981-10-06) (age 29) 67 1 Reading 16 DF Lasha Salukvadze 21 December 1981 (1981-12-21) (age 29) 30 1 Rubin Kazan 7 MF Gogita Gogua 4 October 1983 (1983-10-04) (age 27) 21 1 Spartak Nalchik 8 MF Dato Kvirkvelia 27 June 1980 (1980-06-27) (age 30) 39 0 Rubin Kazan 10 MF Levan Kobiashvili 10 July 1977 (1977-07-10) (age 33) 89 11 Hertha BSC 13 MF Jano Ananidze 10 October 1992 (1992-10-10) (age 18) 2 0 Spartak Moscow 18 MF Tornike Aptsiauri 29 November 1979 (1979-11-29) (age 31) 4 0 Zestafoni 9 FW Alexander Iashvili 23 October 1977 (1977-10-23) (age 33) 56 13 Karlsruhe 11 FW Vladimir Dvalishvili 20 April 1986 (1986-04-20) (age 24) 10 4 Maccabi Haifa 14 FW David Siradze 21 October 1981 (1981-10-21) (age 29) 20 5 Spartak Nalchik 15 FW Nikoloz Gelashvili 5 August 1985 (1985-08-05) (age 25) 6 0 Zestafoni 17 FW Giorgi Merebashvili 15 August 1986 (1986-08-15) (age 24) 12 0 Vojvodina

Recent call-ups

0#0 Pos. Player Date of Birth (Age) Caps Goals Club DF Teymuraz Gongadze (vs  Iceland 8 September 2009, friendly) May 21, 1985 (1985-05-21) (age 25) 2 0 Simurq MF Giorgi Seturidze (vs  Iceland 8 September 2009, friendly) April 8, 1985 (1985-04-08) (age 25) 5 0 Olimpi Rustavi MF Zhano Ananidze (vs  Iceland 8 September 2009, friendly) October 10, 1992 (1992-10-10) (age 18) 1 0 Spartak Moscow MF Zurab Menteshashvili (vs  Iceland 8 September 2009, friendly) January 30, 1980 (1980-01-30) (age 31) 38 1 Hapoel Ashkelon FW Otar Martsvaladze (vs  Iceland 8 September 2009, friendly) July 14, 1984 (1984-07-14) (age 26) 12 2 Anzhi Makhachkala FW Mate Vatsadze (vs  Iceland 8 September 2009, friendly) December 17, 1988 (1988-12-17) (age 22) 1 0 Dinamo Tbilisi DF Mate Gvinianidze (vs  Malta 12 August 2009, friendly) December 10, 1986 (1986-12-10) (age 24) 7 0 1860 Munich DF Giorgi Shashiashvili (vs  Moldova 11 June 2009, friendly) September 1, 1979 (1979-09-01) (age 31) 30 1 Ergotelis DF Dato Kvirkvelia (vs  Moldova 11 June 2009, friendly) June 27, 1980 (1980-06-27) (age 30) 37 0 Rubin Kazan DF Davit Gigauri (vs  Moldova 11 June 2009, friendly) January 15, 1986 (1986-01-15) (age 25) 0 0 Gagra-Tbilisi MF Murtaz Daushvili (vs  Moldova 11 June 2009, friendly) May 1, 1989 (1989-05-01) (age 21) 3 0 Zestaponi FW Irakli Klimiashvili (vs  Moldova 11 June 2009, friendly) May 30, 1988 (1988-05-30) (age 22) 5 0 WIT Georgia FW Rati Aleksidze (vs  Moldova 11 June 2009, friendly) August 3, 1978 (1978-08-03) (age 32) 28 2 Győri ETO FW Beka Gotsiridze (vs  Moldova 11 June 2009, friendly) February 21, 1988 (1988-02-21) (age 22) 11 1 Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk DF Lasha Salukvadze (vs  Montenegro 1 April 2009, WCQ) December 21, 1981 (1981-12-21) (age 29) 24 1 Rubin Kazan FW David Siradze (vs  Montenegro 1 April 2009, WCQ) October 21, 1981 (1981-10-21) (age 29) 18 4 Spartak Nalchik GK Roin Kvaskhvadze (vs  Republic of Ireland 11 February 2009, WCQ) May 31, 1989 (1989-05-31) (age 21) 0 0 Zestaponi GK Revaz Tevdoradze (vs  Romania 19 November 2008, friendly) 0 0 Gagra Tbilisi GK Mirza Merlani (vs  Romania 19 November 2008, friendly) 0 0 Olimpi Rustavi DF Ilia Kandelaki (vs  Romania 19 November 2008, friendly) December 26, 1981 (1981-12-26) (age 29) 13 0 Sturm Graz DF Malkhaz Asatiani (vs  Romania 19 November 2008, friendly) August 4, 1981 (1981-08-04) (age 29) 35 4 Lokomotiv Moscow DF Zaali Eliava (vs  Bulgaria 15 October 2008, WCQ) January 2, 1985 (1985-01-02) (age 26) Zestaponi GK Giorgi Loria (vs  Italy 10 September 2008, WCQ) January 27, 1986 (1986-01-27) (age 25) 5 0 Dinamo Tbilisi

Footnotes

External links

• Georgian Football Federation
• RSSSF archive of results 1990-

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