Georgia national football team

The Georgia national football team (Georgian: საქართველოს ეროვნული საფეხბურთო ნაკრები, translit.: sakartvelos erovnuli sapekhburto nak'rebi) represents the country of Georgia in men's international football matches, and it 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 1996 onwards, but have not achieved qualification yet. Home games are played at the Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena in Tbilisi.

This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Georgia women's national football team.

Georgia

Nickname(s)	ჯვაროსნები jvarosnebi (Crusaders)
Association	Georgian Football Federation (GFF) საქართველოს ფეხბურთის ფედერაცია
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Vladimir Weiss
Captain	Koko Vardoahvili
Most caps	Koko Vardoahvili (100)
Top scorer	Koko Vardo the blob (26)
Home stadium	Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena
FIFA code	GEO
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	91 (16 July 2020)[1]
Highest	42 (September 1998)
Lowest	156 (March 1994)
First international
Georgia 2–2 Lithuania  (Tbilisi, Georgia; 27 May 1990)
Biggest win
Georgia 7–0 Armenia  (Tbilisi, Georgia; 30 March 1997)
Biggest defeat
Romania 5–0 Georgia (Bucharest, Romania; 24 April 1996)  Denmark 6–1 Georgia (Copenhagen, Denmark; 7 September 2005)

History

The history of the Georgia national football team began in 1990, when the team played their first international match against Lithuania, the first country to accept an invitation. The match was held on 27 May 1990 at national stadium. Georgia were coached by Givi Nodia. The friendly match ended in a 2–2 draw. This was the only match prior to the declaration of independence on 9 April 1991. Soon afterwards the team played another friendly match against Moldova.

The Georgian Football Federation became a member of both UEFA and FIFA in 1992,[2] enabling Georgia to play competitive matches. The first of these came in September 1994, a 1–0 defeat to Moldova[3] as part of the qualifiers for Euro 1996. Georgia finished third in their group, ahead of Moldova and Wales, but seven points behind second-placed qualifier Bulgaria.

Georgia failed to qualify for 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, obtaining 10 points and finishing in fourth place, level on points with Poland. At this time Georgia reached forty-second place in the FIFA World Ranking.

In the UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying the Georgia national team won one match, drew two and finished bottom of the group with five points. This marked the beginning of a period of decline for Georgian football.

The team finished fifth (and last) with seven points in their qualifying group for Euro 2004, although they defeated Russia with a goal scored by Malkhaz Asatiani.

In the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifiers Georgia beat Albania 2–0 at home and Kazakhstan away 2–1. They finished sixth (second bottom) with ten points in Group 2.

Georgia were sixth out of seven teams in the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying group with ten points. They defeated Scotland 2–0 at home and the Faroe Islands 6–0 away and 3–1 at home.

Héctor Cúper became the manager of Georgia in August 2008. During the qualification round for the 2010 FIFA World Cup Georgia failed to win any matches and finished sixth (and last) with three points. Cuper didn't extend his contract, and on 6 November 2009 Temur Ketsbaia was appointed as the new manager of the Georgian national football team. Ketsbaia resigned as manager after a 4–0 defeat at home to Poland in the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifiers on 14 November 2014, having previously stated he would do so before the match regardless of the result.

In June 2016, Georgia beat the two-times reigning European champions Spain 1–0 in their final pre-Euro 2016 friendly.[4]

In 2018, they were the first team to earn promotion in the new UEFA Nations League. They scored the event's first goal in a UEFA Nations League D game in Kazakhstan before beating Latvia twice and Andorra, with 2 games still to spare.

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup record										FIFA World Cup qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Position
1930 to 1990	Part of the  Soviet Union									Part of the  Soviet Union
1994	Did not enter									Did not enter
1998	Did not qualify									8	3	1	4	7	9	4/5
2002										8	3	1	4	12	12	3/5
2006										12	2	4	6	14	25	6/7
2010										10	0	3	7	7	19	6/6
2014										8	1	2	5	3	10	4/5
2018										10	0	5	5	8	14	5/6
2022	To be determined									To be determined
2026
Total	0/8									56	9	16	31	51	89	—

UEFA European Championship

UEFA European Championship record										UEFA European Championship qualifying record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Position
1960 to 1992	Part of the  Soviet Union									Part of the  Soviet Union
1996	Did not qualify									10	5	0	5	14	13	3/6
2000										10	1	2	7	8	18	6/6
2004										8	2	1	5	8	14	5/5
2008										12	3	1	8	16	19	6/7
2012										10	2	4	4	7	9	5/6
2016										10	3	0	7	10	16	5/6
2020	To be determined									8	2	2	4	7	11	4/5
2024										To be determined
Total	0/8									62	16	8	38	63	92	—

UEFA Nations League

UEFA Nations League record
Year	Division	Group	Pos	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
2018–19	D	1	1st Promoted	6	5	1	0	12	2
2020–21	C	To be determined
Total		–	–	6	5	1	0	12	2

Head-to-head record

As of 19 November 2019[5][6]

Opponents	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Albania	14	8	3	3	23	13	+10	057.14
Andorra	2	1	1	0	4	1	+3	050.00
Armenia	5	3	1	1	11	4	+7	060.00
Austria	2	0	1	1	2	3	−1	000.00
Azerbaijan	6	2	2	2	8	6	+2	033.33
Belarus	3	1	1	1	3	4	−1	033.33
Bulgaria	5	1	1	3	6	15	−9	020.00
Cameroon	1	0	1	0	0	0	+0	000.00
Croatia	3	1	0	2	3	4	−1	033.33
Cyprus	6	2	1	3	6	7	−1	033.33
Denmark	5	0	2	3	5	15	−10	000.00
Egypt	1	0	1	0	0	0	+0	000.00
England	2	0	0	2	0	4	−4	000.00
Estonia	6	3	1	2	8	7	+1	050.00
Faroe Islands	2	2	0	0	9	1	+8	100.00
Finland	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1	000.00
France	4	0	1	3	1	7	−6	000.00
Germany	5	0	0	5	2	12	−10	000.00
Gibraltar	4	4	0	0	13	2	+11	100.00
Greece	7	0	1	6	5	14	−9	000.00
Hungary	2	1	0	1	4	5	−1	050.00
Iceland	1	0	0	1	1	3	−2	000.00
Iran	1	0	0	1	1	2	−1	000.00
Israel	6	1	2	3	4	7	−3	016.67
Italy	8	0	1	7	2	14	−12	000.00
Jordan	2	1	0	1	3	3	+0	050.00
Kazakhstan	6	3	2	1	7	4	+3	050.00
Latvia	10	5	2	3	18	10	+8	050.00
Lebanon	2	0	0	2	4	7	−3	000.00
Liechtenstein	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2	100.00
Lithuania	8	4	1	3	13	6	+7	050.00
Luxembourg	4	2	1	1	5	2	+3	050.00
Malta	9	6	2	1	12	5	+7	066.67
Moldova	12	4	4	4	17	14	+3	033.33
Montenegro	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1	000.00
New Zealand	1	0	0	1	1	3	−2	000.00
Nigeria	1	0	0	1	1	5	−4	000.00
Northern Ireland	1	0	0	1	1	4	−3	000.00
Norway	3	0	0	3	1	6	−5	000.00
Paraguay	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1	000.00
Poland	5	1	0	4	4	13	−9	020.00
Portugal	1	0	0	1	0	2	−2	000.00
Qatar	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1	100.00
Republic of Ireland	11	0	2	9	5	18	−13	000.00
Romania	7	0	2	5	4	19	−15	000.00
Russia	3	1	1	1	3	4	−1	033.33
Saudi Arabia	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2	100.00
Scotland	4	2	0	2	4	3	+1	050.00
Saint Kitts and Nevis	1	1	0	0	3	0	+3	100.00
Serbia	2	0	0	2	1	4	−3	000.00
Slovakia	2	1	0	1	3	3	+0	050.00
Slovenia	4	1	1	2	4	5	−1	025.00
South Africa	1	1	0	0	4	1	+3	100.00
South Korea	1	0	1	0	2	2	+0	000.00
Spain	3	1	0	2	1	3	−2	033.33
Switzerland	4	0	1	3	1	7	−6	000.00
Tunisia	2	1	1	0	3	1	+2	050.00
Turkey	5	1	1	3	5	12	−7	020.00
United Arab Emirates	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1	000.00
Ukraine	9	0	3	6	6	16	−10	000.00
Uruguay	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2	100.00
Uzbekistan	1	0	1	0	2	2	+0	000.00
Wales	5	3	1	1	9	3	+6	060.00
Total: 63 countries	240	73	50	117	278	343	−65	030.42

Recent results and forthcoming fixtures

2019

South Korea  v  Georgia

5 September 2019 Friendly	South Korea	2–2	Georgia	Istanbul, Turkey
16:30 (UTC+3)	Hwang Ui-jo  48', 85'	Report	Ananidze  40' Kvilitaia  90'	Stadium: Başakşehir Fatih Terim Stadium Attendance: 750 Referee: Hüseyin Göçek (Turkey)

Georgia  v  Denmark

8 September 2019 UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying	Georgia	0–0	Denmark	Tbilisi, Georgia
20:00 (UTC+4)		Report		Stadium: Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena Referee: François Letexier (France)

Georgia  v  Republic of Ireland

12 October 2019 UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying	Georgia	0–0	Republic of Ireland	Tbilisi, Georgia
17:00 (UTC+4)		Report		Stadium: Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena Referee: Marco Guida (Italy)

Gibraltar  v  Georgia

15 October 2019 UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying	Gibraltar	2–3	Georgia	Gibraltar
20:45 ( UTC+2)	Casciaro  66' R. Chipolina  74'	Report	Kharaishvili  10' Kankava  21' Kvilitaia  84'	Stadium: Victoria Stadium Referee: Paolo Valeri (Italy)

Switzerland   v  Georgia

15 November 2019 UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying	Switzerland	1–0	Georgia	St. Gallen, Switzerland
20:45 (UTC+1)	Itten  77'	Report		Stadium: Kybunpark Referee: Danny Makkelie (Netherlands)

Croatia  v  Georgia

19 November 2019 Friendly	Croatia	2–1	Georgia	Pula, Croatia
20:45 (UTC+1)	Kashia  25' (o.g.) Perišić  54'	Report	Papunashvili  19'	Stadium: Stadion Aldo Drosina Referee: Alan Mario Sant (Malta)

2020

Georgia  v  Belarus

TBD Euro 2020 play-off	Georgia	v	Belarus	Tbilisi, Georgia
20:45 UTC+1				Stadium: Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena

Estonia  v  Georgia

5 September 2020 2020–21 UEFA Nations League	Estonia	v	Georgia	Tallinn, Estonia
19:00 UTC+3				Stadium: A. Le Coq Arena

Georgia  v  North Macedonia

8 September 2020 2020–21 UEFA Nations League	Georgia	v	North Macedonia	Tbilisi, Georgia
20:00 UTC+4				Stadium: Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena

Armenia  v  Georgia

11 October 2020 2020–21 UEFA Nations League	Armenia	v	Georgia	Yerevan, Armenia
20:00 UTC+4				Stadium: Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium

North Macedonia  v  Georgia

14 October 2020 2020–21 UEFA Nations League	North Macedonia	v	Georgia	Skopje, North Macedonia
20:45 UTC+2				Stadium: Toše Proeski Arena

Georgia  v  Armenia

15 November 2020 2020–21 UEFA Nations League	Georgia	v	Armenia	Tbilisi, Georgia
21:00 UTC+4				Stadium: Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena

Georgia  v  Estonia

18 November 2020 2020–21 UEFA Nations League	Georgia	v	Estonia	Tbilisi, Georgia
21:00 UTC+4				Stadium: Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying matche against Switzerland on 15 November 2019 and the friendly against Croatia on 19 November 2019.
Caps and goals as of 19 November 2019 after the match against Croatia.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Giorgi Loria	(1986-01-27) 27 January 1986	56	0	Anorthosis Famagusta
12	1GK	Giorgi Makaridze	(1990-03-31) 31 March 1990	15	0	Vitória de Setúbal
17	1GK	Lazare Kupatadze	(1996-01-01) 1 January 1996	0	0	Saburtalo Tbilisi
4	2DF	Guram Kashia	(1987-07-04) 4 July 1987	79	2	San Jose Earthquakes
22	2DF	Giorgi Navalovski	(1986-06-28) 28 June 1986	38	0	Dinamo Batumi
	2DF	Solomon Kvirkvelia	(1992-02-06) 6 February 1992	36	0	Lokomotiv Moscow
2	2DF	Otar Kakabadze	(1995-06-27) 27 June 1995	33	0	Luzern
18	2DF	Gia Grigalava	(1989-08-05) 5 August 1989	31	0	Arsenal Tula
3	2DF	Davit Khocholava	(1993-02-08) 8 February 1993	21	0	Shakhtar Donetsk
16	2DF	Jemal Tabidze	(1996-03-18) 18 March 1996	11	1	Ufa
7	3MF	Jaba Kankava (captain)	(1986-03-18) 18 March 1986	86	10	Tobol
8	3MF	Valeri Qazaishvili	(1993-01-29) 29 January 1993	46	10	San Jose Earthquakes
10	3MF	Jano Ananidze	(1992-10-10) 10 October 1992	45	7	Anorthosis Famagusta
6	3MF	Murtaz Daushvili	(1989-05-01) 1 May 1989	35	0	Anorthosis Famagusta
	3MF	Valerian Gvilia	(1994-05-24) 24 May 1994	26	3	Legia Warsaw
	3MF	Nika Kvekveskiri	(1992-05-29) 29 May 1992	25	0	Tobol
15	3MF	Giorgi Aburjania	(1995-01-02) 2 January 1995	16	0	Twente
13	3MF	Otar Kiteishvili	(1996-03-26) 26 March 1996	16	0	Sturm Graz
20	3MF	Jaba Jighauri	(1992-07-08) 8 July 1992	14	0	Dinamo Batumi
	3MF	Giorgi Papunashvili	(1995-09-02) 2 September 1995	13	3	Zaragoza
	3MF	Giorgi Kharaishvili	(1996-07-29) 29 July 1996	6	1	Göteborg
19	3MF	Levan Shengelia	(1995-10-27) 27 October 1995	4	0	Konyaspor
	3MF	Zuriko Davitashvili	(2001-02-15) 15 February 2001	2	0	Rubin Kazan
11	4FW	Giorgi Kvilitaia	(1993-10-01) 1 October 1993	22	5	Gent
	4FW	Bachana Arabuli	(1994-01-05) 5 January 1994	7	0	Panionios
14	4FW	Elguja Lobjanidze	(1992-09-17) 17 September 1992	6	0	Taraz

Recent call-ups

The following players have not been called up for the upcoming matches but have been called up for the team in the last 12 months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
DF	Lasha Dvali	(1995-05-14) 14 May 1995	13	1	Ferencváros	v.  Republic of Ireland, 12 October 2019 ^INJ
DF	Levan Kharabadze	(2000-01-26) 26 January 2000	3	0	Zürich	v.  Denmark, 8 September 2019
MF	Tornike Okriashvili	(1992-02-12) 12 February 1992	40	9	Anorthosis Famagusta	v.   Switzerland, 15 November 2019 ^INJ
MF	Saba Lobzhanidze	(1994-12-18) 18 December 1994	7	2	Randers	v.   Switzerland, 15 November 2019 ^INJ
MF	Vakhtang Chanturishvili	(1993-08-05) 5 August 1993	5	0	Fastav Zlín	v.  Denmark, 8 September 2019
MF	Khvicha Kvaratskhelia	(2001-02-12) 12 February 2001	1	0	Rubin Kazan	v.  Denmark, 8 September 2019
MF	Akaki Gogia	(1992-01-18) 18 January 1992	0	0	Union Berlin	training camp

• ^INJ Withdrew due to an injury.
• ^PRE Preliminary squad.
• ^RET Retired from international football.

Records

Lists of 10 players with the most caps and top goalscorers for Georgia, as of 10 June 2019 (players in bold are still available for selection):[7][8]

Most caps # Player Caps Goals Career 1 Levan Kobiashvili 100 12 1996–2011 2 Zurab Khizanishvili 92 1 1999–2015 3 Jaba Kankava 86 10 2004- 4 Kakha Kaladze 83 1 1996-2011 5 Guram Kashia 79 2 2009– 6 Giorgi Nemsadze 69 0 1992–2004 7 Aleksandre Iashvili 67 15 1996–2011 8 Gocha Jamarauli 62 6 1994–2004 9 Shota Arveladze 61 26 1992–2007 10 Davit Kvirkvelia 59 0 2003–2014

Top goalscorers # Player Goals Caps Career 1 Shota Arveladze 26 61 1992–2007 2 Temur Ketsbaia 17 52 1990–2003 3 Aleksandre Iashvili 15 67 1996–2011 4 Giorgi Demetradze 12 56 1996–2007 Levan Kobiashvili 12 100 1996–2011 6 Valeri Qazaishvili 10 46 2014– Jaba Kankava 10 86 2004– 8 Tornike Okriashvili 9 40 2010– Mikheil Kavelashvili 9 46 1991–2002 10 David Siradze 8 28 2004–2011 Georgi Kinkladze 8 54 1992–2005

Managers

As of 5 September 2019[9]

Manager	Georgia career	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Win %
Givi Nodia	1990	1	0	1	0	000.00
Giga Norakidze	1991–1992	4	2	0	2	050.00
Aleksandre Chivadze	1993–1996	24	9	1	14	037.50
Vladimir Gutsaev (caretaker)	1996	2	0	0	2	000.00
David Kipiani	1997	7	4	1	2	057.14
Vladimir Gutsaev	1998	5	3	2	0	060.00
Gigla Imnadze (caretaker)	1998	1	0	0	1	000.00
Vladimir Gutsaev	1998–1999	8	2	1	5	025.00
Johan Boskamp	1999	5	0	1	4	000.00
David Kipiani / Revaz Dzodzuashvili	2000–2001	16	5	5	6	031.25
Aleksandre Chivadze	2001–2003	11	4	3	4	036.36
Ivo Šušak	2003	2	1	0	1	050.00
Merab Jordania	2003	3	1	0	2	033.33
Gocha Tkebuchava (caretaker)	2004	3	0	0	3	000.00
Alain Giresse	2004–2005	10	2	2	6	020.00
Gaioz Darsadze (caretaker)	2005	7	2	2	3	028.57
Klaus Toppmöller	2006–2008	24	7	4	13	029.17
Petar Segrt (caretaker)	2008	2	0	1	1	000.00
Héctor Cúper	2008–2009	16	1	4	11	006.25
Temur Ketsbaia	2010–2014	40	13	9	18	032.50
Kakhaber Tskhadadze	2014–2016	10	3	1	6	030.00
Vladimír Weiss	2016–	41	15	12	14	036.59

Notable results

See also: Georgia national football team results

Date	Team	Result	Team
16 November 1994	Georgia	5–0	Wales
7 June 1995	Wales	0–1	Georgia
11 October 1995	Georgia	2–1	Bulgaria
10 September 1997	Georgia	0–0	Italy
11 October 1997	Georgia	3–0	Poland
1 September 2001	Georgia	3–1	Hungary
27 March 2002	Georgia	4–1	South Africa
30 April 2003	Georgia	1–0	Russia
15 November 2006	Georgia	2–0	Uruguay
7 February 2007	Georgia	1–0	Turkey
17 October 2007	Georgia	2–0	Scotland
20 August 2008	Wales	1–2	Georgia
26 March 2011	Georgia	1–0	Croatia
6 September 2013	Georgia	0–0	France
4 September 2015	Georgia	1–0	Scotland
7 June 2016	Spain	0–1	Georgia
8 September 2019	Georgia	0-0	Denmark

See also

• Football in Georgia
• Georgia national under-21 football team
• Georgia national under-19 football team
• Georgia national under-17 football team
• List of Georgian national football team captains

References

1. "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. 16 July 2020. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
2. "Georgian Football Federation". UEFA. Retrieved 30 December 2006.
3. "Georgia – International Results". RSSSF. Retrieved 30 December 2006.
4. "Spain fall to Georgia in final friendly ahead of Euro 2016". ESPN FC. 7 June 2016. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
5. "Georgia national football team match results". eu-football.info. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
6. "Georgia - International Results". www.rsssf.com. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
7. "Georgia international footballers of all-time". eu-football.info. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
8. "Georgia national football team goal scorers of all-time". eu-football.info. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
9. "Georgia national team managers". eu-football.info. Retrieved 10 February 2017.

External links

• Georgian Football Federation
• FIFA profile
• UEFA profile
• RSSSF archive of results 1990–
• RSSSF archive of most capped players and highest goalscorers
• Archive of results 1990–