Murtaz Khurtsilava

This name uses Eastern Slavic naming customs; the patronymic is Kalistratovich and the family name is Khurtsilava.

Murtaz Khurtsilava

Personal information
Full name	Murtaz Kalistratovich Khurtsilava
Date of birth	5 January 1943 (1943-01-05)
Place of birth	Bandza, USSR
Playing position	Defender
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1961–1975	FC Dinamo Tbilisi	293	(15)
1975–1976	FC Torpedo Kutaisi	47	(4)
National team
1965–1973	USSR	69	(6)
Teams managed
	Lokomotiv Samtredia
1977	Dinamo Zugdidi
1982	Guria Lanchkhuti
1987–1989	FC Dinamo Tbilisi (assistant)
1997–1999	FC Dinamo Tbilisi
1999	FC Lokomotivi Tbilisi
1999–2001	Georgia U-21
2001–2003	Georgia (assistant)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Olympic medal record
Competitor for Soviet Union
Men’s Football
Bronze	1972 Munich	Team competition

Murtaz Kalistratovich Khurtsilava (Russian: Муртаз Калистратович Хурцилава, Georgian: მურთაზ ხურცილავა) (born 5 January 1943 in village Bandza, Martvili District, Georgian SSR) is a former Georgian footballer. He was a famed defender.

Khurtsilava was discovered while playing football in the school garden in Gegechkori, a small town in Caucasus -now known as Martvili- where he learnt to play football with a ball made of hay and rags. [1]

He was part of the USSR side that finished second in the 1972 UEFA European Championship, third at the 1972 Summer Olympics and fourth at the 1966 FIFA World Cup. He was also one of only two Georgians, alongside Alexandre Chivadze, to have captained the Soviet team. At the club level he played for FC Dynamo Tbilisi.

After retiring in 1977, Khurtsilava set up his own business in Tbilisi, where he now resides with his family. [2]

In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of Georgia by the Georgian Football Federation as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years. [3]

Playing Style

Famed for his man-to-man marking skills and no-nonsense approach to defending, Khurtsilava was a feared yet fearless defender.

External links

• UEFA.com - Georgia's Golden Player
• (Russian) RussiaTeam biography