Temur Ketsbaia

Temur Ketsbaia

Personal information
Full name	Temuri Ketsbaia
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	no club (Manager)

Temuri Ketsbaia (Georgian: თემურ ქეცბაია) (born March 18, 1968 in Gali) is a retired Cypriot-Georgian football midfielder who was previously one of the leading players with the Georgian national team. Ketsbaia is now a Cypriot-Georgian as he got a Cypriot citizenship as he was playing for Anorthosis Famagusta.

Playing career

Born in Gali, Abkhaz ASSR, Georgian SSR, he began his career with minor Georgian team Dinamo Sukhumi before transferring to Dinamo Tbilisi, the country's biggest team. He came to prominence whilst with Dinamo and earned a move to Cypriot club Anorthosis Famagusta FC in 1992 and then to Greece with AEK Athens FC, winning the Greek Cup with the club.

Under the Bosman ruling, Ketsbaia became a free agent and joined Newcastle United in the summer of 1997. A popular figure with the fans, Ketsbaia is not only remembered for his performance, but also for his bizarre celebrations, such as aggressively kicking the advertising hoardings (McDonald's and Adidas ones specifically) after scoring a goal against Bolton Wanderers.

As a Newcastle player, he participated in the 1998 and 1999 FA Cup Final against Arsenal and Manchester United. Although Newcastle lost 2–0 on both occasions, these matches were the highlight of his football career. On both occasions he played as a striker alongside Alan Shearer.

In the summer of 1997 newly signed Ketsbaia scored a goal in extra-time against Croatia Zagreb and won a place for Newcastle United in the Champion's League for the first time in their history.

He left St James' Park in 2000 to sign for Wolverhampton Wanderers and in 2001 joined Dundee during a time when the club began to spend at unheard of levels.

Managerial career

He returned to Anorthosis in the Summer of 2002 as a player-coach. He remains at the club, where he became player-manager in January 2004. In his first summer he bought 11 players, mostly well-known ones, who helped the team win the championship title in Ketsbaia's first full-season as a manager.

In the summer of 2005, Ketsbaia entered the Cypriot football hall of fame as Anorthosis beat Turkish side Trabzonspor in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League, despite being underdogs. However the following season was a disaster for Ketsbaia and Anorthosis as they finished 4th in the league and failed to qualify for Europe. In the summer of 2004, he made massive changes to the squad, bringing in eleven new players. He was hoping to re-establish Anorthosis as the dominant force in Cypriot football.

On June 30, 2007, Ketsbaia announced his retirement from professional football. His last match before retiring was held on July 14.

On September 28, 2008, he threw his name in the ring for the vacant Newcastle managers position. In an interview with the Sunday Mirror, he said: "I had a great opportunity to play at Newcastle as a player, so why not as a manager?"

In the 2008–09 season, Anorthosis, having Ketsbaia at the wheel, was the first Cypriot team in history to reach the group stage of UEFA Champions League, after defeating Olympiakos 3–1 on aggregate in the third qualifying round. In the group stages they beat the Greek team Panathinaikos 3-1, drew both games with Werder Bremen. They drew (3-3) at home, and lost away 0-1 to Internazionale Milan. In the final game they had the opportunity of finishing second, but Anorthosis lost 0-1 away to Panathinaikos. With Inter (who had already qualified) losing 0-1 to Werder they finished in fourth place, missing out on a place in the UEFA Cup.

In the week before the match club directors had gone to the police complaining of financial irregularites being carried out by the club President who was forced to resign, despite support from Ketsbaia and club supporters. Ketsbaia was reported as saying that he was no longer interested in coaching the team if the President was no longer running the club.

In April 2009, Ketsbaia stood down as coach of Anorthosis Famagusta.

Managerial stats

Last updated October 23 2008

Nat	Team	From	To	Record
				G	W	L	D	Win %	GF	GA	+/-
	Anorthosis Famagusta	2004		109	73	26	9	66.97%	218	83	+135
Total Career				109	73	26	9	66.97%	218	83	+135

Honours

As a Player

Dinamo Tbilisi

• Georgian League: 1990, 1991, 1992
• Georgian Cup: 1992

AEK Athens

• Greek Cup: 1996, 1997
• Greek Super Cup: 1996

Anorthosis Famagusta

• Cypriot Championship: 2005
• Cypriot Cup: 2003, 2007

As a Coach

Anorthosis Famagusta

• Cypriot Championship: 2005, 2008
• Cypriot Cup: 2007
• Cypriot Super Cup: 2007

External links

• "Ketsbaia.com" Temuri Ketsbaia`s fans
• Career totals up to 2002
• Where are they now - Temuri Ketsbaia
• Ketsbaia compilation video
• Temur Ketsbaia at National-Football-Teams.com

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