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Khvicha Kvaratskhelia

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Khvicha Kvaratskhelia
Kvaratskhelia with Rubin Kazan in 2019
Personal information
Date of birth (2001-02-12) 12 February 2001 (age 23)
Place of birth Tbilisi, Georgia
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Winger
Team information
Current team
 Napoli
Number 77
Youth career
2012–2017 Dinamo Tbilisi
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2017–2018 Dinamo Tbilisi 4 (1)
2018–2019 Rustavi 18 (3)
2019 → Lokomotiv Moscow (loan) 7 (1)
2019–2022 Rubin Kazan 69 (9)
2022 Dinamo Batumi 11 (8)
2022– Napoli 22 (11)
International career‡
2016–2018 Georgia U17 21 (15)
2017–2019 Georgia U19 7 (150)
2019 Georgia U21 2 (1)
2019– Georgia 19 (10)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 21:22, 11 March 2023 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 23:26, 26 September 2022 (UTC)

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Georgian: ხვიჩა კვარაცხელია, romanized: khvicha k'varatskhelia; born 12 February 2001, in short Kvara) is a Georgian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Serie A club Napoli and the Georgia national team. He is renowned for his passing, dribbling, flair and shooting and is already considered to be one of the most promising football players in the world.

Club career

Early career

Coming through the youth system, Kvaratskhelia began his senior career at Dinamo Tbilisi in 2017, before joining Rustavi one year later.[1]

Due to his performance at the Georgian U17 team, in 2017 Kvaratskhelia became the first winner of the newly introduced Aleksandre Chivadze golden medal, annually awarded by GFF to talented young players.[2] The next year he received a silver medal among U19 players.[3]

In 2018, The Guardian named Kvaratskhelia among 60 best young players worldwide.[4]

Kvaratskhelia playing for Lokomotiv Moscow in 2019

On 15 February 2019, Kvaratskhelia joined Russian Premier League (RPL) club Lokomotiv Moscow on loan.[5] He made his league debut on 10 March as an 86th-minute substitute for Jefferson Farfán against Anzhi Makhachkala.[6] On 1 July, Lokomotiv announced that Kvaratskhelia had left the club after his loan expired.[7] Following that, Lokomotiv Moscow manager Yuri Semin said he was very disappointed after failing to agree on a permanent transfer with Kvaratskhelia as Semin considered him extremely talented.[8]

Rubin Kazan

On 6 July 2019, Kvaratskhelia signed a five-year deal with Rubin Kazan.[9] He played his first game on 15 July against his previous club Lokomotiv, coming on as a substitute in the second half and scoring the equalizer in a 1–1 draw. Kvaratskhelia was named as best player of the match by Rubin fans on the official site of the club.[10]

Overall, his purchase was hailed by several Russian media outlets as the main transfer success for Rubin, who saw the player's market value increased five times in a single season between June 2019 and June 2020.[11] Based on the votes among Rubin supporters, Kvaratskhelia won Player of the Month nomination four times in 2020–21, namely in August, September, October and April.[12]

In early 2021, L'Equipe published a list of 50 best players born in the 21st century, with Kvaratskhelia being the only RPL player to be included.[13]

Dinamo Batumi

On 7 March 2022, FIFA announced that, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, foreign players in Russia can unilaterally suspend their contracts until 30 June, and were allowed to sign with clubs outside of Russia until the same date.[14] On 24 March 2022, Rubin Kazan announced that Kvaratskhelia's contract has been suspended.[15] On the same day, he joined Dinamo Batumi of Georgia.[16]

Kvaratskhelia took part in 11 league matches with Dinamo Batumi, scoring eight times and providing two assists ://1tv.ge/news/eligis-meore-wreshi-sauketeso-kvarackheliaa-1tvsport/ |website=1tv.ge (in Georgian) |date=23 June 2022}}</ref>

Napoli

On 1 July 2022, Serie A side Napoli confirmed the signing of Kvaratskhelia on a deal lasting until 2027 from Dinamo Batumi for a reported fee of €10–12 million.[17][18] He made his unofficial debut for the club on 14 July, in a friendly against Eccellenza club Anaune Val di Non, scoring two goals and providing an assist.[19][20]

Kvaratskhelia's full professional debut for the club came on 15 August, in the first matchday of Serie A against Hellas Verona; he scored and assisted in his debut in a 5–2 victory.[21] He scored twice in the following matchday, against Monza on 21 August, netting his first Serie A brace in a 4–0 win.[22] Following these games, Kvaratskhelia topped the Serie A top scorers' list, becoming the first player in Napoli's history to score three goals in the two opening league matches.[23] Furthermore, he was named Serie A Player of the Month in August 2022.[24]

On 4 October, he scored his first Champions League goal in a 6–1 away win over Ajax.[25] With another goal and an assist in the return leg a week later, Kvaratskhelia was named Man of the Match,[26] and included in the Champions League team of the week.[27]

With three goals and an assist during the month of February 2023, Kvaratskhelia was named Serie A Player of the Month for a second time, becoming the first player to win the award multiple times in the same season.[28]

International career

Kvaratskhelia made his debut for the Georgia national team on 7 June 2019, as a starter in a Euro 2020 qualifier against Gibraltar.[29] On 14 October 2020, he scored his first senior international goal in a 1–1 UEFA Nations League draw with North Macedonia.[30] On 28 March 2021, Kvaratskhelia scored against Spain, followed by another goal three days later against Greece.[31] On 11 November 2021, Kvaratskhelia's brace helped Georgia win over Sweden.[32]

He scored three times in four games of the first phase of the 2022–23 Nations League, and topped the list of players in two nominations, including in the overall ranking.[33] In the remaining two autumn games Kvaratskhelia added two more goals, which made him the most prolific Georgian player during this tournament. whoscored.com named him in the Best XI both in June and September and awarded him the highest seasonal rating point (8.2) among Group C team players.[34]

Personal life

Khvicha is the son of former Azerbaijan international footballer Badri Kvaratskhelia,[35] He has two brothers, and his younger brother Tornike (b. 2010) also plays football.[36][37] He has been nicknamed "Kvaradona" after the Napoli legend Maradona with both of them having very similar dribbling styles.[38][39][40][41][42]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 15 March 2023[43][44]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Dinamo Tbilisi 2017 Erovnuli Liga 4 1 1 0 — — 5 1
Rustavi 2018 Erovnuli Liga 18 3 0 0 — — 18 3
Lokomotiv Moscow (loan) 2018–19 Russian Premier League 7 1 3 0 — — 10 1
Rubin Kazan 2019–20 Russian Premier League 27 3 1 0 — — 28 3
2020–21 Russian Premier League 23 4 0 0 — — 23 4
2021–22 Russian Premier League 19 2 1 0 2[a] 0 — 22 2
Total 69 9 2 0 2 0 0 0 73 9
Dinamo Batumi 2022 Erovnuli Liga 11 8 — — — 11 8
Napoli 2022–23 Serie A 22 11 0 0 7[b] 2 — 29 13
Career total 131 33 6 0 9 2 0 0 146 35
  1. ^ Appearances in UEFA Europa Conference League
  2. ^ Appearances in UEFA Champions League

International

As of match played 26 September 2022[45][46]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Georgia 2019 1 0
2020 4 1
2021 7 4
2022 7 5
Total 19 10
Scores and results list Georgia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kvaratskhelia goal.
List of international goals scored by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 14 October 2020 Toše Proeski Arena, Skopje, North Macedonia  North Macedonia 1–0 1–1 2020–21 UEFA Nations League C
2 28 March 2021 Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena, Tbilisi, Georgia  Spain 1–0 1–2 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification
3 31 March 2021 Toumba Stadium, Thessaloniki, Greece  Greece 1–1 1–1
4 11 November 2021 Batumi Stadium, Batumi, Georgia  Sweden 1–0 2–0
5 2–0
6 2 June 2022 Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena, Tbilisi, Georgia  Gibraltar 1–0 4–0 2022–23 UEFA Nations League C
7 5 June 2022 Huvepharma Arena, Razgrad, Bulgaria  Bulgaria 4–1 5–2
8 9 June 2022 Toše Proeski Arena, Skopje, North Macedonia  North Macedonia 2–0 3–0
9 23 September 2022 Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena, Tbilisi, Georgia  North Macedonia 2–0 2–0
10 26 September 2022 Victoria Stadium, Gibraltar  Gibraltar 1–0 2–1

Honours

Lokomotiv Moscow

Individual

References

  1. ^ "ორი ქართველი ფეხბურთელი მსოფლიოს TOP-60 ტალანტში!". europop.ge (in Georgian). 11 October 2018.
  2. ^ "ალექსანდრე ჩივაძის პრემია". fanebi.com (in Georgian). 28 December 2017.
  3. ^ "GFF AWARDS 2018". gff.ge (in Georgian). 28 December 2018.
  4. ^ "Next Generation 2018: 60 of the best young talents in world football". theguardian.com, 11 October 2018.
  5. ^ "Хвича Кварацхелия – в "Локомотиве"" (in Russian). FC Lokomotiv Moscow. 15 February 2019.
  6. ^ "Anzhi v Lokomotiv game report" (in Russian). Russian Premier League. 10 March 2019.
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  8. ^ "Сёмин: из-за ухода Кварацхелии из "Локомотива" у меня потекли слёзы" [Semin: I cried because Kvaratskhelia left Lokomotiv] (in Russian). Championat. 1 July 2019.
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  14. ^ "FIFA adopts temporary employment and registration rules to address several issues in relation to war in Ukraine". FIFA. 7 March 2022.
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  53. ^ "Khvicha Kvaratskhelia EA Sports Player of the Month for August". Serie A. 9 September 2022. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
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