Georgia national football team

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	Vacant
Captain	Jaba Kankava
Most caps	Levan Kobiashvili (100)
Top scorer	Shota Arveladze (26)
Home stadium	Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena
FIFA code	GEO
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	75 2 (4 April 2024)
Highest	42 (September 1998)
Lowest	156 (March 1994)
First international
Unofficial Georgian SSR 2–2 Lithuania (Tbilisi, Georgia; 27 May 1990) Official Lithuania 1–0 Georgia (Kaunas, Lithuania; 2 September 1992)
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)

The Georgia national football team (Georgian: საქართველოს ეროვნული საფეხბურთო ნაკრები, romanized: 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.

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, enabling Georgia to play competitive matches. The first of these came in September 1994, a 1–0 defeat to Moldova 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.

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. In the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying, Georgia had a disappointing run, with their only wins came over Gibraltar. Still, having finished first place in League D, Georgia was able to qualify for the country's first ever major playoff. Georgia managed to beat Belarus 1–0 and thus the hope to qualify for UEFA Euro 2020 increased, but it went in vain after the Georgians suffered a heartbreaking home defeat to North Macedonia in the decisive match and thus missed the opportunity to make a historic debut in a major competition.

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										10	3	2	5	8	12	4/5 (PO runners-up)
2024	To be determined									To be determined
Total	0/7									70	19	10	41	71	101	—

UEFA Nations League

UEFA Nations League record
Year	Division	Group	Pos	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	P/R	RK
2018–19	D	1	1st	6	5	1	0	12	2		40th
2020–21	C	2	3rd	6	1	4	1	6	6		42nd
2022–23	C	Future event
Total			–	12	6	5	1	18	8	40th

Head-to-head record

As of 15 November 2020

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	7	3	2	2	14	8	+6	042.86
Austria	2	0	1	1	2	3	−1	000.00
Azerbaijan	6	2	2	2	8	6	+2	033.33
Belarus	4	2	1	1	4	4	+0	050.00
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	7	4	1	2	9	7	+2	057.14
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
North Macedonia	4	0	2	2	2	4	−2	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: 64 countries	249	75	53	121	285	352	−67	030.12

All Time Results

Main article: Georgia national football team results

The following table shows Georgia's all-time international record, correct as of 17 Nov 2020.

Against	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	GF	GA
Total	248	75	53	120	285	351

https://www.worldfootball.net/teams/georgien-team/21/

Recent results and forthcoming fixtures

Main article: Georgia national football team results (2020–present)

2020

Estonia v Georgia

5 September 2020 2020–21 UEFA Nations League	Estonia	0–1	Georgia	Tallinn, Estonia
19:00 UTC+3		Report	Kacharava 32'	Stadium: A. Le Coq Arena Attendance: 0 Referee: Donatas Rumšas (Lithuania)

Georgia v North Macedonia

8 September 2020 2020–21 UEFA Nations League	Georgia	1–1	North Macedonia	Tbilisi, Georgia
20:00 UTC+4	Okriashvili 13' (pen.)	Report	Ristovski 33'	Stadium: Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena Attendance: 0 Referee: Peter Kjærsgaard-Andersen (Denmark)

Georgia v Belarus

8 October 2020 Euro 2020 play-offs SF	Georgia	1–0	Belarus	Tbilisi, Georgia
20:00 UTC+4	Okriashvili 7' (pen.)	Report		Stadium: Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena Attendance: 0 Referee: Cüneyt Çakır (Turkey)

Armenia v Georgia

11 October 2020 2020–21 UEFA Nations League	Armenia	2–2	Georgia	Tychy, Poland
20:00 UTC+4	Bayramyan 6' Mkhitaryan 89' (pen.)	Report	Kacharava 46' Okriashvili 74'	Stadium: Tychy City Stadium Referee: Ivan Bebek (Croatia)

North Macedonia v Georgia

14 October 2020 2020–21 UEFA Nations League	North Macedonia	1–1	Georgia	Skopje, North Macedonia
20:45 UTC+2	Alioski 90+3' (pen.)	Report	Kvaratskhelia 74'	Stadium: Toše Proeski Arena Referee: Bartosz Frankowski (Poland)

Georgia v North Macedonia

12 November 2020 Euro 2020 play-offs F	Georgia	0–1	North Macedonia	Tbilisi, Georgia
21:00 UTC+4		Report	Pandev 56'	Stadium: Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena Attendance: 0 Referee: Anthony Taylor (England)

Georgia v Armenia

15 November 2020 2020–21 UEFA Nations League	Georgia	1–2	Armenia	Tbilisi, Georgia
21:00 UTC+4	Qazaishvili 65' (pen.)	Report	Ghazaryan 33' Adamyan 86'	Stadium: Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena Referee: Marco Guida (Italy)

Georgia v Estonia

18 November 2020 2020–21 UEFA Nations League	Georgia	0–0	Estonia	Tbilisi, Georgia
21:00 UTC+4		Report		Stadium: Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena Referee: Irfan Peljto (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying play-off match against North Macedonia on 12 November, and the 2020–21 UEFA Nations League fixtures against Armenia and Estonia on 15 and 18 November 2020, respectively.

Caps and goals as of 18 November 2020 after the match against Estonia.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Giorgi Loria	(1986-01-27) 27 January 1986	62	0	Anorthosis Famagusta
12	1GK	Giorgi Makaridze	(1990-03-31) 31 March 1990	17	0	Almería
17	1GK	Lazare Kupatadze	(1996-01-01) 1 January 1996	0	0	Saburtalo
	2DF	Guram Kashia	(1987-07-04) 4 July 1987	82	2	Free Agent
5	2DF	Solomon Kvirkvelia	(1992-02-06) 6 February 1992	41	0	Rotor Volgograd
2	2DF	Otar Kakabadze	(1995-06-27) 27 June 1995	38	0	Tenerife
8	2DF	Gia Grigalava	(1989-08-05) 5 August 1989	34	0	Arsenal Tula
3	2DF	Davit Khocholava	(1993-02-08) 8 February 1993	26	0	Shakhtar Donetsk
	2DF	Lasha Dvali	(1995-05-14) 14 May 1995	16	1	Ferencváros
	2DF	Jemal Tabidze	(1996-03-18) 18 March 1996	14	0	Ufa
15	2DF	Mamuka Kobakhidze	(1992-08-23) 23 August 1992	2	0	Dinamo Batumi
14	2DF	Nikoloz Mali	(1999-01-27) 27 January 1999	1	0	Saburtalo
7	3MF	Jaba Kankava (captain)	(1986-03-18) 18 March 1986	93	10	Tobol
	3MF	Valeri Qazaishvili	(1993-01-29) 29 January 1993	53	11	Free Agent
6	3MF	Murtaz Daushvili	(1989-05-01) 1 May 1989	38	0	Anorthosis Famagusta
21	3MF	Valerian Gvilia	(1994-05-24) 24 May 1994	32	3	Legia Warsaw
4	3MF	Nika Kvekveskiri	(1992-05-29) 29 May 1992	33	0	Honvéd
	3MF	Giorgi Aburjania	(1995-01-02) 2 January 1995	19	0	Oviedo
	3MF	Otar Kiteishvili	(1996-03-26) 26 March 1996	18	0	Sturm Graz
20	3MF	Jaba Jighauri	(1992-07-08) 8 July 1992	19	0	Dinamo Batumi
23	3MF	Saba Lobzhanidze	(1994-12-18) 18 December 1994	13	2	Ankaragücü
9	3MF	Giorgi Chakvetadze	(1999-08-29) 29 August 1999	9	5	Gent
19	3MF	Levan Shengelia	(1995-10-27) 27 October 1995	7	0	Konyaspor
18	3MF	Khvicha Kvaratskhelia	(2001-02-12) 12 February 2001	5	1	Rubin Kazan
22	3MF	Zuriko Davitashvili	(2001-02-15) 15 February 2001	6	0	Rotor Volgograd
10	4FW	Tornike Okriashvili	(1992-02-12) 12 February 1992	45	12	Anorthosis Famagusta
11	4FW	Giorgi Kvilitaia	(1993-10-01) 1 October 1993	27	5	Anorthosis Famagusta
13	4FW	Nika Kacharava	(1994-01-14) 14 January 1994	24	3	Lech Poznań
	4FW	Elguja Lobjanidze	(1992-09-17) 17 September 1992	11	0	Kaisar

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	Davit Kobouri	(1998-01-24) 24 January 1998	0	0	Dinamo Tbilisi	v. North Macedonia, 8 September 2020
DF	Giorgi Navalovski	(1986-06-28) 28 June 1986	41	0	Dinamo Batumi	v. North Macedonia, 8 September 2020
MF	Giorgi Kutsia	(1999-10-27) 27 October 1999	0	0	Dinamo Tbilisi	v. North Macedonia, 8 September 2020

• ^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):

Most caps

#	Player	Caps	Goals	Career
1	Levan Kobiashvili	100	12	1996–2011
2	Jaba Kankava	93	10	2004-
3	Zurab Khizanishvili	92	1	1999–2015
4	Kakha Kaladze	83	1	1996-2011
5	Guram Kashia	82	2	2009–
6	Giorgi Nemsadze	69	0	1992–2004
7	Aleksandre Iashvili	67	15	1996–2011
8	Gocha Jamarauli	62	6	1994–2004
	Giorgi Loria	62	0	2008-
10	Shota Arveladze	61	26	1992–2007

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
	Tornike Okriashvili	12	45	2010–
7	Valeri Qazaishvili	11	53	2014–
	Jaba Kankava	10	93	2004–
9	Mikheil Kavelashvili	9	46	1991–2002
10	David Siradze	8	28	2004–2011
	Georgi Kinkladze	8	54	1992–2005

Managers

As of 19 November 2019

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	2016–2020	48	16	16	16	033.33

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 teams

Men's

• Footballers
• Football team
• Results
• Captains
• Under-23 football team
• Under-21 football team
• Under-19 football team
• Under-17 football team
• Futsal team
• Beach soccer team

Women's

• Footballers
• Football team
• Results
• Under-20 football team
• Under-17 football team

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–