Marked for Revaz Gvelesiani
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jaba Okriashvili
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zugdidi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.93 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market3 May 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Zugdidi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 May 2027
Dimas was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match1 May 2027
A 2‑0 win over Shukura, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad3 May 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Revaz Gvelesiani commits to Zugdidi for another 4 years.
Squad3 May 2027
A row about effort at Zugdidi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Temur Lomadze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout3 May 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Tornike Kakabadze on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match17 Oct 2026
7 matches without a win for Zugdidi
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Zugdidi are no longer polite ones.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Zugdidi
Guram Tsitaishvili and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match17 Oct 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Tornike Kakabadze was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Zugdidi dressing room was either.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgi Qazaishvili is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad19 Oct 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Zugdidi have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
Zugdidi say no — this time
The offer from Samtredia for Dato Daraselia was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The offer went to Torpedo Kutaisi this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mikheil Kvaratskhelia and Zugdidi agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Zugdidi
Mikheil Kvaratskhelia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market10 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Revaz Gvelesiani again, and this time the name on the line is Merani. Zugdidi are listening politely and promising nothing.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Batumi have kept their man, and Zugdidi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Giorgi Qazaishvili falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match8 Aug 2026
A bad afternoon for Zugdidi against Guria
0‑1 to Guria, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.