Marked for Otar Janelidze
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Lasha Janelidze at 14 — 8.02
The hardest thing about being 14 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Lasha Janelidze did not need any: 8.02, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shukura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Shukura asked and Gimnasia y Esgrima said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match22 Aug 2026
Three points for Shukura, 2‑1 the final word against Chikhura in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
He is 14 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.42 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan move for Revaz Janelidze is in the works
Shukura have made the call to Torpedo Kutaisi. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad24 Aug 2026
6 new faces, and Shukura are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Aug 2026
Beaten 1‑10 by Zugdidi, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match12 Aug 2026
Shukura out of the cup
Tskhinvali ended it 0‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Shukura have done the hard part with Tskhinvali, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Match15 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for Shukura
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Shukura are no longer polite ones.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Mikel Kaloshi 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 11 goals between Shukura and Zugdidi, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tskhinvali have kept their man, and Shukura go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
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Squad
Giorgi Kavtaradze falls out with a teammate over standards
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Match
Shukura are shipping goals every week
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Boardroom
Nobody left the Shukura dressing room in a hurry
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Aug 2026
Chastening afternoon for Shukura
A 0‑3 beating by Saburtalo was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Giorgi Kavtaradze commits to Shukura for another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Shukura
Mikel Kaloshi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Shukura dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Kakha Mikautadze left the room before anybody could ask which.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Torpedo Kutaisi have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Tskhinvali: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.