Marked for Archil Okriashvili
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces25 Sep 2028
Anger at Zugdidi spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market25 Sep 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zugdidi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Ilias Sgouros 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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Amer Kthupi 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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
The manager makes an example of Deni Aslanbekov
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match23 Sep 2028
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Lokomotivi defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Sep 2028
Archil Ananidze: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zugdidi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market11 Sep 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zugdidi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amer Kthupi 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.
Match9 Sep 2028
Three points for Zugdidi, 2‑1 the final word against Samtredia in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad11 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
Rauno Teniste was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Loan watch11 Sep 2028
“I watch every Zugdidi game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Zira runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Market11 Sep 2028
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Zugdidi has been clear about where Archil Okriashvili stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad11 Sep 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Aug 2028
24 matches without a win for Zugdidi
The run now stands at 24, and the questions being asked around Zugdidi are no longer polite ones.
Market7 Aug 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zugdidi can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Aug 2028
Sioni come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Zugdidi did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market7 Aug 2028
Only the photograph left for Saba Kashia
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Saba Kashia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zugdidi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ilias Sgouros and Zugdidi agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Aug 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match5 Aug 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad7 Aug 2028
27 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Saba Mchedlidze 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Jun 2028
No end in sight to Zugdidi's wait for a win
18 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zugdidi has to find a result from somewhere.
Match26 Jun 2028
Every point is an argument now for Zugdidi
Position 16 and 7 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market26 Jun 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zugdidi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Amer Kthupi in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market26 Jun 2028
Everyone has stopped pretending: Sioni will make the call about Irakli Daraselia this week. Zugdidi have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Sandro Chakvetadze 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.
Match24 Jun 2028
0‑1 to Dinamo Tbilisi, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad26 Jun 2028
“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.
Market26 Jun 2028
He is 19, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Jun 2028
17 matches without a win for Zugdidi
The run now stands at 17, and the questions being asked around Zugdidi are no longer polite ones.
Match17 Jun 2028
Chastening afternoon for Zugdidi
A 0‑3 beating by Tskhinvali was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market19 Jun 2028
Amer Kthupi hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zugdidi can pretend not to have heard.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Beka Chakvetadze: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zugdidi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market19 Jun 2028
Zugdidi say no — this time
The offer from Chikhura for Revaz Janelidze 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.
Market19 Jun 2028
Saba Kashia has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zugdidi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Irakli Daraselia 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Chakvetadze 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 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sandro Chakvetadze, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Apr 2028
Arda Yılmaztürk damages knee ligaments — 14 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 14 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market3 Apr 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zugdidi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market3 Apr 2028
“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.
Match1 Apr 2028
No end in sight to Zugdidi's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zugdidi has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Amer Kthupi in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match1 Apr 2028
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad3 Apr 2028
“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.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Mar 2028
Arda Yılmaztürk damages knee ligaments — 42 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 42 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market6 Mar 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zugdidi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market6 Mar 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sandro Chakvetadze and Zugdidi agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Mar 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
Graduation day at Zugdidi
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Market6 Mar 2028
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Lasha Daraselia is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market6 Mar 2028
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Levan Ananidze has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Arda Yılmaztürk, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces17 Jan 2028
The mood at Zugdidi has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market17 Jan 2028
Sioni come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Zugdidi did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market17 Jan 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Arda Yılmaztürk 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amer Kthupi 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.
Market17 Jan 2028
The phone has started ringing about Nika Shengelia again, and this time the name on the line is Sapovnela. Zugdidi are listening politely and promising nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Dec 2027
A fracture rules Luis Pacheco out for 36 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zugdidi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The terraces20 Dec 2027
Anger at Zugdidi spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market20 Dec 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad20 Dec 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Dec 2027
A move Rezo Meskhidze would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Rezo Meskhidze is living that version at Zugdidi, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Arda Yılmaztürk 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Nov 2027
Luis Pacheco breaks a bone — 65 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 65 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The terraces22 Nov 2027
Anger at Zugdidi spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market22 Nov 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces25 Oct 2027
Anger at Zugdidi spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad25 Oct 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mate Ghaghvishvili 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.