Marked for Andrei Anisimov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Jun 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Saba Shengelia
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kolkheti lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market14 Jun 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 The request is on a desk at Kolkheti, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match12 Jun 2027
No end in sight to Kolkheti's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Kolkheti has to find a result from somewhere.
Market14 Jun 2027
The name of Mikheil Lobjanidze has come up in conversations Kolkheti were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Match12 Jun 2027
Kolkheti cannot find the net
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad14 Jun 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 Kolkheti this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Kolkheti training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zurab Zivzivadze 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.
Match12 Jun 2027
Torpedo Kutaisi left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Marked 6.91 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 May 2027
Saba Shengelia damages knee ligaments — 46 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 46 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.
Market17 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 The request is on a desk at Kolkheti, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 May 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 Kolkheti this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Kolkheti training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thompson Jasmine 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.
Match15 May 2027
Guria made Kolkheti work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Saba Shengelia
85 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kolkheti lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market12 Apr 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Zurab Zivzivadze commits to Kolkheti for another 3 years.
Squad12 Apr 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 Kolkheti this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Kolkheti training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zurab Zivzivadze 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.
Match10 Apr 2027
0‑2 to Dinamo Tbilisi, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market8 Mar 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 Kolkheti, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dato Janelidze and Kolkheti agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Kakha Tsitaishvili 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.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
Graduation day at Kolkheti
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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Thompson Jasmine 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.
Match6 Mar 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Thompson Jasmine. 2‑1 against Sapovnela, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces8 Mar 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Thompson Jasmine has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Market8 Mar 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Davit Kiteishvili is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market8 Mar 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Revaz Kashia 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Feb 2027
Kakha Tsitaishvili 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Kolkheti training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dato 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
8 new faces, and Kolkheti 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad7 Dec 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 Kolkheti this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Dato 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market23 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad23 Nov 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 Kolkheti this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kolkheti, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
Tornike 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.” Kolkheti have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market2 Nov 2026
“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 Kolkheti, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Kakha Tsitaishvili 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Oct 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kolkheti can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Kakha Tsitaishvili 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Kolkheti training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dato 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
Kakha Tsitaishvili 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Kolkheti did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.24 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Thompson Jasmine 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Kakha Tsitaishvili
9 goals and a season average of 7.22 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Loan watch21 Sep 2026
“I watch every Kolkheti game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sioni runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Avtandil Kashia and Kolkheti agree another 3 years.
Match19 Sep 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 7. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match12 Sep 2026
2 behind and going nowhere, until Kakha Tsitaishvili decided otherwise. Dila had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The match ball belongs to Kakha Tsitaishvili, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad14 Sep 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad14 Sep 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 Kolkheti this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A performance of 9.81 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match12 Sep 2026
Three points for Kolkheti, 3‑2 the final word against Dila in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Dato 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
12 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 9. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kolkheti can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Sep 2026
The deal that would have taken Zurab Gvelesiani to Tskhinvali has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Kolkheti with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Kakha Tsitaishvili 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
The name of Temur Arveladze has come up in conversations Kolkheti were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Kolkheti training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dato 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Bachana Shengelia
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Bachana Shengelia has come out of that comparison in the side, and Kolkheti have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.05 on the card, and the Kolkheti support went home talking about one name.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kolkheti lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market10 Aug 2026
Samtredia come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Kolkheti did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market10 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dato Janelidze and Kolkheti agree another 2 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Revaz Chakvetadze 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.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Davit Khelaia has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Kolkheti have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Market10 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Samtredia have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Luigi Pellegrini. The answer from Kolkheti has not changed — yet.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Kolkheti training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dato Janelidze 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.