Marked for Bachana Gamsakhurdia
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match29 Aug 2026
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.03 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market31 Aug 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 Dinamo Batumi can pretend not to have heard.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Flamengo, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Cruzeiro keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Market31 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Kolkheti have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Irakli Rukhadze. The answer from Dinamo Batumi has not changed — yet.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Levan Khozrevanidze 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Lazare Kupatadze: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match19 Aug 2026
Samtredia ended it 2‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Market24 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Dinamo Batumi did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Cruzeiro, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
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 Dinamo Batumi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match15 Aug 2026
A 4‑2 win over Merani, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match12 Aug 2026
Merani are out and Dinamo Batumi go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.37 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 8.18 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$670.0K settles it between the clubs for Bachana Gamsakhurdia
Zugdidi have accepted the money. What Dinamo Batumi do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $723.1K — a club that wants Bachana Gamsakhurdia enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Dinamo Batumi offered $570.0K; Zugdidi said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Match15 Aug 2026
Paulo Vitor among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Paulo Vitor on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Dinamo Batumi and Merani.
Market17 Aug 2026
Dila paid $67.0K and Dinamo Batumi took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Paulo Vitor goes up and wins it — 7.25
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.25 for the rest of it.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The offer went to Zugdidi 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.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $611.9K — a club that wants Nika Zivzivadze enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Dinamo Batumi have gone to Zugdidi with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Paulo Vitor and Dinamo Batumi agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Paulo Vitor 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tskhinvali have kept their man, and Dinamo Batumi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Vakhtang Shengelia is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market10 Aug 2026
Zugdidi say no — this time
The offer from Chikhura for Bachana Gamsakhurdia 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.
Market10 Aug 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 Zugdidi can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Temur Janelidze and Zugdidi agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Sandro Gamsakhurdia 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shota Lobjanidze 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.
Match8 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sandro Gamsakhurdia. 2‑0 against Shukura, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Temur Kvilitaia is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.