Marked for Saba Kvilitaia
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Aug 2028
66 matches without a win for Zugdidi
The run now stands at 66, and the questions being asked around Zugdidi are no longer polite ones.
The terraces14 Aug 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.
Match12 Aug 2028
1‑7 to Kolkheti, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad14 Aug 2028
There were 8 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.
Market14 Aug 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 The request is on a desk at Zugdidi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Aug 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Saba Kvilitaia and Zugdidi agree another 3 years.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Giorgi Mikautadze 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.
Match12 Aug 2028
8 goals in one match, Davit Kvaratskhelia on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Zugdidi and Kolkheti.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 May 2028
The wait goes on for Zugdidi
53 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match13 May 2028
Beaten 0‑3 by Torpedo Kutaisi, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market15 May 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.
Match13 May 2028
Zugdidi are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 8 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad15 May 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.
Squad15 May 2028
Zurab Tsitaishvili 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.
Squad15 May 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.
Boardroom15 May 2028
Doors closed at Zugdidi
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad15 May 2028
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Mar 2028
The wait goes on for Zugdidi
44 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad20 Mar 2028
There were 9 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.
Match18 Mar 2028
Beaten 0‑3 by Saburtalo, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match18 Mar 2028
Zugdidi cannot find the net
7 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.
Squad20 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Zurab Tsitaishvili 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
“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.
Boardroom20 Mar 2028
Nobody left the Zugdidi 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.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Feb 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Shota Mchedlidze
15 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Zugdidi are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad21 Feb 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Jan 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Shota Mchedlidze
43 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.
Squad24 Jan 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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Saba Kvilitaia commits to Zugdidi for another 3 years.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Aug 2027
35 matches without a win for Zugdidi
The run now stands at 35, and the questions being asked around Zugdidi are no longer polite ones.
The terraces16 Aug 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.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.55 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad16 Aug 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Zugdidi are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Match14 Aug 2027
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Zugdidi and Kolkheti in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Jaba Qazaishvili 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.
Match14 Aug 2027
Kolkheti left with the points after a 2‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Zurab Tsitaishvili 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Jul 2027
No end in sight to Zugdidi's wait for a win
32 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 Jul 2027
Zugdidi are in real trouble now
Position 16, 7 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad26 Jul 2027
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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Giorgi Mikautadze 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zurab Tsitaishvili 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
Crisis
Match27 Mar 2027
The wait goes on for Zugdidi
14 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The terraces29 Mar 2027
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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
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.
Match27 Mar 2027
Chastening afternoon for Zugdidi
A 0‑3 beating by Merani was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match27 Mar 2027
No clean sheets in sight for Zugdidi
5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad29 Mar 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.
Match27 Mar 2027
3 matches without a goal for Zugdidi
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad29 Mar 2027
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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
“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.