Marked for Nika Arveladze
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
Goga Kobiashvili damages knee ligaments — 35 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Jaba Chakvetadze out for 44 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tskhinvali will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad9 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 Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Goga Kvilitaia out for 32 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Zugdidi may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad2 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 Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Goga Kvilitaia out for 39 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.
Match26 Oct 2026
Zugdidi refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 16 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yegor Alexandrov 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
Squad19 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Jaba Chakvetadze out for 67 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tskhinvali will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Giorgi Shengelia is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Irakli Kvaratskhelia 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
Squad12 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 75 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Tskhinvali may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad12 Oct 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 Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 42. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Sep 2026
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tskhinvali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad21 Sep 2026
There were 10 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 96 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Dato 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nika Arveladze. 3‑2 against Saburtalo, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.54 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.28 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Loan watch21 Sep 2026
“I did not go to Merani to sit and watch. I want to come back to Tskhinvali and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 6 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Goga Kvilitaia out for 76 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Vasily Arkhipov 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kakha Qazaishvili 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Zugdidi will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.35, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match19 Sep 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Sioni leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market21 Sep 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Saba Ananidze’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Loan watch21 Sep 2026
3 appearances at Tskhinvali and the goals keep coming. Zugdidi are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
Saba Tsitaishvili damages knee ligaments — 35 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
Market7 Sep 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 Sep 2026
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.
Match5 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Tskhinvali
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Tskhinvali are no longer polite ones.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Irakli Kvaratskhelia 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vakhtang Daraselia and Tskhinvali agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 35. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market31 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
3 matches without a goal for Tskhinvali
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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Irakli Kvaratskhelia 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Nika Arveladze 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 7.36. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nika Kvaratskhelia and Tskhinvali agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market31 Aug 2026
Shukura are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Tskhinvali will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 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.
Squad3 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 Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kakha Qazaishvili 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Zugdidi have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tornike Mikautadze and Zugdidi agree another 2 years.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Zugdidi has been clear about where Davit Zivzivadze stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad3 Aug 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 Zugdidi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Match1 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Guria will be the happier side with the point.