Marked for Viktor Putin
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Sep 2026
The wait goes on for Tskhinvali
6 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.
Squad28 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 Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 8.21 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“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.
Loan watch28 Sep 2026
“I did not go to Lokomotivi to sit and watch. I want to come back to Tskhinvali and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Match26 Sep 2026
It needed Viktor Putin to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Merani, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Aug 2026
A 1‑1 win over Dila, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Market24 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Dato Kakabadze decides it from twelve yards
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Lasha Zivzivadze 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 ratings24 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 22, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“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.
Match22 Aug 2026
Sioni made Tskhinvali work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match12 Aug 2026
Shukura are out and Tskhinvali go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market17 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad17 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 Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 22 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Match15 Aug 2026
Samtredia made Tskhinvali work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.42 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Shota Tsitaishvili, and the manager let it.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Aug 2026
The name of Lasha Zivzivadze has come up in conversations Tskhinvali were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer from Samtredia for Alessandro Verdi 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dato Kakabadze and Tskhinvali agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 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 Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match8 Aug 2026
Three points for Tskhinvali, 2‑1 the final word against Sapovnela in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.48, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Beka Lobjanidze, and the manager let it.
Market10 Aug 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Tskhinvali will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Dato Kakabadze knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tskhinvali, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Aug 2026
Lasha Zivzivadze 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Giorgi Ananidze and Tskhinvali agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market3 Aug 2026
The name of Jaba Kvaratskhelia has come up in conversations Tskhinvali were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Match1 Aug 2026
0‑1 to Torpedo Kutaisi, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Viktor Putin
“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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market3 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Vakhtang Qazaishvili has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Tskhinvali.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Dato Kakabadze asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
5.48 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.