Marked for Saba Kobiashvili
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Sep 2026
Jaba Mchedlidze damages knee ligaments — 34 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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 nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tskhinvali can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Sep 2026
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Lokomotivi moved on, Beka Qazaishvili reports back to Tskhinvali, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad7 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Saba Kobiashvili, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.78, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
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
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Tskhinvali have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Saba Kobiashvili 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Lokomotivi made Tskhinvali work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad31 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Market31 Aug 2026
Lokomotivi 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
Upbeat
Match22 Aug 2026
Tskhinvali win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 90th minute. Sioni will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Market24 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Tskhinvali did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Aleksandre Qazaishvili did not need any: 7.90, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
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 Tskhinvali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jaba Arveladze, and the manager let it.
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
Steady
Match12 Aug 2026
Shukura go through and Tskhinvali go home, 3‑4 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Nika Kvaratskhelia could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.52
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.52, 1 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
Match12 Aug 2026
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Avtandil Mikautadze will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Tskhinvali escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer from Dinamo Batumi for Saba Kobiashvili 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Mikheil Daraselia 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Mikheil Kashia has left for Sapovnela in a $29.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Match15 Aug 2026
A 2‑1 win over Samtredia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Michal Jeřábek
“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.