Marked for Mikheil Okriashvili
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Saburtalo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Saburtalo
Jemal Tabidze 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Ibrahim Alhassan is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Aug 2026
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Vakho Bedoshvili obliged against Guria. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Saburtalo.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A one-man rearguard from Welligton
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.
Match12 Aug 2026
Saburtalo win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 103th minute. Guria will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Ibrahim Alhassan delivers — 7.53
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Ibrahim Alhassan scored, was marked 7.53, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The offer went to Sioni 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Jemal Tabidze 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 targets17 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
1‑2 to Torpedo Kutaisi, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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 $667.5K — a club that wants Aleksandre Gvelesiani enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The offer went to Tskhinvali 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.
Market10 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Jemal Tabidze and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Saburtalo asked and Torpedo Kutaisi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Temur Shengelia is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Bachana Mikautadze has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Shota Okriashvili is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.