Marked for Numan Kurdić
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market9 Aug 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Zugdidi waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Match7 Aug 2027
The unbeaten run reaches 12. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
A brace, and Talles Costa takes the afternoon — 8.40
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Talles Costa provided it, and the 8.40 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match7 Aug 2027
7 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Dinamo Tbilisi asked and Montevideo City Torque said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Talles Costa
17 goals and a season average of 7.35 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Market9 Aug 2027
Shukura come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Dinamo Tbilisi did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Guram Kashia 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.
Match7 Aug 2027
It finished 2‑1, and it was Talles Costa’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Dinamo Tbilisi.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market2 Aug 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dinamo Tbilisi people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Match31 Jul 2027
Whatever happens, Dinamo Tbilisi do not lose
11 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Market2 Aug 2027
Chikhura come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Dinamo Tbilisi did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market2 Aug 2027
Only the photograph left for Paris Psaltis
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Paris Psaltis will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Tbilisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market2 Aug 2027
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Dinamo Tbilisi have paid $1.3M for Alberto Rizzo, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Guram Kashia in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch2 Aug 2027
“I did not go to Dinamo Batumi to sit and watch. I want to come back to Dinamo Tbilisi and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 29 matches say the rest.
Match31 Jul 2027
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 5 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market26 Jul 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dinamo Tbilisi people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Match26 Jul 2027
54 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Match24 Jul 2027
5 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.
Loan watch26 Jul 2027
The goals keep arriving from Algassime Bah’s exile
21 goals in 21 games at Lokomotivi — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Dinamo Tbilisi updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Market26 Jul 2027
Numan Kurdić has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Tbilisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
The offer went to Union Brescia 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.
Market26 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad26 Jul 2027
15 goals and a season average of 7.33. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Guram Kashia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match3 Jul 2027
Chikhura will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Dinamo Tbilisi were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Market5 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Chikhura waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings5 Jul 2027
Two goals and a mark of 9.01 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market5 Jul 2027
“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.
Market5 Jul 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
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.
Loan watch5 Jul 2027
The goals keep arriving from Algassime Bah’s exile
19 goals in 18 games at Lokomotivi — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Dinamo Tbilisi updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Market5 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match3 Jul 2027
Another one collected away from home
5 on the bounce on the road for Dinamo Tbilisi. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market21 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Merani waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
$1.6M settles it between the clubs for Lazar Tufegdžić
Cukaricki have accepted the money. What Dinamo Tbilisi do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A muscle injury and 14 days out for Guram Kashia
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Dinamo Tbilisi will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
The offer went to Akron 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
Only the photograph left for Dato Arveladze
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dato Arveladze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Tbilisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Guram Kashia 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.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Dinamo Tbilisi offered $240.0K; Dila said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Loan watch21 Jun 2027
16 appearances away from home and 16 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Jun 2027
Giorgi Loria breaks a bone — 26 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market7 Jun 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dinamo Tbilisi people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market7 Jun 2027
“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 Dinamo Tbilisi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Dinamo Batumi wanted more than $1.5M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Dinamo Tbilisi have gone to Dila with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Guram Kashia in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sioni have kept their man, and Dinamo Tbilisi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Loan watch7 Jun 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Dinamo Tbilisi, and 0 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
Loan watch7 Jun 2027
14 appearances away from home and 14 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match17 Apr 2027
Whatever happens, Dinamo Tbilisi do not lose
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Market19 Apr 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Tbilisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Guram Kashia 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.
Match17 Apr 2027
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 5 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Barnes Osei gets it from the manager
“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.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
7.68, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Dinamo Tbilisi had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad19 Apr 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mamuka Okriashvili and Dinamo Tbilisi agree another 3 years.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
When it matters, Lyes Houri plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Mar 2027
The knee: Adrián Niño out for 29 days
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dinamo Tbilisi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Guram Kashia 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Welton Júnior 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.
Loan watch1 Mar 2027
“I watch every Dinamo Tbilisi game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Saburtalo runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Numan Kurdić
“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.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Feb 2027
The knee: Adrián Niño out for 37 days
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dinamo Tbilisi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market22 Feb 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad22 Feb 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; Dinamo Tbilisi are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Guram Kashia 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Welton Júnior was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch22 Feb 2027
“I did not go to Kolkheti to sit and watch. I want to come back to Dinamo Tbilisi and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Giorgi Loria gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Giorgi Loria is on it.
Market22 Feb 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Talles Costa’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Numan Kurdić 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 Dinamo Tbilisi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Feb 2027
The knee: Adrián Niño out for 46 days
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Dinamo Tbilisi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match15 Feb 2027
First, on 23 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Market15 Feb 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Shukura had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Guram Kashia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Loan watch15 Feb 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Dinamo Tbilisi, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Guram Kashia has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market15 Feb 2027
The Lyes Houri talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Dinamo Tbilisi know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad15 Feb 2027
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Squad15 Feb 2027
His past walked in ahead of him. Players who have been where he has been get a hearing in a dressing room before they have earned one, and he has it for as long as his form does.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market11 Jan 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dinamo Tbilisi people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market11 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dinamo Tbilisi can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Dinamo Batumi is saying, and nobody at Dinamo Tbilisi is enjoying the guessing.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Lyes Houri 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Guram Kashia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Dinamo Tbilisi 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Málaga: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Eintracht Frankfurt: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market4 Jan 2027
The offer from Samtredia for Mikheil Makatsaria 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Lyes Houri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Guram Kashia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Dinamo Tbilisi 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Dinamo Tbilisi have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Iyed Haj Khalifa commits to Dinamo Tbilisi for another 3 years.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Dinamo Batumi have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Dinamo Batumi have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A loan move for Ian Vera is in the works
Dinamo Tbilisi have made the call to Estudiantes. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
This is the season the town will measure the next twenty against. The trophy travels home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Guram Kashia 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 Dec 2026
Welton Júnior 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Numan Kurdić and Dinamo Tbilisi agree another 3 years.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Numan Kurdić gets it from the manager
“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.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Marios Pourzitidis is on it.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marios Pourzitidis trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market7 Dec 2026
The Lyes Houri story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lyes Houri signs something — a contract at Dinamo Tbilisi or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
The season a town measures the next twenty against. The trophy comes home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
Match25 Nov 2026
Out, 0‑1 to Torpedo Kutaisi, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Match25 Nov 2026
12 matches without defeat, and then Torpedo Kutaisi. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Market30 Nov 2026
Only the photograph left for Numan Kurdić
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Numan Kurdić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Tbilisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Lyes Houri in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match25 Nov 2026
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Dinamo Tbilisi. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Guram Kashia 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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Nehemías Portillo ran the middle of the pitch — 6.41
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 6.41, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Irakli Mikautadze to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Jaba Kankava out for 130 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Dinamo Tbilisi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Guram Kashia in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Welton Júnior 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Lyes Houri gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Lyes Houri is on it.
Market16 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Nikoloz Ninua’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Nov 2026
Jaba Kankava breaks a bone — 138 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 138 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Dinamo Tbilisi may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Aleksandre Kalandadze and Dinamo Tbilisi agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Lyes Houri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Guram Kashia 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.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Kolkheti to sit and watch. I want to come back to Dinamo Tbilisi and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 12 matches say the rest.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Welton Júnior knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Welton Júnior trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market9 Nov 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Dinamo Tbilisi know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Nov 2026
Jaba Kankava breaks a bone — 147 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 147 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market2 Nov 2026
Only the photograph left for Numan Kurdić
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Numan Kurdić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Tbilisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Guram Kashia 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.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I watch every Dinamo Tbilisi game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Samtredia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
89% of the income goes out in wages at Dinamo Tbilisi
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Giorgi Loria gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Giorgi Loria is on it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Léo Santos 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mikheil Makatsaria, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market5 Oct 2026
Numan Kurdić has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Dinamo Tbilisi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Guram Kashia 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
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Welton Júnior 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
116% of the income goes out in wages at Dinamo Tbilisi
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Nikoloz Ninua named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Nikoloz Ninua is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mikheil Makatsaria, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match5 Sep 2026
Lokomotivi will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Dinamo Tbilisi were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.62 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match5 Sep 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Dinamo Tbilisi have 6 straight wins of it.
Market7 Sep 2026
Only the photograph left for Numan Kurdić
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Numan Kurdić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Tbilisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 21 in, 4 out at Dinamo Tbilisi
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 21 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Everything agreed with Colón, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market7 Sep 2026
The deal that would have taken Mikheil Makatsaria to Dila has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Dinamo Tbilisi with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Mathew Gbomadu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guram Kashia 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
Market10 Aug 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Dinamo Tbilisi people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Dinamo Tbilisi offered $3.5M; Wycombe Wanderers said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Market10 Aug 2026
Only the photograph left for Numan Kurdić
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Numan Kurdić will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Tbilisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Numan Kurdić has agreed terms with Saburtalo for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Dinamo Tbilisi asked and Orlando City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mathew Gbomadu commits to Dinamo Tbilisi for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Lyes Houri 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sandro 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
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Dato Arveladze has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.