From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Apr 2027
No end in sight to Chikhura's wait for a win
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Chikhura has to find a result from somewhere.
Match3 Apr 2027
Nowhere to hide for Chikhura
1‑4 against Merani, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match31 Mar 2027
The small margins put Chikhura out
Out, 0‑2 to Samtredia, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Khvicha Kashia, 16, plays like he has been here for years — 7.62
A mark of 7.62 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 16-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“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.
Market5 Apr 2027
Beka Daraselia has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chikhura they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dato Kakabadze, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Chikhura
Bachana Kakabadze and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
In brief
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Boardroom
Doors closed at Chikhura
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Player ratings
Shota Kvilitaia beats them one at a time
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match27 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Chikhura's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Chikhura has to find a result from somewhere.
Match27 Mar 2027
6 matches without a goal for Chikhura
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Avto Tsartsidze is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Archil 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Chikhura training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nika Buzaladze 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 dugout29 Mar 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Vakhtang Kakabadze
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Archil Kvaratskhelia, and the manager let it.
Match27 Mar 2027
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Saburtalo came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces22 Mar 2027
The mood at Chikhura has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match20 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Chikhura's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Chikhura has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad22 Mar 2027
9 saves: Aizak Babe was the team
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match20 Mar 2027
Beaten 0‑3 by Dinamo Tbilisi, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market22 Mar 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Avtandil Kobiashvili will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chikhura the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match20 Mar 2027
Chikhura cannot find the net
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Chikhura
Archil Mikautadze 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.
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
Nobody left the Chikhura dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Lasha Qazaishvili after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Mar 2027
10 matches without a win for Chikhura
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Chikhura are no longer polite ones.
Match13 Mar 2027
4 matches without a goal for Chikhura
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Match13 Mar 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Lasha Qazaishvili to a room that had heard them before.
Looking ahead15 Mar 2027
Chikhura take on the side everybody is chasing
Dinamo Tbilisi arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Temur Daraselia dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Off the academy pitches and onto a senior team sheet at 16. The debut is the easy part; the second appearance is the one every young player has to earn.
Squad15 Mar 2027
At 15 he is in the side on merit and somebody else is watching. Places at Chikhura are won quietly and lost loudly, and this one was won.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 9. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match6 Mar 2027
The wait goes on for Chikhura
9 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chikhura is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
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.
Match6 Mar 2027
Chikhura cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Chikhura
Temur Daraselia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Chikhura
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nika Buzaladze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Lasha Qazaishvili was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Chikhura dressing room was either.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
No investment in the facilities at Chikhura
Nothing about this will be in a press release. A plan went upstairs, came back rejected, and the version of the club that would have existed in three years' time just quietly stopped being possible.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Archil Kvaratskhelia's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Chikhura
Temur Daraselia 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Chikhura would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces22 Feb 2027
Supporters organise against the Chikhura board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Market22 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Avtandil Kobiashvili will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chikhura the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Chikhura
Gugua Iakobashvili and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dato Kakabadze and Chikhura agree another 3 years.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Dato Kakabadze
“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 dugout22 Feb 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nikoloz Shapatava trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Feb 2027
Every point is an argument now for Chikhura
Position 15 and 4 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Tedo Macharashvili for 16 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Chikhura will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Chikhura
Gugua Iakobashvili 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market8 Feb 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Chikhura have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market8 Feb 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 Chikhura can pretend not to have heard.
Market8 Feb 2027
Only the photograph left for Beka Daraselia
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Beka Daraselia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chikhura the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets8 Feb 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.
Squad8 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; Chikhura are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Market8 Feb 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Dato Kakabadze 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.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Chikhura ran out of time with Dinamo Batumi. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad8 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chikhura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Pressure builds in the Chikhura boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Chikhura and Dinamo Batumi have settled on $66.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market1 Feb 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 Chikhura can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Chikhura close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Market1 Feb 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Chikhura have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Archil 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Chikhura training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nika Buzaladze 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
A loan move for Léo Santos is in the works
Chikhura have made the call to Dinamo Tbilisi. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
Aizak Babe 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces25 Jan 2027
Supporters organise against the Chikhura board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Market25 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Shukura waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Chikhura is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market25 Jan 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 Chikhura, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets25 Jan 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.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Kolkheti: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Khvicha Kashia and Chikhura agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Jan 2027
Chikhura are in real trouble now
Position 15, 4 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Dinamo Batumi, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market18 Jan 2027
Chikhura say no — this time
The offer from Merani for Beka Daraselia 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chikhura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Chikhura training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nika Buzaladze 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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Saburtalo: 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
Crisis
Market11 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The deal with Dinamo Tbilisi is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Market11 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Khvicha Kashia 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Bachana Shengelia 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Chikhura
Temur Daraselia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
15 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Nika Buzaladze 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.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout11 Jan 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
Crisis
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Chikhura can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Chikhura
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Chikhura is running low.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Chikhura have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The paperwork begins on Léo Santos
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Chikhura have done the hard part with Dinamo Tbilisi, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market4 Jan 2027
The name of Ilia Buzaladze has come up in conversations Chikhura were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad4 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chikhura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Dila: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces28 Dec 2026
Supporters organise against the Chikhura board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Chikhura
Gugua Iakobashvili and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Chikhura
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nika Buzaladze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match21 Dec 2026
Chikhura sink to position 15
4 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vakhtang Kakabadze and Chikhura agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Temur Gamsakhurdia 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
Uneasy
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Chikhura
Temur Gamsakhurdia 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
44 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
“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; Chikhura are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Chikhura
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nika Buzaladze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Shota Kvilitaia
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces30 Nov 2026
The mood at Chikhura has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Temur 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Nika Buzaladze 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match23 Nov 2026
Chikhura sink to position 15
4 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Chikhura
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgi Kokhreidze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad23 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 Chikhura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Chikhura have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Gugua Iakobashvili 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Nika Buzaladze 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout16 Nov 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 Ilia Buzaladze is on it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nikoloz Shapatava trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market9 Nov 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Aleksandre Kvaratskhelia 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Chikhura
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgi Kokhreidze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Chikhura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces2 Nov 2026
Anger at Chikhura spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Giorgi Kokhreidze 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
Words exchanged at Chikhura
Archil Mikautadze 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Oct 2026
Every point is an argument now for Chikhura
Position 15 and 4 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aizak Babe, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Chikhura
Archil Mikautadze and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Chikhura
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nika Buzaladze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Beka Daraselia and Chikhura agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Beka Daraselia 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 Beka Daraselia trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
Giorgi Kokhreidze 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Gugua Iakobashvili 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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Archil Kvaratskhelia's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Ilia Buzaladze has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Chikhura 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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Aizak Babe 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 Aizak Babe trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
“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; Chikhura are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Market12 Oct 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Beka Daraselia 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Temur Gamsakhurdia 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Giorgi Kokhreidze 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Chikhura
Temur Daraselia 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Shota Kvilitaia trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
Temur 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Chikhura training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nika Buzaladze 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Aizak Babe
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Aizak Babe has come out of that comparison in the side, and Chikhura have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
8 matches without a win for Chikhura
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Chikhura are no longer polite ones.
Match28 Sep 2026
Chikhura are in real trouble now
Position 15, 4 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match26 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Giorgi Kokhreidze 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 ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout28 Sep 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 Lasha Qazaishvili to a room that had heard them before.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Chikhura
Gugua Iakobashvili 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Avtandil Kobiashvili and Chikhura agree another 3 years.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Temur Daraselia
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Sep 2026
The wait goes on for Chikhura
7 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Samtredia left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Chikhura
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgi Kokhreidze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Sep 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 Lasha Qazaishvili to a room that had heard them before.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Gugua Iakobashvili 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
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Revaz Janelidze commits to Chikhura for another 3 years.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Shota Kvilitaia dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Ilia Buzaladze has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Chikhura 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Sep 2026
The wait goes on for Chikhura
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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Tskhinvali wanted more than $380.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Market14 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Avtandil Kobiashvili 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Bachana Kakabadze 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.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Chikhura will try again when the window opens; Lokomotivi may not be selling by then.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Archil Mikautadze and Chikhura agree another 3 years.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Archil 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
7.75, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Chikhura had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Sep 2026
Nowhere to hide for Chikhura
0‑4 against Torpedo Kutaisi, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
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 Chikhura can pretend not to have heard.
Match5 Sep 2026
5 matches without a win for Chikhura
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Chikhura are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 18 in, 1 out at Chikhura
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Chikhura have done the hard part with Lokomotivi, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Chikhura had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Samtredia, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
$380.0K on the table at Tskhinvali. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Match5 Sep 2026
Chikhura are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Chikhura
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgi Kokhreidze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Aug 2026
0‑6 to Dinamo Batumi, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Chikhura had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Zugdidi, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Match29 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for Chikhura
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Chikhura are no longer polite ones.
Match29 Aug 2026
Nobody could stop scoring
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Chikhura and Dinamo Batumi in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Chikhura asked and Dila said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match29 Aug 2026
Chikhura are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Beaten 6 times: a bad day for Aizak Babe
5 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Samtredia, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Chikhura had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Zugdidi, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Match22 Aug 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Gugua Iakobashvili 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 targets24 Aug 2026
A loan move for Guram Kakabadze is in the works
Chikhura have made the call to Zugdidi. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dato Lobjanidze commits to Chikhura for another 3 years.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Chikhura training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nika Buzaladze 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Aug 2026
The small margins put Chikhura out
Out, 2‑3 to Kolkheti, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.85 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad17 Aug 2026
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Avto Chakhmashvili delivers — 7.48
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Avto Chakhmashvili scored, was marked 7.48, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The deal with Dinamo Batumi is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Guria is saying, and nobody at Chikhura is enjoying the guessing.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Torpedo Kutaisi wanted more than $130.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Match15 Aug 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Ilia Buzaladze, 34, rolls back the years — 7.93
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.93 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The deal with Guria is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets10 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Dato Lobjanidze 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
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Guram Gamsakhurdia 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
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Vakhtang Kakabadze 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nika Daraselia is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Match8 Aug 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Ilia Buzaladze’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Chikhura.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Chikhura
Gugua Iakobashvili 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Aug 2026
Nowhere to hide for Chikhura
0‑8 against Dila, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 17 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad3 Aug 2026
2 appearances across 8 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Chikhura know what they have.
Match1 Aug 2026
Nobody could stop scoring
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Chikhura and Dila in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Transfer targets3 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Avto Chakhmashvili commits to Chikhura for another 3 years.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Chikhura dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Lasha Qazaishvili after 0‑8, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Chikhura
Gugua Iakobashvili and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.