From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Jan 2027
The offer from Guria for Léo Santos 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Giorgi Zaria 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Giorgi Beridze 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Too much change too quickly at Dinamo Tbilisi
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Squad11 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
Lokomotivi are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Dinamo Tbilisi will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 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.
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 Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market4 Jan 2027
The name of Léo Santos has come up in conversations Dinamo Tbilisi were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Giorgi Zaria 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Giorgi Kharaishvili and Dinamo Tbilisi agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market4 Jan 2027
Merani are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Dinamo Tbilisi will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Dinamo Tbilisi may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Giorgi Zaria 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Giorgi Beridze 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
Squad21 Dec 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 Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgi Beridze 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Numan Kurdić, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Dec 2026
Mathew Gbomadu 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgi Zaria 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.
Squad14 Dec 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Giorgi Zaria and Dinamo Tbilisi agree another 3 years.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Giorgi Zaria 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgi Beridze 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
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
Giorgi Zaria 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
Giorgi Beridze 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Nikoloz Ninua 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mate Vatsadze
127 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dinamo Tbilisi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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 Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Giorgi Zaria 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
Squad16 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mate Vatsadze
134 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dinamo Tbilisi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad16 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Giorgi Zaria 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
Squad9 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mate Vatsadze
141 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Dinamo Tbilisi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad9 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.
Market9 Nov 2026
Only the photograph left for Giorgi Zaria
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Giorgi Zaria will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Dinamo Tbilisi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgi Zaria 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Jhon González 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
Squad26 Oct 2026
Giorgi Zaria 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgi Beridze 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 watch26 Oct 2026
“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 3 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Dinamo Tbilisi may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Giorgi Zaria 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Giorgi Beridze 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
Market12 Oct 2026
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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Léo Santos: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Dinamo Tbilisi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad12 Oct 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
Giorgi Zaria 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
Giorgi Beridze 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
6 new faces, and Dinamo Tbilisi are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Sep 2026
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Dinamo Tbilisi are no longer polite ones.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Giorgi Zaria 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
4 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgi Beridze 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
7.52, 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Mathew Gbomadu 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.
Market28 Sep 2026
At 39, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Sep 2026
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Dinamo Tbilisi are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Rodrigo Ramos 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
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgi Zaria 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
3 matches without a goal for Dinamo Tbilisi
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Match19 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Jaba Kankava
“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
Steady
Match9 Sep 2026
Out, 0‑0 to Dila, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Market14 Sep 2026
Giorgi Zaria 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Giorgi Loria is the hero from the spot
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Giorgi Loria: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Giorgi Zaria has agreed terms with Torpedo Kutaisi for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Match12 Sep 2026
Whatever happens, Dinamo Tbilisi do not lose
6 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Giorgi Zaria 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.
Squad14 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 Dinamo Tbilisi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
The kick that got away from Nikoloz Ninua
Twelve yards, a goalkeeper guessing, and it still did not go in. He will take the next one, and every soul in the ground will hold their breath.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
Giorgi Zaria 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 Sep 2026
Giorgi Beridze 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 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Numan Kurdić, and the manager let it.
Market7 Sep 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Dinamo Tbilisi
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Match5 Sep 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Market7 Sep 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Rodrigo Ramos signs something — a contract at Dinamo Tbilisi or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market7 Sep 2026
4 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Dinamo Tbilisi could get for him.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market31 Aug 2026
Chikhura paid $280.0K and Dinamo Tbilisi took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Giorgi Zaria 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Rok Kidrič 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.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
At 22 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Sioni made Dinamo Tbilisi work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 17. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 7.89 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Dinamo Tbilisi had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match22 Aug 2026
Samtredia are out and Dinamo Tbilisi go through, 1‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match19 Aug 2026
A 2‑1 win over Samtredia, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Match19 Aug 2026
Iyed Haj Khalifa wins it after the whistle should have gone
91 minutes played. Iyed Haj Khalifa found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Samtredia went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Mathew Gbomadu ran the middle of the pitch — 7.19
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 16 combined actions and a mark of 7.19, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Giorgi Zaria 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Giorgi Loria
“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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Giorgi Beridze 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 ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match15 Aug 2026
A 0‑1 win over Sapovnela, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match12 Aug 2026
A 2‑1 win over Sapovnela, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Match12 Aug 2026
Halid Doltmourziev wins it after the whistle should have gone
109 minutes played. Halid Doltmourziev found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Sapovnela went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Market17 Aug 2026
Merani 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
7.78, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Giorgi Zaria 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Chikhura have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Giorgi Gvasalia. The answer from Dinamo Tbilisi has not changed — yet.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Mate Vatsadze
“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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Dinamo Tbilisi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giorgi Beridze 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
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
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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Giorgi Zaria 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market10 Aug 2026
Léo Santos told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Léo Santos has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Dinamo Tbilisi.
Market10 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Algassime Bah's contract
48 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 13. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad3 Aug 2026
201 appearances across 8 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Dinamo Tbilisi know what they have.
Market3 Aug 2026
The offer from Dila 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jaba Kankava commits to Dinamo Tbilisi for another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Giorgi Zaria 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Rui Monteiro again, and this time the name on the line is Lokomotivi. Dinamo Tbilisi are listening politely and promising nothing.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
At 23 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Giorgi Beridze 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.