From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Dinamo St Petersburg is saying, and nobody at Sioni is enjoying the guessing.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Sioni
Dachi Chochoshvili 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Erigels Shkira arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Erigels Shkira has, at Sioni, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Market8 Feb 2027
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Erigels Shkira commits to Sioni for another 3 years.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandr Verulidze trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces1 Feb 2027
Anger at Sioni 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
Sioni say no — this time
The offer from Guria for Luka Avaliani 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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Pressure builds in the Sioni boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 8 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Sioni until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexandr Verulidze and Sioni agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Sioni
Dachi Chochoshvili and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Amkar have kept their man, and Sioni go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Sioni
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Asad Asadov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market1 Feb 2027
11 months and counting on Lucão
Still no offer on the table, and Lucão’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Tskhinvali waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Sioni 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 Sioni, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Sioni have done the hard part with Tskhinvali, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Sioni
Luka Avaliani 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Asad Asadov and Sioni agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Sioni training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Avtandil Gabidzashvili 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 dugout25 Jan 2027
Luka Avaliani 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 Sioni, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Luka Avaliani has company in his position
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Luka Avaliani keeps the shirt for now, at Sioni's convenience rather than his own.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Jan 2027
Luka Avaliani hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sioni can pretend not to have heard.
Match18 Jan 2027
Sioni sink to position 14
6 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Transfer targets18 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
The paperwork is done: Asad Asadov joins from Samtredia in a deal worth $54.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Market18 Jan 2027
The name of Tornike Mindiashvili has come up in conversations Sioni were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Sioni
Givi Mukbaniani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Tskhinvali: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Sioni are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Sioni will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A move Lucão would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Lucão is living that version at Sioni, and it tends to show in the first month.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The deal with Samtredia 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.
Squad11 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 Sioni this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets11 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sandro Lobjanidze 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. Avtandil Janelidze 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Sioni have made the call to Tskhinvali. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
A loan move for Revaz Kakabadze is in the works
Sioni have made the call to Guria. 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
Uneasy
Squad4 Jan 2027
Nika Zurabashvili damages knee ligaments — 22 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 22 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The terraces4 Jan 2027
Supporters organise against the Sioni 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Sioni
Luka Avaliani 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 targets4 Jan 2027
Sioni asked and Chikhura 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 targets4 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Guria: 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
Sioni 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Sioni
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sandro Lobjanidze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
Open for business: Sioni enter the window
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
Market4 Jan 2027
The name of Giorgi Gaprindashvili keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Sioni say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Nika Zurabashvili
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sioni lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market28 Dec 2026
“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 Sioni, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Luka Avaliani is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Dec 2026
“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 Sioni, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match21 Dec 2026
Every point is an argument now for Sioni
Position 14 and 6 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Sioni
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Avtandil Gabidzashvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Dec 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Saba Kvaratskhelia 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Revaz Lobjanidze and Sioni agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Sioni training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Avtandil Gabidzashvili 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
The terraces7 Dec 2026
Supporters organise against the Sioni 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Sioni
Givi Mukbaniani 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
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market30 Nov 2026
“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 Sioni, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Adam Huskić and Sioni agree another 3 years.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Sioni
Paata Kiteishvili 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
Match23 Nov 2026
Every point is an argument now for Sioni
Position 14 and 6 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.
Market23 Nov 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sioni may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Sioni
Lasha-Giorgi Titvinidze 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Sioni
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sandro Lobjanidze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Luka Avaliani 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
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Sioni
Lasha-Giorgi Titvinidze 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Bantu Mzwakali has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Full training, no reaction, and a player who wants to be picked immediately. Sioni will hold him back a week and he will spend it arguing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Sioni
Paata Kiteishvili 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.
Market9 Nov 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Goga 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.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Chikhura to sit and watch. I want to come back to Sioni and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Giorgi Gabedava for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Sioni will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Sioni
Sandro Lobjanidze and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Nov 2026
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
Match26 Oct 2026
Sioni sink to position 14
6 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market26 Oct 2026
“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 Sioni, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Beka Ananidze: 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.” Sioni have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Sioni
Archil Gamsakhurdia 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
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Sioni the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Alexandr Verulidze plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 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 Sioni this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
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
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Luka Avaliani: 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.” Sioni have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Sioni
Lasha-Giorgi Titvinidze and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market12 Oct 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Irakli 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
8 new faces, and Sioni 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Revaz Lobjanidze and Sioni agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Loan watch12 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 Sioni, and 3 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Oct 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A muscle injury and 14 days out for Giorgi Gabedava
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Sioni will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad5 Oct 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 Sioni this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 56. 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
The wait goes on for Sioni
10 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
8 matches without a goal for Sioni
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 8 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Match28 Sep 2026
Every point is an argument now for Sioni
Position 14 and 6 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.
Market28 Sep 2026
Luka Avaliani hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sioni can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Sep 2026
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Sioni
Lasha-Giorgi Titvinidze 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Bachana Kvaratskhelia chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Sioni
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sandro Lobjanidze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Sioni's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sioni has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
The goals have deserted Sioni
7 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Sioni can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad21 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 Sioni this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Sioni told Givi Mukbaniani something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Match19 Sep 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Zugdidi defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
Chikhura next, and one man in the Sioni dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 51. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match12 Sep 2026
8 matches without a win for Sioni
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Sioni are no longer polite ones.
Match12 Sep 2026
The goals have deserted Sioni
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Sioni can tell you which week it ends in.
Market14 Sep 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Otar Chakvetadze 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.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexandr Verulidze, and the manager let it.
Match12 Sep 2026
Sioni come up short against Merani
Merani left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad14 Sep 2026
8 new faces, and Sioni 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.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Bachana Kvaratskhelia left the room before anybody could ask which.
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 Sioni this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Sep 2026
7 matches without a win for Sioni
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Sioni are no longer polite ones.
Market7 Sep 2026
Sioni say no — this time
The offer from Tskhinvali for Tornike Mindiashvili 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 19 in, 1 out at Sioni
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 19 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Match5 Sep 2026
5 matches without a goal for Sioni
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tornike Dundua, and the manager let it.
Player ratings7 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Sioni
Archil 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.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Bachana Kvaratskhelia chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandr Verulidze trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Aug 2026
The wait goes on for Sioni
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.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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 Sioni, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Tskhinvali; Sioni go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Match29 Aug 2026
4 matches without a goal for Sioni
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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Sioni asked and Tskhinvali said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Sioni
Givi Mukbaniani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match29 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Adam Huskić
“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
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Sioni's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sioni has to find a result from somewhere.
Match22 Aug 2026
3 matches without a goal for Sioni
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.
Transfer targets24 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sioni this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Luka Avaliani
“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
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Archil Daraselia commits to Sioni for another 3 years.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Luka Avaliani 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 36. 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.
Match12 Aug 2026
Sioni out of the cup
Dila ended it 0‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
A cup hiding at Dila leaves Sioni explaining themselves
0-3, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Match15 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for Sioni
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Sioni are no longer polite ones.
Squad17 Aug 2026
400 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Sioni
Givi Mukbaniani 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 ratings17 Aug 2026
Giorgi Ubilava did the work nobody counts — 6.90
9 combined actions and 6.90. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Sioni 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atlanta have kept their man, and Sioni go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match8 Aug 2026
Giorgi Gabedava scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Dila, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Sioni
Givi Mukbaniani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Beka Gvelesiani 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. Archil 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Shota Janelidze 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. Dato Shengelia is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Bachana Kvaratskhelia left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market3 Aug 2026
“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 Sioni, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Varlam Kilasonia commits to Sioni for another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Sioni
Givi Mukbaniani 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The name of Nikoloz Kharaishvili has come up in conversations Sioni were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market3 Aug 2026
24 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Dila 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 targets3 Aug 2026
Dinamo Tbilisi 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.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“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.