From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Jan 2027
The deal that would have taken Otar Gvelesiani to Shukura has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Zugdidi with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Kakha 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
Davit Janelidze has left for Sapovnela in a $25.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Zugdidi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giorgi Tsitaishvili was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market18 Jan 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Zugdidi will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Market18 Jan 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zugdidi know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Jan 2027
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zugdidi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market11 Jan 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zugdidi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market11 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market11 Jan 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zugdidi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Kakha 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zurab Janelidze 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 dugout11 Jan 2027
Saba Arveladze has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Zugdidi 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
Everyone has stopped pretending: Sapovnela will make the call about Davit Janelidze this week. Zugdidi have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sandro Janelidze trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jan 2027
Guram Kiteishvili damages knee ligaments — 24 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
Dila come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Zugdidi did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Zugdidi
Kakha Mikautadze and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market4 Jan 2027
Add another name to the list: Shukura have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Otar Gvelesiani. The answer from Zugdidi has not changed — yet.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Zugdidi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alessio Paganelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aleksandre Gamsakhurdia, and the manager let it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Too much change too quickly at Zugdidi
6 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zugdidi know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
Open for business: Zugdidi 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Guram Kiteishvili
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zugdidi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad28 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 Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessio Paganelli 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
Squad21 Dec 2026
Kakha 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Zugdidi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zurab Janelidze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“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
Steady
Market14 Dec 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 Zugdidi can pretend not to have heard.
Market14 Dec 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zugdidi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Giorgi Tsitaishvili and Zugdidi agree another 4 years.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Kakha 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessio Paganelli 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 dugout14 Dec 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Saba Arveladze is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Dec 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Zugdidi
Kakha Mikautadze and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Zugdidi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alessio Paganelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mamuka Shengelia and Zugdidi agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Dec 2026
6 new faces, and Zugdidi 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 dugout7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dino Barisic, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 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 Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Zurab Janelidze 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
“The easiest signature of my career.” Saba Shengelia and Zugdidi agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout30 Nov 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.
Market30 Nov 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zugdidi know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Goga Ananidze 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 Goga Ananidze trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Sandro Janelidze: 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.” Zugdidi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Kakha 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Alessio Paganelli 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 dugout23 Nov 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.
Loan watch23 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Sioni to sit and watch. I want to come back to Zugdidi and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
Market23 Nov 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zugdidi know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market16 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zugdidi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Kakha 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Zugdidi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alessio Paganelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market16 Nov 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Saba Shengelia 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.
Market16 Nov 2026
One of our own: Otar Kashia joins the Zugdidi first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Otar Kashia is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
“I watch every Zugdidi game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sapovnela runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Saba Arveladze has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Zugdidi 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zugdidi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market9 Nov 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 Zugdidi can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Zugdidi
Kakha Mikautadze and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Salvatore 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 watch9 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Shukura to sit and watch. I want to come back to Zugdidi and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zugdidi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market9 Nov 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zugdidi know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Zugdidi
Aleksandre Gvelesiani 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
Alessio Paganelli 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
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Otar Gvelesiani and Zugdidi agree another 3 years.
Loan watch2 Nov 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 Zugdidi, and 0 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zugdidi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Kakha 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Zugdidi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alessio Paganelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Zugdidi, and 3 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Market26 Oct 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zugdidi know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zugdidi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Oct 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zugdidi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Kakha 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Zugdidi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zurab Janelidze was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market19 Oct 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Davit Gvelesiani is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market19 Oct 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Otar 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.
Loan watch19 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 Zugdidi, and 1 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Saba Arveladze has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Zugdidi 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.
Market19 Oct 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Saba Arveladze signs something — a contract at Zugdidi or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vakhtang Kashia trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Zugdidi
Kakha Mikautadze and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessio Paganelli 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 watch12 Oct 2026
“I did not go to Shukura to sit and watch. I want to come back to Zugdidi and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Dino Barisic
“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.
Market12 Oct 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zugdidi know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Oct 2026
Goga Ananidze 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 Zugdidi can pretend not to have heard.
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 Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Alessio Paganelli 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 dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aleksandre Gamsakhurdia, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nika Gamsakhurdia and Zugdidi agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Kakha 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zurab Janelidze 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 terraces28 Sep 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.
The dugout28 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.
Loan watch28 Sep 2026
“I watch every Zugdidi game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Chikhura runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sandro Kobiashvili and Zugdidi agree another 3 years.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
7.19, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Zugdidi had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Lasha Qazaishvili
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.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
Squad
“I want to play”: Goga Arveladze speaks
-
Match
Point won or two lost for Zugdidi?
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A brace, and Alessio Paganelli takes the afternoon — 8.03
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alessio Paganelli provided it, and the 8.03 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market21 Sep 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Otar Tsitaishvili will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zugdidi the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Kakha 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
A bad afternoon for Zugdidi against Sioni
2‑3 to Sioni, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Alessio Paganelli 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 terraces21 Sep 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.
The dugout21 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.
Player ratings21 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.
Loan watch21 Sep 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 Zugdidi, and 1 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Sep 2026
4‑1, and Vakhtang Gvelesiani took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Zugdidi tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The match ball belongs to Vakhtang Gvelesiani, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.42 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market14 Sep 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 ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 9.75 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Alessio Paganelli 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sandro Kobiashvili is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market14 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Aleksandre Kiteishvili 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Shukura had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The match ball belongs to Vakhtang Gvelesiani, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Market7 Sep 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Chikhura waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zugdidi is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Davit Janelidze at 17 — 8.24
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Davit Janelidze did not need any: 8.24, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market7 Sep 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 Zugdidi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 9 in, 7 out at Zugdidi
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 9 arrived, 7 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Vakhtang Gvelesiani was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.50. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Match5 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Vakhtang Gvelesiani. 3‑1 against Sapovnela, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zurab Janelidze 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
Squad31 Aug 2026
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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Temur Mikautadze had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Torpedo Kutaisi were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Market31 Aug 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 Zugdidi can pretend not to have heard.
Match29 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for Zugdidi
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Zugdidi are no longer polite ones.
Market31 Aug 2026
Zugdidi say no — this time
The offer from Shukura for Avtandil Kobiashvili 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Kakha 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Zugdidi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alessio Paganelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match29 Aug 2026
Zugdidi 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 8.08 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
There were 12 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match22 Aug 2026
Chastening afternoon for Zugdidi
A 1‑6 beating by Dinamo Batumi was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market24 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Zugdidi did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market24 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 Zugdidi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market24 Aug 2026
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Zugdidi
Kakha 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Zugdidi training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessio Paganelli 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.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
Doors closed at Zugdidi
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match12 Aug 2026
The cup run ends for Zugdidi
0‑2 against Torpedo Kutaisi, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Archil Kobiashvili could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.51
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.51, 1 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market17 Aug 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zugdidi people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Player ratings17 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The name of Aleksandre Gamsakhurdia has come up in conversations Zugdidi were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Zugdidi
Kakha Mikautadze and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market17 Aug 2026
Dinamo Batumi pay $300.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 36. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match8 Aug 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Shukura, and it could have been more.
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market10 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zugdidi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 7.99 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Temur Kashia, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 8.08
A mark of 8.08 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.24 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kakha Mikautadze and Zugdidi agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Kakha 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.02, and nobody on the pitch better.
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 Zugdidi, and it is not being withdrawn.
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
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zugdidi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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
Giorgi Tsitaishvili 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 terraces3 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Alessio Paganelli’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Zugdidi.
Market3 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Chikhura have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Nika Kashia. The answer from Zugdidi has not changed — yet.