Georgia national football team
The Georgia national football team represents the country of Georgia in men's international football matches, and it is controlled by the Georgian Football Federation. The Georgian team's first match took place in 1990, while Georgia was still part of the Soviet Union. The team have attempted to qualify for each major tournament from Euro 1996 onwards, but have not achieved qualification yet. Home games are played at the Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena in Tbilisi.
History
The history of the Georgia national football team began in 1990, when the team played their first international match against Lithuania, the first country to accept an invitation. The match was held on 27 May 1990 at national stadium. Georgia were coached by Givi Nodia. The friendly match ended in a 2–2 draw. This was the only match prior to the declaration of independence on 9 April 1991. Soon afterwards the team played another friendly match against Moldova.The Georgian Football Federation became a member of both UEFA and FIFA in 1992, enabling Georgia to play competitive matches. The first of these came in September 1994, a 1–0 defeat to Moldova as part of the qualifiers for Euro 1996. Georgia finished third in their group, ahead of Moldova and Wales, but seven points behind second-placed qualifier Bulgaria.
Georgia failed to qualify for 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, obtaining 10 points and finishing in fourth place, level on points with Poland. At this time Georgia reached forty-second place in the FIFA World Ranking.
In the UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying the Georgia national team won one match, drew two and finished bottom of the group with five points. This marked the beginning of a period of decline for Georgian football.
The team finished fifth with seven points in their qualifying group for Euro 2004, although they defeated Russia with a goal scored by Malkhaz Asatiani.
In the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifiers Georgia beat Albania 2–0 at home and Kazakhstan away 2–1. They finished sixth with ten points in Group 2.
Georgia were sixth out of seven teams in the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying group with ten points. They defeated Scotland 2–0 at home and the Faroe Islands 6–0 away and 3–1 at home.
Héctor Cúper became the manager of Georgia in August 2008. During the qualification round for the 2010 FIFA World Cup Georgia failed to win any matches and finished sixth with three points. Cuper didn't extend his contract, and on 6 November 2009 Temur Ketsbaia was appointed as the new manager of the Georgian national football team. Ketsbaia resigned as manager after a 4–0 defeat at home to Poland in the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifiers on 14 November 2014, having previously stated he would do so before the match regardless of the result.
In June 2016, Georgia beat the two-times reigning European champions Spain 1–0 in their final pre-Euro 2016 friendly.
In 2018, they were the first team to earn promotion in the new UEFA Nations League. They scored the event's first goal in a UEFA Nations League D game in Kazakhstan before beating Latvia twice and Andorra, with 2 games still to spare.
Competitive record
FIFA World Cup
UEFA European Championship
UEFA Nations League
Head-to-head record
As of 19 November 2019Opponents | ||||||||
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Total: 63 countries | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Recent results and forthcoming fixtures
2019
2020
Players
Current squad
The following players were called up for the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying matche against Switzerland on 15 November 2019 and the friendly against Croatia on 19 November 2019.Caps and goals as of 19 November 2019 after the match against Croatia.
Recent call-ups
The following players have not been called up for the upcoming matches but have been called up for the team in the last 12 months.INJ
INJ
INJ
- INJ Withdrew due to an injury.
- PRE Preliminary squad.
- RET Retired from international football.
Records
Most caps
Top goalscorers
Managers
As of 5 September 2019Manager | Georgia career | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Win % |
Givi Nodia | 1990 | - | - | - | - | - |
Giga Norakidze | 1991–1992 | - | - | - | - | - |
Aleksandre Chivadze | 1993–1996 | - | - | - | - | - |
Vladimir Gutsaev ' | 1996 | - | - | - | - | - |
David Kipiani | 1997 | - | - | - | - | - |
Vladimir Gutsaev | 1998 | - | - | - | - | - |
Gigla Imnadze ' | 1998 | - | - | - | - | - |
Vladimir Gutsaev | 1998–1999 | - | - | - | - | - |
Johan Boskamp | 1999 | - | - | - | - | - |
David Kipiani / Revaz Dzodzuashvili | 2000–2001 | - | - | - | - | - |
Aleksandre Chivadze | 2001–2003 | - | - | - | - | - |
Ivo Šušak | 2003 | - | - | - | - | - |
Merab Jordania | 2003 | - | - | - | - | - |
Gocha Tkebuchava ' | 2004 | - | - | - | - | - |
Alain Giresse | 2004–2005 | - | - | - | - | - |
Gaioz Darsadze ' | 2005 | - | - | - | - | - |
Klaus Toppmöller | 2006–2008 | - | - | - | - | - |
Petar Segrt | 2008 | - | - | - | - | - |
Héctor Cúper | 2008–2009 | - | - | - | - | - |
Temur Ketsbaia | 2010–2014 | - | - | - | - | - |
Kakhaber Tskhadadze | 2014–2016 | - | - | - | - | - |
Vladimír Weiss | 2016– | - | - | - | - | - |
Notable results
Date | Team | Result | Team |
16 November 1994 | |||
7 June 1995 | |||
11 October 1995 | |||
10 September 1997 | |||
11 October 1997 | |||
1 September 2001 | |||
27 March 2002 | |||
30 April 2003 | |||
15 November 2006 | |||
7 February 2007 | |||
17 October 2007 | |||
20 August 2008 | |||
26 March 2011 | |||
6 September 2013 | |||
4 September 2015 | |||
7 June 2016 | |||
8 September 2019 |