 | |||
| Founded | 1960 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Ground | Central stadium, Sagarejo | ||
| Capacity | 2,000 | ||
| Chairman | Lazare Datunashvili | ||
| Manager | Denys Khomutov | ||
| League | Erovnuli Liga 2 | ||
| 2023 | 2nd in Liga 2 | ||
|
| |||
FC Gareji (Georgian: საფეხბურთო კლუბი გარეჯი) is a Georgian Association football club from Sagarejo, which currently takes part in Erovnuli Liga 2, the second tier of the national football league.
The team has recently made headlines after achieving three consecutive promotions.
History
Established in 1960, during the Soviet period Gareji for many years participated in Georgian republican championship and later, after 1990, spent several seasons in the second and third divisions.
A recent rise of the team started from Regionuli Liga in 2018. Apart from winning its Group East, Gareji also secured an easy win in a home-and-away play-off tie against their Liga 3 opponents.[1] As members of the newly created Liga 4, they finished just below the promotion zone, which was still widely regarded as success for the debutants. Further events unfolded unexpectedly. After FC Tskhinvali failed to fulfill their financial obligations, they were expelled from Liga 3[2] and replaced by Gareji, who filled the vacuum as a 3rd placed team.
Against all odds, the promoted team under head coach Tengiz Kobiashvili emerged among the third division leaders from the outset of the 2020 season and convincingly prevailed over their rivals in promotion battle by winning 14 games out of 18.[3] With this achievement Gareji completed a remarkable journey from the fifth division to Liga 2 within the shortest period of time.
Once in the second league, for most of 2021 Gareji was still aiming at the promotion, competing with Merani Martvili for a third qualifying place. Ultimately the latter gained the upper hand, although Gareji recorded some impressive victories, including 8–0, which was the biggest win of the season for any Liga 2 team. Forward Giorgi Kharebashvili shined in this match by scoring six times.[4]
Seasons
| Year | Division | Pos | M | W | D | L | GF–GA | Pts | Notes | Cup |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014/15 | Meore Liga East | 6/15 | 28 | 14 | 4 | 10 | 63-52 | 46 | ||
| 2015/16 | 6/14 | 26 | 14 | 2 | 10 | 64-52 | 44 | |||
| 2016 | Meore Liga Group D | 3/8 | 14 | 8 | 0 | 6 | 43-34 | 24 | Relegated | |
| 2017 | Regionuli Liga East B | 4/11 | 24 | 13 | 3 | 8 | 52-39 | 42 | 1⁄16 finals | |
| 2018 | Regionuli Liga East D | 1/11 | 20 | 15 | 3 | 2 | 84-29 | 48 | Promoted | 1⁄16 finals |
| 2019 | 3/10 | 27 | 17 | 6 | 4 | 66-34 | 57 | Promoted | 1⁄2 finals | |
| 2020 | 1/10 | 18 | 14 | 1 | 3 | 33-17 | 43 | Promoted | 1⁄8 finals | |
| 2021 | 4/10 | 36 | 15 | 5 | 16 | 52-48 | 50 | 1⁄4 finals | ||
| 2022 | 5/10 | 28 | 10 | 6 | 12 | 38-36 | 36 | 1⁄16 finals | ||
| 2023 | 2/10 | 36 | 23 | 7 | 6 | 88-38 | 76 | 1⁄8 finals |
Georgian Cup
In 2019, Gareji became a first ever 4th league team in Georgian football history to reach semifinals of the national Cup.[5] The fact that head coach Davit Kokiashvili quit Gareji two days prior to the game may have affected the club,[6] but they offered Lokomotive Tbilisi a decent resistance during the entire match. Despite taking the lead after the first 45 minutes, eventually Gareji lost after conceding the third goal from a penalty spot.[7]
The next year Gareji were eliminated by Samgurali, the runners-up of the Cup.[8]
The team reached quarterfinals in 2021 where they lost to future Cup winners Saburtalo in the dying minutes of the game.[9]
Squad
As of 1 August 2023[10]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
|
Managers
| Name | Nat. | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| Davit Kokiashvili |  |
March 2019 | October 2019 |
| Davit Maisuradze | |
October 2019 | December 2019 |
| Tengiz Kobiashvili | |
January 2020 | December 2021 |
| Kakha Gogichaishvili | |
January 2022 | April 2022 |
| Nestor Mumladze (interim) | |
April 2022 | May 2022 |
| Temur Makharadze | |
May 2022 | June 2022 |
| Davit Dighmelashvili | |
June 2022 | September 2022 |
| Giorgi Oniani | |
September 2022 | June 2023 |
| Denys Khomutov |  |
July 2023 |
Honours
- Winners: 2018 (Group East D)
• Liga 4
- Third place: 2019
- Winners: 2020
- Third place: 2016 (Group East D)
- Runners-up: 2023
Other teams
Gareji also have a reserve team, which participates in Group A of Regionuli Liga.[11]
Stadium
Gareji's home arena is the Central stadium with the capacity of 2,000 seats, which sustained major reconstruction works in 2018.[12]
References
- ↑ "Play-offs in 2018". gff.ge (in Georgian). 13 December 2018.
- ↑ ""ცხინვალი" მესამე ლიგაშიც კი ვერ იასპარეზებს". sportall.ge (in Georgian). 29 January 2020.
- ↑ "საქართველოს ლიგა 3 გარეჯი 1960-მა მოიგო". 1tv.ge (in Georgian). 4 Dec 2020. Retrieved 29 Dec 2020.
- ↑ "„გარეჯის" თავდამსხმელის ფანტასტიკური შედეგი - ხარებაშვილმა 6 გოლი გაიტანა და ბომბარდირობის შანსი გაუჩნდა". 1tv.ge (in Georgian). 27 Nov 2021.
- ↑ "ნახევარფინალური წყვილები ცნობილია". europop.ge (in Georgian). 2 October 2019.
- ↑ "საქართველოს თასის ნახევარფინალში გასული კლუბის მწვრთნელი თამაშამდე 2 დღით ადრე გუნდიდან წავიდა". sportall.ge (in Georgian). 23 October 2019.
- ↑ "ლოკომოტივმა გარეჯი მძიმე ბრძოლაში დაამარცხა და ფინალში გავიდა". 23 Oct 2019. Retrieved 29 Dec 2020.
- ↑ "წყალტუბოს "სამგურალი" თასის მეოთხედფინალშია". fcsamgurali.ge (in Georgian). 27 Sep 2020. Retrieved 29 Dec 2020.
- ↑ "საბურთალო თასის ნახევარფინალშია". fcsaburtalo.ge (in Georgian). 28 October 2021.
- ↑ "List of Gareji players". gff.ge.
- ↑ "Regional league 2023". gff.ge.
- ↑ "საგარეჯოს საფეხბურთო სტადიონი 2000 მაყურებელს დაიტევს". 1tv.ge (in Georgian). 21 December 2017.