32nd national championship first round match will take place at Dinamo Arena. FC Dinamo Tbilisi will host FC Telavi and the match will start at 18:00.
Our rival
FC Telavi was established on June 19, 2016. The team plays home matches at Givi Chokheli stadium, although at this stage the stadium is under reconstruction and Kakhetian team will host teams at Caucasus Rugby Arena in Telavi. FC Telavi started in Regional league and moved to the third league. In 2017 our rival finished the championship with the third place and then defeated FC Guria in play-off (2-1, 1-1). In 2018 it played in Liga-2 where it couldn’t win championship, although played in Georgian Cup semi-final and lost with FC Torpedo with minimal score 0:1. In 2019 FC Telavi took the bronze medal and defeated FC Rustavi in play-off in both matches (1-0, 2-1). FC Telavi moved to Umaghlesi Liga. Thus, since 2006/2007 season Kakheti will have representative in Umaghlesi Liga for the first time.
FC Telavi prepared for Erovnuli Liga with sparrings against FC Locomotive 1-3, FC Merani Tbilisi 2-1 and FC Samtredia- 2-1. After that the team went on camp in Turkey and played friendly matches there. It lost with Rukh Brest -2:3, defeated FC Minsk-4:0, lost with FC Taraz -0:1 and defeated FC Alay-3:2.
There are several footballers in the team who have played either in FC Dinamo Tbilisi or in our age teams. First of all, veteran footballer Aleksandre Koshkadze is worth mentioning, goalkeeper Oto Goshadze, footballers of Dinamo academy: Tornike Dzotsenidze, Piruz Marakvelidze and brothers Bashaleishvili.
Georgian football specialist Reva Gotsiridze is the head coach of FC Telavi since summer 2019.
FC Dinamo Tbilisi and FC Telavi have competed twice in friendly matches. On January 20 in 2019 the match at Dighomi training ground finished with draw 1:1 (Fran Carbia and Lasha Kukujanashvili scored). On November 15 the match at Dinamo Arena finished without goals.
Referee and disqualified footballers
Giorgi Kruashvili will judge the match today. D.akhvlediani and D.Gabisonia will be his assistants. A.Aptsiauri will be the fourth official. Telavi defender Anton Tolordava will miss the match because of disqualification.