According to the unanimous decision of the management of Dinamo Tbilisi, the main emphasis will be placed on the academy players from next year. Our goal is to create the best conditions for young Dinamo players to develop on the ground and to give them as much playing time as possible, which will help them fully reveal their talents. Of course, the main priority for us and our players is Dinamo Tbilisi, although we have a desire to develop the players properly and promote their future success in big European clubs.
I am glad that Andres Carrasco is the head coach of Dinamo Tbilisi. The person who, together with his own coaching staff, has been at the helm of Dinamo Academy since its opening. He is an outstanding professional who knows our young players very well and, most importantly, knows how to develop them. This is evidenced by the results that our academics show in the national team and in various European clubs. Andres Carrasco will be one of the main driving forces of our new project. I think he will have to perform difficult but interesting tasks, in which he will have our full support.
Here I would like to speak about our second team - Dinamo 2, that showed a satisfactory result in Liga 2, took the fifth position in the standings and convincingly kept its place in the league. A few years back, we decided to cancel this team, but now I think it was a mistake. Fortunately, on the initiative of our director Zaza Dolidze, we restored Dinamo 2 in 2020. I believe that this was a very correct decision, because we have the opportunity to give talented players more playing time at the professional level and promote their development.
I can't ignore another successful season of Dinamo Academy. Our U19 and U15 teams became the champions of Georgia. Along with this, different age groups represented Dinamo Academy at international tournaments at the highest level. I am especially proud that after a long break we resumed Daraselia Cup tournament and the cup remained in Tbilisi. I would like to express special thanks to each coach, player and director of the academy - Giorgi Ivanishvili for such results.
With the initiative of Levan Gvantseladze, we started another new project last year, which includes the opening of Dinamo football schools throughout Georgia. The project involves the training of children from 6 to 12 years old with the methodology implemented in the Dinamo Tbilisi Academy, the training of coaches in our academy twice a year, the monitoring of training processes on the spot and the internship of the best football players in Dinamo Academy.
I am happy that during this period our football schools were opened in the following municipalities - Oni, Ambrolauri, Tkibuli, Terjola, Kharagauli, Chokhatauri, Senaki, Chkhorotsku, Mestia, Kaspi, Tetritskaro, Dmanisi, Eredvi, Akhalgori, Kazbegi and Tianeti. The total number of children in the mentioned locations is more than 500. Along with this, from October 1, 2023, Dinamo football school was opened in the city of Rustavi, where 400 players are currently training.
The project of Dinamo football schools is implemented with the active involvement of local municipalities, for which I would like to thank them. Also, I would like to express my special thanks to Irakli Medzmariashvili, the chairman of the Sports and Youth Affairs Committee of the Parliament of Georgia.
I also want to speakabout the national team of Georgia. I am proud that the main core of the team is represented by the players of our academy. The formatof Nations League gave us a chance to go to the European Championship. This will be the greatest victory in the history of independent Georgia. I would like to wish our team success in the matches to be held in March. Unfortunately, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia will not be able to help us in the semi-final match, and I can imagine how he feels about this news. Despite such a deficit and respect for the opponent, I think our team has enough resources to beat Luxembourg.
In two years, Dinamo Tbilisi will celebrate its 100th anniversary, our goal is to meet such a great date with a special novelty. As you know, residential buildings have been under construction around Dinamo training ground for several years already. This fact complicates the daily life of the club and prevents us from creating a cozy and comfortable environment for the players.
We will try our best to move Dinamo Tbilisi to a new location, where we will create ideal conditions for Dinamo players. We are talking about a new training center, which includes ten high-quality fields. Our academy will be located here, which will be able to receive more than 1000 children. I think bringing the first team and the academy together in one space, as there is in many top European clubs, will help us a lot to develop our players to an even higher level. To implement the mentioned project, of course, we will need the help of Tbilisi City Hall. Accordingly, we hope that the governing body of the city will be actively involved in this process.