FC Dinamo Batumi

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Dinamo Batumi
Dinamo Batumi Logo.png
Founded1923; 99 years ago (1923)
GroundBatumi Stadium, Batumi, Georgia
Capacity20,000
ChairmanVladimer Dvalishvili
ManagerGia Geguchadze
LeagueErovnuli Liga
2021Erovnuli Liga, 1st

FC Dinamo Batumi is a Georgian football club based in Batumi, Adjara, and current champion of Erovnuli Liga, the top division of Georgian football system.

The club has earned silver medals of the league four times, also won the Georgian Cup and Super Cup.

In 1990 they changed the name to FC Batumi only to reverse the decision in 1994.

Dinamo plays their home games at Batumi Stadium.[1]

History[]

Early period[]

Prior to the formation of this club, there were some other teams existing in the city. In 1923 newly established two clubs called Mezgvauri (The Sailor) and Tsiteli Raindi (The Red Knight) merged and became Dinamo Batumi.[2]

Football was becoming more popular in Adjara later, although Dinamo participated only in the lower divisions of Soviet championship. However, there were some players in the club, who later became successful footballers in USSR, including Revaz Chelebadze, Nodar Khizanishvili and Vakhtang Koridze. The famous Greek footballer Andreas Niniadis also started his career in the club. He later played for Olympiacos and Greece national football team.

Last six seasons of 1980s the team played in the First league, the second Soviet division.[3]

1990s and 2000s[]

The success for the Batumi-based club came when they won Georgian Cup in 1998, after losing two previous finals. The club defeated Dinamo Tbilisi in final. The goals were scored by Aleksandre Kantidze and Davit Chichveishvili.[4] The club won Georgian Super Cup during the same year as well. They again defeated Dinamo Tbilisi, by 2-1.[5] As one of the strongest teams of the league, starting from 1995 Dinamo represented the country in European competitions for four seasons in a row.

The next decade turned out disappointing for Dinamo, which failed to notch up any success on either competition. Amid construction boom in Adjara, in 2006 the club lost their stadium, located at the seaside, to be sold and demolished. Adeli stadium, which Dinamo started using as their home ground, met the same fate later on.[6] It coincided with deteriorating performance in the league. After 2007-08 they were relegated for the first time to Pirveli Liga, where as debutants the club took 8th place in an 11-team league. Overall, Dinamo spent next five seasons out of six in the second division.

In search for success[]

From 2013/14 the club revived their ambitions, first to gain promotion to Umaglesi Liga and then to secure a place among the league leaders. The silver, taken in 2015, was followed by the bronze the next year, but in 2017 Dinamo entered a period of instability with a drastic change of players and replacement of managers. Levan Khomeriki, the head coach for three successive years, left to be replaced by Ukrainian manager Kostyantyn Frolov, but he stepped down five months later.[7] Aslan Baladze took charge of the team, which finished the season in the relegation zone, despite having some experienced players such as Otar Martsvaladze, David Kvirkvelia and Elguja Grigalashvili in the squad. Dinamo suffered a worse setback in the play-off as dramatic two-leg tie against Sioni Bolnisi ended 5:5 on aggregate and the penalty shoot-out determined the winner.[8]

Prior to the new season in Liga 2 Gia Geguchadze was appointed in the club[9] and with the promotion set as their only goal, Dinamo convincingly won the league by an 11-point margin.[10]

Progress on the pitch and beyond[]

2019 brought some more encouraging news. 100% share of Dinamo Batumi owned by the Adjarian government was awarded to Lamini Ltd for 49 years.[11] Besides, a new prospect emerged for the issue of football ground, which had plagued the club for so long. While Dinamo played home matches either on their training base or at Rugby Arena, in January the government inaugurated the construction of new UEFA category IV stadium with the capacity of 20,000 seats due to be completed in late 2020.

Back in the top flight Dinamo rushed to the title-chasing battle, in which they initially performed beyond expectations. As no other newly promoted club had ever won the league, Dinamo Batumi appeared close to setting this record, although at the crucial point they slipped up, first squandering two points against relegation-bound WIT Georgia and then losing to another unmotivated club altogether.[12] Yet, the second place was definitely success for Dinamo, where some national team members - Jaba Jigauri, Giorgi Navalovski, Vladimer Dvalishvili - emerged at this stage.

Meanwhile, support for the club reached remarkable proportions by Georgian standards. While all of 1,500 seats on Angisa training base were full approximately three hours in advance, many more spectators watched the games from outside the fence. According to some estimates, an average number of fans per each match was around 6,400.[13]

The next season, shortened by coronavirus, saw a scenario resembling the previous one. After ten rounds Dinamo were unbeaten, sitting on the top of the table, but later they suffered two home defeats, including from direct rivals Dinamo Tbilisi, who taking this opportunity sealed the champion's fate.[14]

On 27 October 2020 a long-awaited official opening ceremony was held in Batumi. Finally, the second placed club for two seasons in a row representing the second largest city have proudly moved into their home.[15] In early December UEFA announced that this stadium will host some of U21 European championship matches in 2023.[16]

Тhe champions[]

This ultimate triumph was made possible from a third straight attempt. With the same head coach into the fourth season and a largely retained squad, the team had some advantage over their rivals from Tbilisi who were plagued by a frequent change of managers and key players. 1 point picked up by the latter in four head-to-head matches indicated which side looked stronger this year. Besides, an impressive European campaign boosted up the players from Adjara. As a result, seven of them were called up in early September for the national team's World Cup game against Spain.[17]

Inspired by fervent supporters, Batumi won six matches with a large margin, including 8-1, the biggest win of the season, and lifted up the Champion's Shield for the first time in their history.[18]

Statistics[]

Domestic[]

Champions Runners-up Third place Relegated Promoted
Season League Pos. Pl. W D L GF GA P Georgian Cup Georgian Super Cup Europe Manager
1990 Umaglesi Liga 6 34 18 7 9 56 28 61 Semi-finals N/A Shota Cheishvili
1991 Umaglesi Liga 5 19 10 2 7 28 21 32 Shota Cheishvili
1991–92 Umaglesi Liga 9 38 15 6 17 55 58 51 Quarter-finals Shota Cheishvili
1992–93 Umaglesi Liga 11 32 11 6 15 56 56 39 Runner-up Shota Cheishvili
1993–94 Umaglesi Liga 5 32 16 5 11 63 46 53 Semi-finals Shota Cheishvili
1994–95 Umaglesi Liga 4 30 16 6 8 69 40 54 Runner-up Valerian Chkhartishvili
1995–96 Umaglesi Liga 6 30 16 6 8 68 28 54 Runner-up Runner-up CWC 1st Round Valerian Chkhartishvili
1996–97 Umaglesi Liga 3 30 18 8 4 71 22 62 Runner-up Runner-up CWC 1st Round Shota Cheishvili
1997–98 Umaglesi Liga 2 30 18 7 5 58 19 62 Winner Winner CWC qualifying Round Shota Cheishvili
1998–99 Umaglesi Liga 5 30 13 11 6 49 22 50 Quarter-finals CWC qualifying Round Shota Cheishvili
1999–00 Umaglesi Liga 4 Semi-finals Aslan Baladze
2000–01 Umaglesi Liga 7 Round of 16 Giovanni Carnevali
2001–02 Umaglesi Liga 5 Quarter-finals Giovanni Carnevali
2002–03 Umaglesi Liga 8 Round of 16 Aslan Baladze
2003–04 Umaglesi Liga 10 Quarter-finals
2004–05 Umaglesi Liga 8 36 9 12 15 35 33 39 Quarter-finals
2005–06 Umaglesi Liga 6 30 17 7 6 42 21 58 Round of 16
2006–07 Umaglesi Liga 9 26 8 6 12 27 30 30 Semi-finals
2007–08 Umaglesi Liga 13 26 4 4 18 16 51 16 Round of 16
2008–09 Pirveli Liga 8 30 9 9 12 33 42 36
2009–10 Pirveli Liga 5 28 15 8 5 44 17 53 Round of 32
2010–11 Pirveli Liga 5 32 18 9 5 66 18 63 Round of 16
2011–12 Pirveli Liga 1 18 13 3 2 28 9 42 Round of 16 Ioseb Nasuashvili
2012–13 Umaglesi Liga 11 32 8 7 17 39 55 31 Round of 16 Gia Guruli
2013–14 Pirveli Liga 2 26 19 2 5 65 17 59 Round of 16 Koba Zhorzhikashvili
2014–15 Umaglesi Liga 2 30 18 4 8 40 24 58 Round of 16 Levan Khomeriki
2015–16 Umaglesi Liga 8 30 12 8 10 41 32 44 Round of 16 UEL 1st qualifying Round Levan Khomeriki
2016 Umaglesi Liga 3 15 7 5 3 23 7 26 Round of 32 Levan Khomeriki
2017 Erovnuli Liga 8 36 10 3 23 28 60 33 Round of 32 UEL 1st qualifying Round Kostyantyn Frolov
2018 Erovnuli Liga 2 1 36 23 7 6 60 22 76 Round of 16 Gia Geguchadze
2019 Erovnuli Liga 2 36 21 7 8 57 31 70 Round of 32 Gia Geguchadze
2020 Erovnuli Liga 2 18 10 6 2 29 14 36 Round of 16 UEL 1st qualifying Round Gia Geguchadze
2021 Erovnuli Liga 1 36 21 12 3 73 27 75 Semi-finals UCL 3rd QR Gia Geguchadze

Top scorers[]

Season Div. Player Goals
2011/12 2nd Georgia (country)Mikheil Jorbenadze 8
2012/13 1st Georgia (country)Mikheil Jorbenadze 6
2013/14 2nd Georgia (country)Amiran Abuselidze 8
2014/15 1st Georgia (country)Giorgi Beriashvili 9
2015/16 1st Georgia (country)Giorgi Beriashvili 10
2016 1st Georgia (country)Elguja Lobjanidze, Georgia (country)Temur Shonia 5
2017 1st UkraineYaroslav Kvasov 8
2018 2nd BrazilFlamarion 24
2019 1st BrazilFlamarion 17
2020 1st Georgia (country)Jaba Jigauri 8
2021 1st Georgia (country)Jaba Jigauri, Georgia (country) 13


European campaign[]

Dinamo's European history began with the 1995 Cup Winners' Cup competition. In a memorable home game against Celtic Glasgow more than 15,000 spectators witnessed good attacking football from both sides. The Georgians took the early lead but conceded twice in the first period. They equalized later and came close to the draw, although the Scots scored at the end of the regular time to cruise to victory.[19]

A year later the draw paired Dinamo against PSV Eindhoven. Even though the Dutch side were the ultimate winners, Batumi played decently enough to earn a point in the first game. Goals in this game were scored by Amiran Mujiri and Luc Nilis.[2]

Another remarkable event occurred in 1998 when they beat the powerful Yugoslav team Partizan Belgrade at home.

In 2021 the club narrowly missed UEFA Conference League play-offs after an extra-time draw at Sivasspor preceded by a sensational away victory over BATE Borisov.[20]

As of match played 12 August 2021
Competition Pld W D L GF GA
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 12 5 2 5 18 18
UEFA Europa League 5 1 0 4 1 10
UEFA Europa Conference League 6 3 1 2 13 5
Total 23 9 3 11 32 33
Season Competition Round Club Home Away Aggregate
1995–96 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup QR Federal Republic of Yugoslavia FK Obilić 2–2 1–0 3–2
1R Scotland Celtic 2–3 0–4 2–7
1996–97 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup QR Faroe Islands HB Torshavn 6–0 3–0 9–0
1R Netherlands PSV Eindhoven 1–1 0–3 1–4
1997–98 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup QR Armenia Ararat Yerevan 0–3[21] 2–0 2–3
1998–99 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup QR Federal Republic of Yugoslavia FK Partizan 1–0 0–2 1–2
2015–16 UEFA Europa League 1QR Cyprus AC Omonia 1–0 0–2 1–2
2017–18 UEFA Europa League 1QR Poland Jagiellonia Białystok 0–1 0–4 0–5
2020–21 UEFA Europa League 1QR Israel Hapoel Be'er Sheva N/A 0–3 N/A
2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League 1QR San Marino Tre Penne 3–0 4–0 7–0
2QR Belarus BATE Borisov 0–1 4–1 4–2
3QR Turkey Sivasspor 1–2 1–1 (a.e.t.) 2–3
2022–23 UEFA Champions League 1QR

Honours[]

Winners (1): 2021
Winners (1): 1997–98
Winners (1):

Management[]

Vladimer Dvalishvili, who spent last two years as a player for Dinamo Batumi, replaced Aslan Baladze in December 2020 as Sporting director.[22]

Head Coach Giorgi (Gia) Geguchadze, the former manager of Zestafoni, Torpedo Kutaisi, Dinamo Tbilisi and Georgian U21, has been in charge since January 2018.

Current squad[]

As of 29 October 2021. Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK Georgia (country) GEO
3 MF Nigeria NGA
4 DF Georgia (country) GEO
5 DF Ukraine UKR Oleksandr Azatskyi
6 MF Georgia (country) GEO
7 MF Georgia (country) GEO Giorgi Zaria
8 MF Georgia (country) GEO Jaba Jighauri
9 FW Georgia (country) GEO
10 MF Georgia (country) GEO
11 MF Georgia (country) GEO Giuli Mandzhgaladze
13 GK Georgia (country) GEO Lazare Kupatadze
14 FW Georgia (country) GEO
16 DF Georgia (country) GEO Irakli Azarovi
17 MF Georgia (country) GEO Vladimer Mamuchashvili
No. Pos. Nation Player
18 DF Georgia (country) GEO Levan Gegetchkori
19 MF Georgia (country) GEO Sandro Altunashvili
21 MF Austria AUT Lukas Grozurek
22 MF Georgia (country) GEO Giorgi Navalovski
23 DF Georgia (country) GEO Mamuka Kobakhidze
24 DF Georgia (country) GEO
30 FW Georgia (country) GEO Lasha Shindagoridze
31 GK Georgia (country) GEO
33 DF Georgia (country) GEO
35 DF Georgia (country) GEO Grigol Chabradze
37 MF Georgia (country) GEO
40 FW Brazil BRA Flamarion

References[]

  1. ^ "ეროვნული ლიგა, XVI ტური: ბათუმის დინამომ ახალ სტადიონზე გამარჯვება იზეიმა". sportall.ge (in Georgian). 21 November 2020.
  2. ^ a b "The history of FC Dinamo Batumi". Dinamobatumi.com. 12 December 2016. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  3. ^ "Dinamo Bt in Soviet leagues". wildstat.com.
  4. ^ "Georgian Cup season 1997-98". Msy.gov.ge (Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs of Georgia). Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  5. ^ "Georgian Super 1998". Msy.gov.ge (Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs of Georgia). Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  6. ^ "„ადელის" სტადიონის ადგილზე აპარტამენტები აშენდება". batumelebi.netgazeti.ge (in Georgian).
  7. ^ "ბათუმის „დინამოს" მთავარმა მწვრთნელმა კონსტანტინ ფროლოვმა თანამდებობა დატოვა". 1tv.ge (in Georgian).
  8. ^ "2017 play-offs". soccerway.com.
  9. ^ "ბათუმის დინამოს გია გეგუჩაძე გაუძღვება". fanebi.com (in Georgian).
  10. ^ "2018, Liga 2". flashscore.com.
  11. ^ "რა პირობით გასხვისდა „დინამო ბათუმი"". batumelebi.netgazeti.ge (in Georgian).
  12. ^ "Erovnuli Liga, 2019". soccerway.com.
  13. ^ "ბათუმის დინამოს საოცარი ისტორია". intermedia.ge (in Georgian).
  14. ^ "Erovnuli Liga, 2020". eliga.ge.
  15. ^ "UEFA Category IV stadium opens in Batumi". agenda.ge.
  16. ^ "Romania and Georgia to host U21 finals in 2023". uefa.com.
  17. ^ "Spain vs Georgia, Match report". uefa.com.
  18. ^ "ზეიმი ბათუმში – დინამო ბათუმმა საჩემპიონო ფარი ჩაიბარა". netgazeti.ge (in Georgian). 4 December 2021.
  19. ^ "Dinamo Batumi vs Celtic". worldfootball.net.
  20. ^ "BATE vs Dinamo Batumi, Match report". uefa.com.
  21. ^ Ararat Yerevan were awarded a 3–0 win in the qualifying round first leg after Dinamo Batumi were found guilty of fielding an ineligible player ― Sotogashvili. The match originally ended as a 4–2 win for Dinamo Batumi.
  22. ^ "ლადო დვალიშვილმა კარიერა დაასრულა და დინამოს სპორტული დირექტორი გახდა". fanebi.com (in Georgian).

External links[]

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