FC Kolkheti 1913

Founded	1913; 111 years ago (1913)
Ground	Fazisi Stadium Poti, Georgia
Capacity	6,000
Chairman	Zaza Inashvili
Manager	Kakhaber Chkhetiani
League	Erovnuli Liga
2023	1st of 10 in Liga 2, promoted
Website	kolkheti1913.ge
Home colours Away colours Third colours

FC Kolkheti 1913, commonly referred to as Kolkheti Poti, is a Georgian football club based in Poti. Following the 2023 season, the club earned promotion to the Erovnuli Liga, the top division of Georgian football.

Being registered in 1913, Kolkheti is considered one of the oldest clubs in the South Caucasus.^[1] Since the formation of independent Georgian leagues in 1990, they have spent 24 seasons in the top flight.

The football club from Poti under the name Kolkhida (Colchis) for many years was a member of the Georgian Soviet championship until early 1960s. From 1962 to 1990, they spent 24 seasons in fourth and third divisions of the Soviet football system, including last consecutive eleven years in zone 9 of the Second league, with the 2nd place in 1989 being the best result.^[2]

When GFF formed the national league in early 1990, Kolkheti-1913 took part in an opening game against Iberia Tbilisi. The historic match held at Boris Paichadze stadium ended 1–0 in favour of the guest team.^[3] Therefore, Kolkheti became the first club to win a game in the history of Georgian national leagues.

Throughout the first decade, the Kolkhs were considered one of the strongest rivals. Apart from 1992/93, when they finished in 9th place, the club completed each season among top five teams with twice, in 1993-94 and 1996–97, coming second.^[4] In this period the team also earned the bronze medals three times.

This success of the club was largely contributed to their sponsors from mid-1990s, the naval port of Poti.

In 2006, after a foreign business company took over the port administration, the football club abruptly lost a significant income.^[5] Despite being 10th among 16 clubs in 2005/06, due to the severe financial crisis Kolkheti had to quit the league.^[6]

The club climbed back to Umaglesi Liga following the 2009/10 season, but returned to the second league three years later.^[7] In 2011, a sponsorship deal with the naval port resumed to a less extent, which lasted for four years.^[8]

Kolkheti were back in the top division in 2014–15, although further financial difficulties hit the club in 2018, which pushed them to the verge of bankruptcy. As Kolkheti amassed a large amount of debts, they were deducted six points. Eventually, the team was relegated.^[9]

While in Liga 2, Kolkheti still could not afford to pay off debts. In an emergency statement, the club appealed for urgent help.^[10] Meanwhile, they were slapped with another six-point deduction.^[11] The overall situation badly affected the team. Three managers were sacked for unsatisfactory results within initial five months of the season.^[12] The tide remained unchanged, though. Only in the last matchday did Kolkheti manage to avoid automatic relegation, but after being thrashed by Samgurali in play-offs they slumped to the third division.^[13]

In the initial two seasons Kolkheti were among primary promotion-chasers, although in both cases they suffered a setback in pursuit for an automatic promotion spot. The play-off results proved also unsuccessful despite the team's unbeaten aggregate score in the regular time. First they failed to beat WIT Georgia on penalties,^[14] and a year later lost in extra time to Rustavi on away goals.^[15]

In 2022, too, Kolkheti ended up in the 2nd place. However, due to changes made in the competition format before this season, the club ended their three-year tenure in this division and won automatic promotion back to Liga 2.^[16] This year another event occurred which had a big impact on Kolkheti. On 29 August, the municipal club was handed over to a company linked to football manager Mamuka Jugeli.^[17]

Kolkheti achieved a remarkable success in the 2nd division in 2023. While reaching the national cup semifinals, the team under head coach Davit Kvirkvelia emerged victorious after a dramatic hard-fought battle against Gareji for the first place, which enabled them to return to the Erovnuli Liga after a five-year absence.^[18]

Based on successful performance in Umaglesi Liga, Kolkheti-1913 represented Georgia on UEFA Cup for four consecutive seasons from 1996 until 2000.

The only victory achieved in this competition against Dinamo Minsk was insufficient for qualifying for the next round. Having lost the first leg 0–1, Kolkheti conceded an early goal at home and scored twice afterwards, but the away goals rule gave a final advantage to their opponents.^[19]

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1996	UEFA Intertoto Cup	GS	Zemun	2–3	-	5th
			FF Jaro	-	0–2
			Guingamp	1–3	-
			Dinamo București	-	0–2
1997–98	UEFA Cup	1Q	Dinamo Minsk	2–1	0–1	2–2
1998–99	UEFA Cup	1Q	Red Star Belgrade	0–4	0–7	0–11
1999	UEFA Intertoto Cup	1R	Cementarnica 55	0–4	2–4	2–8

Seasons spent in Georgian leagues since 1990:

• Umaglesi Liga / Erovnuli Liga (1st tier): 25

• Pirveli Liga / Erovnuli Liga 2 (2nd tier): 6

• Meore Liga / Liga 3 (3rd tier): 3

Correct up to 2024 season

As of 8 August 2024^[20]

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  UKR Yaroslav Kotlyarov 4 MF  GEO Akaki Giunashvili 6 DF  GEO Archil Datuashvili 7 MF  GEO Lasha Gvalia (C) 9 FW  GEO Lasha Kokhreidze 10 MF  GEO Giorgi Abuashvili 11 FW  GEO Tsotne Chikovani 13 MF  GEO Saba Piranashvili 15 DF  GEO Beka Kharshiladze 16 DF  GEO Giorgi Akhaladze 17 MF  GEO Erekle Jijavadze 18 MF  GEO Levan Jordania

No. Pos. Nation Player 19 FW  RUS Georgiy Melkadze 20 DF  FRA Mahamat Thiam 21 FW  GEO Lado Chikradze 22 FW  RUS Kirill Klimov 23 MF  GEO Saba Zoidze 29 DF  GEO Davit Paghava 30 FW  GEO Davit Zurabiani 31 GK  UKR Danylo Ryabenko 33 DF  GEO Tornike Shekiladze 37 MF  GEO Demetre Gvasalia 40 MF  GEO Giorgi Kharebava

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  GEO Giorgi Kvernadze (at Frosinone)

Name	Nat.	From	To
Soso Pilia		November 2012	June 2013
Zaza Inashvili		July 2013	October 2015
Gela Sanaia		October 2015	August 2017
Oleksandr Shtelin		September 2017	December 2017
Konstantin Galkin		February 2018	March 2018
Nugzar Tvaradze		March 2018	September 2018
Viktor Demidov		September 2018	December 2018
Paata Metreveli		February 2019	April 2019
Soso Pilia		April 2019	June 2019
Giorgi Krasovski		June 2019	August 2019
Nugzar Tvaradze		August 2019	October 2019
Vladimer Chkonia		October 2019	December 2019
Davit Makharadze		February 2020	October 2020
Nugzar Tvaradze		October 2020	December 2020
Giorgi Krasovski		February 2021	June 2021
Gia Gigatadze		June 2021	May 2022
Davit Kvirkvelia		June 2022	April 2024
Klimenti Tsitaishvili (interim)		April 2024	May 2024
Kakhaber Chkhetiani		May 2024

• Georgian Soviet Championship
  • Winners (2): 1978, 1988^[21]
• Soviet Second League Zone IX (Caucasus)
  • Runners-up (1): 1989
  • Third place (4): 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987
• Umaglesi Liga
  • Runners-up (2): 1993–94, 1996–97
  • Third place (3): 1994–95, 1995–96, 1997–98
• Pirveli Liga/Erovnuli Liga 2
  • Winners (1): 2023
  • Runners-up (2): 2009–10, 2013–14 (A Group)
• Liga 3
  • Runners-up (3): 2020, 2021, 2022

The Fazisi arena was built in 1961. Its reconstruction got under way in 2013, but it took seven years before the works were completed. Meanwhile, Kolkheti-1913 held their home games on Rugby Arena in Poti or in some neighbouring cities. Football returned to Fazisi in October 2019.^[22]

• Team profile at Soccerway
• FC Kolkheti-1913 Poti Results at Flashscore