FC Kolkheti Khobi is a

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club based in the town of

Khobi Khobi ( ka, ხობი) is a town in western Georgia with a population of 4,242. The settlement of Khobi acquired the status of a town in 1981 and currently functions as an administrative center of the Khobi District within the Samegrelo-Zemo ...

. Following the 2022 season they won promotion to

Erovnuli Liga 2 The Georgian Erovnuli Liga 2 ( ka, ეროვნული ლიგა 2; ), organized since 1990 by GFF, serves as the second division of professional football in Georgia. Under the current name the league was introduced for the 2017 season ...

, the second tier of Georgian league system. The club has spent several seasons in the top division.

History

Established in 1936, Kolkheti played many years in Georgian championship during the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. In 1988 the club won the title and advanced to the

Soviet Second league The Soviet Second League (russian: Чемпионат СССР по футболу (вторая лига), Soviet football championship (Second League)) was the third highest division of Soviet football, below the Soviet First League. The leagu ...

where the next year they finished in the 5th place. After

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

, when

Umaglesi Liga The Erovnuli Liga ( ka, ეროვნული ლიგა - lit. National League) is the top division of professional football in Georgia. Since 1990, it has been organized by the Professional Football League of Georgia and Georgian Football F ...

was formed, Kolkheti participated in initial three seasons. Later they spent several years in the second and third divisions. The club returned to the top flight for 1999/2000 season only to finish at the bottom of the table. In 2007, the club rejoined Pirveli Liga, where they played for ten successive seasons. Another promotion attempt was made in 2015/16 when Kolkheti finished 3rd in Liga 2. They shared equal points with

WIT Georgia FC WIT Georgia is a Georgian football team from Tbilisi. The team is sponsored by WIT Georgia Ltd (a subsidiary of the United States WIT, Inc.), a pet food, accessories, and human and veterinary pharmaceuticals import company. WIT stands for Worl ...

, who won automatic promotion, while Kolkheti participated in

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

due to disadvantage in goal difference. The club suffered a narrow defeat in a one-legged tie, although it was known beforehand that due to the club's failure to get an

license, even the victory would not have led to promotion. Furthermore, at the end of 2016 Kolkheti lost their Liga 2 place following the relegation semi-finals against Skuri. The return leg, marred by violent conduct against a referee, was aborted, which cost the club dearly. The GFF Disciplinary Committee handed Kolkheti a 0–3 defeat and a 5,000₾ fine.

Gia Guruli Gia Guruli (born 20 May 1964 in Chiatura) is a former Georgia (country), Georgian professional Association football, football player. He is the father of Alexander Guruli. He made his debut on 22 February 1994. against Israel national football ...

, the famous

Dinamo Tbilisi Dinamo Tbilisi is a sports club from Tbilisi, Georgia. It was founded in 1925. Among its highest honors, is the European trophy earned by its football team which won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1981, beating FC Carl Zeiss Jena of East Germany 2–1 i ...

striker, worked as manager of Kolkheti between December 2014 and October 2016. The club usually stayed in mid-table in the next seasons. In 2022, Kolkheti beat their rivals battling for a promotion qualifying place, defeated

Rustavi Rustavi ( ka, რუსთავი ) is a city in the southeast of Georgia, in the region of Kvemo Kartli and southeast of capital Tbilisi. It has a population of 130,100 (2021), making it the fourth most populous city in Georgia. Its economy is ...

in both

play-off The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

matches and advanced to a higher league for the first time in sixteen years.

Seasons

Current squad

''As of April 2022'' (C)

Honours

Pirveli Liga The Georgian Erovnuli Liga 2 ( ka, ეროვნული ლიგა 2; ), organized since 1990 by GFF, serves as the second division of professional football in Georgia. Under the current name the league was introduced for the 2017 season ...

** Silver Medal winner: 1999 ** Third place: 2015-16

Name

Although the club is widely known with the current name, previously was also referred to as ''Olimpia Khobi'' and ''FC Khobi''. The very name stems from

Colchis In Greco-Roman geography, Colchis (; ) was an exonym for the Georgian polity of Egrisi ( ka, ეგრისი) located on the coast of the Black Sea, centered in present-day western Georgia (country), Georgia. Its population, the Colchians a ...

, an ancient state situated at the eastern

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

coast.

References

External links

On Soccerway

Facebook page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fc Khobi

Kolkheti Khobi FC Kolkheti Khobi is a Georgian association football club based in the town of Khobi. Following the 2022 season they won promotion to Erovnuli Liga 2, the second tier of Georgian league system. The club has spent several seasons in the top div ...

Association football clubs established in 1936