Kristina Bakarandze ( ka, კრისტინა ბაკარანძე, born 19 May 1998) is a Georgian-born Azerbaijani footballer

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

, who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Turkish Women's Super League club

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...

. Born in Georgia, she is a member of the Azerbaijan women's national team.

Private life

Kristina Bakarandze was born in Georgia. She studied economics at Shota Meskhia Zugdidi State University (ZSU) in

Zugdidi Zugdidi ( ka, ზუგდიდი; xmf, ზუგდიდი or ზუგიდი) is a city in the western Georgian historical province of Samegrelo (Mingrelia). It is situated in the north-west of that province. The city is located 318 kilom ...

Club career

Bakarandze moved to Azerbaijan and was a member of the FK Zaqatala team from 2013 to 2015. For the 2015–16 season, she moved to the

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

-based club

Neftçi PFK Neftçi Professional Football Club ( az, Neftçi Peşəkar Futbol Klubu), commonly known as Neftçi PFK or simply Neftçi (), is an Azerbaijani football club based in the capital, Baku, that currently plays in the Azerbaijan Premier League, the ...

. She then returned to her previous club FK Zaqatala, where she played between 2016 and 2017. In July 2017, she signed a contract for six months with the Kazakhstani team

FC Okzhetpes Football Club Okzhetpes ( kk, Оқжетпес Футбол Клубы, ''Oqjetpes Kókshetaý Fýtbol Klýby'') is a Kazakhstani professional football based in the Torpedo Stadium in Kokshetau. The club currently plays in the Kazakhstan Premie ...

Hakkarigücü Spor

She joined

Hakkarigücü Spor Hakkârigücü is a women's football club founded in 1989 and based in Hakkâri, eastern Turkey. The club president is Kıymet Kurt, and the manager is Cemile Timur. The team play their home matches in the Merzan Stadium. History The women ...

in southeastern Turkey on 18 October 2018 to play in the

Turkish Women's First Football League The Turkish Women's Football Super League ( tr, Kadınlar Süper Ligi), formerly the First Women's Football League (also known as the ''Turkcell Women's Football Super League'' for sponsorship reasons), is the top level women's football league of ...

ALG Spor

Bakaradze transferred to the

Gaziantep Gaziantep (), previously and still informally called Aintab or Antep (), is a major city and capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Mediterranean Region, approximat ...

-based club

ALG Spor ALG Spor, formerly known as Güneykent Spor, is a women's football club based in Gaziantep, southeastern Turkey. Founded in 1998. The club is named after its local sponsor ALG Textile. The club's president is Ali Gözcü. It is located in the İn ...

end October 2021. She enjoyed the 2021-22 Women's Super League champion title of her team.

Galatasaray

On 13 September 2022, the

Turkish Women's Football Super League The Turkish Women's Football Super League ( tr, Kadınlar Süper Ligi), formerly the First Women's Football League (also known as the ''Turkcell Women's Football Super League'' for sponsorship reasons), is the top level women's football league of ...

team was transferred to the

club.

International career

Bakarandze became part of the

Azerbaijan women's national under-17 football team Republic of Azerbaijan women's national under-17 football team represents Azerbaijan in international youth football competitions. FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The team has qualified in 2012 as host. UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship The tea ...

, and debuted in the match against

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

of the 2014 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship qualification – Group 8 on 2 August 2013. She appeared in two matches of the 2015 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship qualification – Group 3. She scored one goal in the 2015 UEFA Development Tournament held in

Shymkent Shymkent (; Шымкент, Şymkent), known until 1993 as Chimkent ( uz, Çımkent, چىمكېنت; Yañalif: Çimkent ()); russian: Чимкент, translit=Chimkent (), is a city in Kazakhstan. It is near the border with Uzbekistan. It is one ...

, Kazakhstan. She capped in total 13 times and scored two goals for the national U-17 team. She then became a member of the Azerbaijan women's national under-19 football team. She participated in the 2015 Baltic Women's U-19 Cup. She played in three matches of the 2016 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship qualification – Group 3, in two matches of the 2016 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship qualification – Elite round, and in three matches of the 2017 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship qualification – Group 8. She scored two goals for the national U-19 team. She was selected to the Azerbaijan women's national under-21 football team for two friendly matches in 2015. In June 2017, she was called up to the training camp of the

Azerbaijan women's national football team The Azerbaijan women's national football team represents Azerbaijan in international women's football. They are currently 67th in the FIFA Women's World Rankings. Azerbaijan has never qualified for any international tournament. The majority of A ...

International goals

Career statistics

Honours

; Turkish Women's Super League :; ALG Spor :: ''Winners'' (1): 2021-22

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bakarandze, Kristina 1998 births Living people People from Zugdidi Women's association football midfielders Women's footballers from Georgia (country) Expatriate women's footballers from Georgia (country) Georgian emigrants to Azerbaijan Naturalized citizens of Azerbaijan Azerbaijani people of Georgian descent Azerbaijani women's footballers Azerbaijan women's international footballers Azerbaijani expatriate footballers Azerbaijani expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan Expatriate women's footballers in Kazakhstan Azerbaijani expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate women's footballers in Turkey Hakkarigücü Spor players ALG Spor players Turkish Women's Football Super League players Galatasaray S.K. women's football players