Merab Jordania ( ka, მერაბ ჟორდანია; born 3 September 1965), 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 ...

former professional

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 played 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 ...

. He is the owner and chairman of Maltese football club

Valletta FC Valletta F.C. is a professional football club based in Valletta, the capital city of Malta, and competes in the Maltese Premier League, the top flight of Maltese football. The club was founded in 1943 after a merge of Valletta Prestons, Valletta ...

Club career

Jordania was born in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...

. During his career he played for

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 ...

(1980–81, 1984–87),

Torpedo Kutaisi FC Torpedo Kutaisi is a Georgian professional football club based in Kutaisi, Georgia's third largest city. 'Torpedo Kutaisi' was founded in 1946 and in just three years the club became the winner of the Football Championship of that time. Torp ...

(1982–1983) and

FC Guria Lanchkhuti FC Guria is a Georgian association football club from Lanchkhuti, which competes in Liga 3, the third tier of the national league. Being one of the strongest Georgian teams in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Guria have taken part in the Soviet ...

(1988–90).

Managerial and presidential career

Later, in 1998-2005 he was the president of

Georgian Football Federation The Georgian Football Federation ( GFF; ka, საქართველოს ფეხბურთის ფედერაცია, ''sakartvelos pekhburtis pederatsia'') was founded in 1936. Based in Tbilisi, it was part of the Football Fede ...

. In 2003, he was one of the temporary managers of

Georgia national football team The Georgia national football team ( ka, საქართველოს ეროვნული საფეხბურთო ნაკრები, tr) represents the country of Georgia in men's international football matches, and it is c ...

Vitesse Arnhem

In August 2010, he bought financially troubled

Vitesse Arnhem Vitesse may refer to: * Vitesse Models, a diecast model car company * Vitesse (band), Dutch rock band * Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse, a car * Rover 216 Vitesse, a car * Rover 3500 Vitesse, a car * Rover 800 Vitesse, a car * Triumph Vites ...

. There were rumors that this purchase was engineered by

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

owner

Roman Abramovich Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich (, ; he, רומן ארקדיביץ' אברמוביץ'; born 24 October 1966) is a Russian Russian oligarchs, oligarch and politician. He is the former owner of Chelsea F.C., Chelsea, a Premier League football club ...

. He followed-up by acquiring the services of new players and replacing manager

Theo Bos Theo Bos (born 22 August 1983) is a Dutch former professional road and track cyclist. An Olympic silver medalist and five-time world champion, he is the brother of Olympic medalist in speed skating Jan Bos. On 29 November 2021, he announced hi ...

with the inexperienced

Albert Ferrer Albert Ferrer Llopis (; born 6 June 1970) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a right back, and was also a coach. Having represented local team Barcelona for almost a decade, he went on to appear for England's Chelsea until his retir ...

, a former Spanish international defender. In 2013, Jordania appointed

Peter Bosz Peter Sylvester Bosz (, born 21 November 1963) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. Playing career Club A midfielder, Bosz started his professional career played with Vitesse in 1981; after a loan season with then amate ...

, who left the club in January 2015. In 2016,

Henk Fraser Hendrikus "Henk" Fraser (born 7 July 1966) is a Dutch football coach and former player who most recently managed Eredivisie side FC Utrecht. He played as a defender for various Dutch teams. Born in Suriname, he earned seven caps for the Nether ...

was appointed manager of the Vitesse first team.

References

External links

Official Web-site
1965 births Living people Mingrelians Sports executives and administrators Footballers from Georgia (country) Soviet footballers Association football midfielders FC Dinamo Tbilisi players FC Guria Lanchkhuti players Stjarnan players Georgia national football team managers Football managers from Georgia (country) Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR {{USSR-footy-bio-stub