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
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