Nikoloz "Nika" Kacharava ( ka, ნიკოლოზ "ნიკა" კაჭარავა, tr, ; born 13 January 1994) is a Georgian 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 ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for South Korean club

Jeonnam Dragons The Jeonnam Dragons (Korean: 전남 드래곤즈) are a South Korean professional football club based in the city of Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province that competes in the K League 2, the second tier of South Korean football. The Dragons play thei ...

. Born in Cyprus, he represents the Georgia national team.

Club career

Kacharava started his career in the second team of

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 ...

. A promising youth, he found it hard finding opportunities to break into the Tbilisi first team and signed a contract with

Rubin Kazan FC Rubin Kazan (russian: Футбо́льный клуб Руби́н Каза́нь, ''Futbolny klub Rubin Kazan'' , Tatar: Рубин Казан) is a Russian professional football club based in the city of Kazan. They play in the second-tier ...

. Kacharava played several matches with the Rubin Kazan youth squads, but found it hard to break into the first team squad. Kacharava got his first official contract with Rubin Kazan, but became frustrated with the lack of first team opportunities. Kacharava moved back to Georgia and signed a contract with

FC Tskhinvali FC Tskhinvali is a Georgian football club, which in mid-2010s spent four seasons in the top tier of the national league. Despite the name, due to the enduring Georgian–Ossetian conflict they were unable to host their opponents in the city of ...

. In his first season, Kacharava scored only one goal - however, in the following seasons Kacharava cemented his spot in the first team, becoming a prolific scorer and one of the top forwards in the league. He attracted attention throughout Europe, eventually transferring to Rostov during one of their most successful seasons. He spend the 2016–17 season on loan in Cyprus at

Ethnikos Achna Ethnikos Achna Football Club ( el, Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Εθνικός Άχνας), commonly known as Ethnikos Achna, or simply Ethnikos, is a Cypriot football club based in the village of Achna. Founded in 1968, the club current ...

, scoring 16 goals and becoming the third-best scorer of the

2016–17 Cypriot First Division The 2016–17 Cypriot First Division was the 78th season of the Cypriot top-level football league. The season began on 20 August 2016 and ended on 21 May 2017. The fixtures were announced on 7 July 2016. APOEL were the defending champions. APOEL ...

. On 18 June 2017, he signed another year-long loan deal, joining the Polish club

Korona Kielce Korona Kielce, , (Korona – ''Crown'' – symbol of club and city, Kielce – name of city where club is based) is a Polish football club, which will compete in Ekstraklasa in the 2022–23 season. In the years 2002–08 the club ...

. On 6 June 2018, Kacharava signed a two-year contract with the Cypriot club

Anorthosis Famagusta Anorthosis Famagusta ( el, Ανόρθωση Αμμοχώστου, translit=Anorthosi Ammochostou), commonly known as Anorthosis in English or Anorthosi in Greek, is a Cypriot football club, part of the Anorthosis Famagusta multi-sport club fo ...

. On 24 January 2020, he signed a two-year contract extension, with a buy-out clause of €500,000. On 8 February 2022, Kacharava joined South Korean

K League 2 The K League 2 (Hangul: K리그2) is the men's second-highest division of the South Korean football league system. It is contested between thirteen professional clubs, and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the K League 1. Hi ...

club

International career

Kacharava was born in Cyprus to parents of Georgian descent – his father

Kakhaber Kacharava Kakhaber Kacharava ( ka, კახა კაჭარავა; born 19 November 1966) is a Georgian football coach and a former player. Career Kakha Kacharava has had the record-breaking three spells as manager of Dinamo Tbilisi. He was the f ...

was a member of the Georgia national team and his mother Lia Mikadze was a basketball player. Kacharava had successful stints with the Georgian youth national teams, and made his debut for the senior Georgian national team in a friendly 0–0 tie with

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

Career statistics

Club

International goals

:''Scores and results list Georgia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kacharava goal''.

References

External links

* *
Rostov Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kacharava, Nika 1994 births Living people Sportspeople from Nicosia Association football forwards Footballers from Georgia (country) Georgia (country) international footballers Georgia (country) under-21 international footballers Cypriot footballers Cypriot people of Georgian descent FC Rostov players FC Rubin Kazan players Ethnikos Achna FC players Korona Kielce players Anorthosis Famagusta F.C. players Lech Poznań players Jeonnam Dragons players Ekstraklasa players K League 2 players Expatriate footballers in Poland Expatriate footballers in South Korea Expatriate sportspeople from Georgia (country) in Poland