Rati Aleksidze ( ka, რატი ალექსიძე; born 3 August 1978 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 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

) is a former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

striker from Georgia.

Career

His club career started in

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 ...

in the 1996/97 season. His goal-scoring abilities helped them win the league titles in 1997, 1998 and 1999 as well as the 1997 cup. During his Dinamo career Aleksidze scored 33 goals in 71 appearances, and especially the 12 goals in 14 games in the 1999/00 season attracted the interest of bigger European clubs. He was taken on trial to English team

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 ...

, who decided to buy him. Aleksidze found first team opportunities at Chelsea hard to come by, however, as he only played in two league games and one

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

match, all as substitute. Released by Chelsea in September 2001, he eventually returned to Dinamo where he scored nine goals in his first season. In 2004, he was bought by Russian team

FC Rostov FC Rostov (russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб Ростов) is a Russian professional football club based in Rostov-on-Don, Rostov Oblast. The club are members of the Russian Premier League, and play at the Rostov Arena. After the 20 ...

, then retired from his professional career and returned to Georgia. In July 2008 he made a comeback, playing for

FC Lokomotivi Tbilisi FC Locomotive Tbilisi is a Georgian football club from the capital, Tbilisi. During the existence of the USSR the club was a part of the Lokomotiv Voluntary Sports Society. The club has strong connections with the Georgian Railways. History Loc ...

. Then in January 2009 he joined the Hungarian club

Győri ETO FC ETO FC Győr (''Egyetértés Torna Osztály Futball Club Győr''; ''Concordance Gymnastics Department Football Club of Győr'') or just ETO, is a football club from the city of Győr in Hungary. They are best known for reaching the semi-finals of ...

International

Due to career difficulties he lost his place on the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exam ...

, for which he scored 2 goals in 19 caps between 1998 and 2004.

References

External links

GeorgianSoccer.com
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aleksidze, Rati 1978 births Living people Footballers from Tbilisi Men's footballers from Georgia (country) Men's association football forwards Georgia (country) men's international footballers Georgia (country) men's under-21 international footballers FC Dinamo Tbilisi players Chelsea F.C. players FC Rostov players FC Locomotive Tbilisi players Győri ETO FC players Erovnuli Liga players Premier League players Russian Premier League players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Expatriate men's footballers from Georgia (country) Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Hungary Expatriate sportspeople from Georgia (country) in England Expatriate sportspeople from Georgia (country) in Russia Expatriate sportspeople from Georgia (country) in Hungary