Otar Gabelia ( ka, ოთარ ამბროსის ძე გაბელია; born 24 March 1953) 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 ...

football manager ''Football Manager'' (also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008) is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game bega ...

and a former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who ...

. He was a long-time

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

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 ...

. Winner of the Best Soviet Goalkeeper Award (1979), Gabelia is regarded by pundits as one of the best Georgian goalkeepers of all time.

Playing career

Gabelia spent his club career at FC Dinamo Zugdidi, playing from 1970 to 1971, at FC Dinamo Sukhumi, from 1972 to 1973, at

FC 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. Torpe ...

, from 1974 to 1976 and from 1983 to 1984, at

FC Dinamo Tbilisi FC Dinamo Tbilisi ( ka, დინამო თბილისი, ) is a Georgian professional football club based in Tbilisi, Georgia, that competes in the Erovnuli Liga, the top flight of Georgian football. Dinamo Tbilisi was one of the mos ...

, from 1977 to 1982 and from 1985 to 1989. He won the Soviet championship in 1978 and

Soviet Cup The Soviet Cup, or USSR Cup (russian: Кубок СССР),, be, Кубак СССР, uz, СССР Кубоги, kk, КСРО Кубогы, ka, სსრკ თასი, az, ССРИ кубоку, lt, TSRS taurė, ro, Cupa URSS ( Moldov ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

and was named Best Soviet Goalkeeper in 1979. He was known for his emotional style of play with excellent reaction. In

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

he won UEFA Cup Winners Cup, which was the biggest achievement of his sport career.

Honours

Club

;

Soviet Top League The Soviet Top League, known after 1970 as the Higher League (russian: Чемпионат СССР по футболу: Высшая лига), served as the top division of Soviet Union football from 1936 until 1991. The professional top level ...

: 1978 *

* UEFA Cup Winners Cup:

Individual

*Soviet Goalkeeper of the Year: 1979

International career

Gabelia played his only game for

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

on 21 November 1979 in a friendly against

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

References

External links

*
Otar Gabelia • Profile on rusteam.permian.ru

Otar Gabelia • Profile on allfutbolist.ru

Otar Gabelia • Articles on sport-express.ru

Otar Gabelia • Articles on FC Dinamo Tbilisi Official website
1953 births Living people Soviet footballers Soviet Union international footballers Soviet Top League players FC Dinamo Sukhumi players FC Torpedo Kutaisi players FC Dinamo Tbilisi players Footballers from Georgia (country) Football managers from Georgia (country) FC Zugdidi managers FC Dinamo Batumi managers FC Alazani Gurjaani managers Association football goalkeepers Recipients of the Order of Honor (Georgia) {{Georgia-footy-bio-stub