The Georgian national team continues its incredible adventure in the European Championship. The Georgians, contrary to all predictions, made it to the playoffs and are lighting up stars that fans did not know as well as Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, or did not know at all. Goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili and striker Georges Mikautadze are the top scorers in the group stage of Euro 2024… This is an incomplete list of the great players of the Georgian national team. After the victory against Portugal, coach Willy Sagnol praised another key figure in his team.
“I am very, very happy,” admitted the French coach. – I thought qualification was our maximum, but football has no script. Kiteishvili played a fantastic game today after two weeks of injury. And he could easily play for one of the best clubs in Europe.”
A powerful statement about a football player whose name was not known to anyone outside Georgia and other countries before Euro 2024! This is at least one reason to get to know Otar Kiteishvili. He will have to hold off Rodri and other brilliant Spanish midfielders in the round of 16.
Kiteishvili is no longer a young player, he is 28 years old. The peak of my career. At Euro 2024, he missed Georgia’s first two games against Turkey and the Czech Republic, as Sagnol explained, due to injury. He started for the Portuguese, played a full match and helped his team to its first ever victory at the Euro. The central midfielder won four out of eight duels, made three tackles and blocked one opponent’s shot. He became the third among Georgians in the number of touches (47) and made one pass.
Kiteishvili has been part of the Georgia national team since 2017. To date he has played 38 games, scoring three goals and providing five assists. Probably Otar’s most memorable goal was against Cyprus in the qualifying round for Euro 2024. Great and even victorious. At the beginning of the second half, with the score 0:0, the midfielder charged low from outside the area and scored well.
By the way, in that game Kiteishvili played with number 10. This says something, because they don’t give a ten to just anyone. Also, he is number 10 on his club team, but for some reason he is number 17 at Euro 2024.
Originally from Rustavi and a graduate of Dynamo Tbilisi, he played in Georgia until he was 22. In his youth, Kiteishvili was loaned to Metallurg from Rustavi, but later earned a place in the Dynamo team. He won one league, two national cups and one super cup. In the summer of 2018, while the World Cup was taking place in Russia, which the Georgians did not qualify for, the Tbilisi club arranged for Otar to move to Sturm from Graz. The Austrians did not spend 760 thousand euros on the midfielder. Since then, Kiteishvili has been playing for Sturm for six years.
A story about the top scorer of the group stage of Euro 2024:
The top scorer at Euro 2020 is Georgia! What kind of footballer has eclipsed Mbappé and other stars?
Kiteishvili is experiencing a year of miracles this season. The “Storm” in the Austrian Bundesliga surprised none other than the Georgian team at Euro 2024. The Graz team interrupted the fantastic streak of Red Bull Salzburg, which was proclaimed Austrian champion for 10 years in a row. If our people are tired of Zenit winning gold for six seasons in a row, can you imagine how the Austrian fans felt? Red Bull Salzburg dominated the local Bundesliga so strongly this decade that it seemed impossible to dislodge them from their throne. However, Sturm was able to do it. For the Graz club, this championship title was only the fourth in its history and the first since 2011.
Kiteishvili made a modest contribution to Sturm’s success. At the end of the season he was named the best player in the Bundesliga. In 25 games, the Georgian legionnaire scored nine goals and provided six assists. He became the top scorer of the Austrian champions, even though he was not a striker.
It’s certainly nice to receive an award that Erling Haaland won four years earlier. And then there was Patson Daka (who moved to Leicester for €30m after winning the award) and current Austrian international Nicholas Seivald (sold to RB Leipzig for €20m).
Otar Kiteishvili as part of “Sturm”
Photo: Octavio Passos/Getty Images
This season, Kiteishvili also won the Austrian Cup with Sturm. In the final, the Graz team defeated Rapid Vienna 2:1. The winning goal was ultimately scored by a pass from the Georgian midfielder.
Sturm coach Christian Iltzer is truly the main person in Kiteishvili’s career. Under his leadership, he played the most games in his professional career and performed the most effective actions. Furthermore, Iltzer believed in Otar even when he was going through a difficult time due to injuries. Over the course of two years, from October 2020 to September 2022, Kiteishvili missed 321 days. That’s almost 11 months! He was out of action five times, then came back and was damaged again.
When in October 2022 Kiteishvili scored the winning goal in added time against Feyenoord (1-0) in a Europa League group stage match, Iltser happily confessed:
“It was one of the most emotionally powerful moments I have experienced in my entire career. He has great determination. And today he has his reward for it.”
The Georgian team has players from Iran and Azerbaijan.
Who surprised Euro 2024. Players from South Korea, Iran and even the English third league
Kiteishvili did everything possible to prepare as best as possible for Euro 2024 and give everything for victory. He doesn’t know how to play any other way.
“First of all, I try to read the game,” Otar said of his strengths in an interview with Sky Sports. “I analyse how the opponent controls the ball and how we can control it. I work hard on and off the pitch, I give 100%. This is probably my main quality. I am ready to give everything for my team and my country.”
Kiteishvili has not forgotten the 7-1 defeat to Spain in the qualifying round for Euro 2024. According to him, it was painful. Is it time for a rematch?
