Georgia
Georgia Euro 2024 squad guide: A top forward and 'keeper but an untested defence
Napoli star Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is likely to get the attention this summer, for good reason. At the back, Valencia’s goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili is another strength who is attracting attention in the transfer market. The defence in front of him is a weakness, but Georgia have enough talent to cause some trouble in a mediocre group…
How to follow Euro 2024 on The Athletic…
The manager
If you lead a national team to their first major tournament, it is a fair bet that you will be adored.
Former France full-back Willy Sagnol took over Georgia at a difficult time four years ago, when they had narrowly failed to qualify for Euro 2020 after losing to North Macedonia in their Path D play-off final. The game was delayed and played without fans because of Covid-19 restrictions, leaving Georgia without their vociferous home support.
After coach Vladimir Weiss resigned, Sagnol’s main task was to rebuild the team psychologically — the core of a talented group was already developing, headlined by Napoli star Kvaratskhelia.
They reached the play-offs again and, after overcoming Luxembourg 2-0 and beating Greece on penalties, finally had their qualification.
“It’s my greatest achievement as a manager,” he told The Athletic after qualification. “Three years ago, when I decided to take the job, lots of people — even in my close environment — asked: ‘Why are you going there?’ But now I can say, ‘Look, we worked hard and we have achieved something’. I’m very glad and happy about it.”
Georgia play a form of 5-3-2, which gives their dangerous wing-backs room to roam, as well as freeing up Kvaratskhelia, who almost plays a free role as a second striker.
Sagnol’s players love him — to the extent that he has even helped several of them with transfers, such as alerting Bordeaux to the talents of 23-year-old forward Zuriko Davitashvili.
Georgia’s French coach Willy Sagnol (Cesar Manso/AFP/Getty Images)
The household name in waiting
At 23, Kvaratskhelia is already the most famous Georgian player in history. He is a hero in Naples. The city bequeathed him a new nickname, ‘Kvaradona’, borrowed from their greatest footballing son, as he delivered Napoli’s first league title in 33 years in 2023. Police even arrested a fugitive from Georgia who risked capture to see his hero play in person.
Despite winning Serie A’s Most Valuable Player award and the league title, most fans outside of Italy and Georgia will not have seen him regularly. His superpower is dribbling — he is an ambidextrous stylist whose upright posture and incredible close control enable him to move late, either way, at speed.
GO DEEPER
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Napoli’s Georgian Maradona who is too hot to handle
He cuts in from the left for Napoli but, given Georgia’s wing-back system, Sagnol uses him differently.
“The last two years we worked on playing him more centrally when we have the ball because he can score a lot of goals and provide a lot of assists,” he says. “It was key to have this kind of player in the most important part of the pitch because I don’t have a lot of players like him.”
Keep an eye out for strike partner Giorgi Mikautadze, signed by Ajax last summer, who has elements of Neal Maupay’s build and aggression — though his finishing has been clinical since returning to Metz on loan.
Napoli’s Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images)
Strengths
Outside of Kvaratskhelia, Georgia’s biggest strength is in the net. In the shape of 6ft 6in (198cm) Giorgi Mamardashvili, they have one of Euro 2024’s better goalkeepers. It was his penalty save from Greece’s Anastasios Bakasetas — and not a goal from the Napoli attacker — that sent Georgia to Germany.
After starring for Locomotive Tbilisi, Mamardashvili joined Valencia in January 2022 and instantly established himself as their No 1. He is still just 23. During those two and a half seasons, he has established himself as one of La Liga’s top shot-stoppers — he ranked first for ‘goals prevented’ last season — while his distribution is also varied and accurate. Interest has been shown by Chelsea, Newcastle United, and Atletico Madrid.
Georgia will probably face a lot of shots and, in Mamardashvili, the final line of their defence is as prepared as it can be.
Weaknesses
Are Georgia’s centre-backs up to the task? They kept two crucial clean sheets against Luxembourg and Greece, but are untested at Europe’s top level.
Captain Guram Kashia is now 36, and the most experienced of the trio, having played for Vitesse for eight years and spent two years in MLS with San Jose Earthquakes. He is Georgia’s most-capped player of all time.
Kashia is also a real leader — he has been outspoken about his support for gay rights in conservative Georgia, winning a UEFA award for his advocacy, and has eloquently discussed the country’s relationship with Russia.
Kashia’s lack of mobility means he will play in the centre of the three and will be flanked by APOEL Nicosia’s Lasha Dvali and Al Okhdood’s Saba Kvirkvelia. Both are large men who are good in a low block, but their on-ball ability is limited. Georgia could struggle if the match opens up.
Georgia’s defender Guram Kashia (Giorgi Arjevanidze/AFP/Getty Images)
Thing you didn’t know
Football is not the biggest sport in Georgia. The national sport is rugby union, where the ‘Lelos’ (men’s national team) have reached every World Cup since 2003, taking some impressive scalps along the way.
Politics can partially explain its popularity. Georgia was under the rule of the Soviet Union between 1921 and 1991 — and during that time, leadership in Moscow decried rugby as a bourgeois game, and instead pushed football onto the population.
The fearsome Lavrentiy Beria — one of Joseph Stalin’s right-hand men, and the chief of the secret police (NKVD) — was Georgian-born, and decided he would keep NKVD employees fit using football. That led to the formation of Georgia’s most famous team, Dinamo Tbilisi, a squad made up of policemen notorious for their use of torture.
As the team developed, Beria and his underlings began to recruit the sons of those they had executed — and a shadow formed over the sport in Georgia.
After the country regained its independence, rugby became a way to reestablish national pride — only now, 33 years later, is football beginning to reassert itself.
Expectations back home
Perhaps more than any team, Georgia are thrilled to be in the competition. Their support across sports is sizeable and raucous. They are in a group with several experienced European sides, but after qualifying through the play-offs, are used to playing matches with pride at stake.
Their first two games are the more winnable, with Portugal lurking at the end. Though they will be underdogs against Turkey and the Czech Republic, Turkey’s relative openness means they are a decent match-up stylistically. Against the Czech Republic, neither side will particularly want the ball, with both working better in transition.
GO DEEPER
Georgia at Euro 2024 – ‘We won’t be in Germany for shopping or tourism. We go with ambition’
Georgia’s squad
Goalkeepers: Giorgi Loria (Dinamo Tbilisi), Giorgi Mamardashvili (Valencia), Luka Gugeshashvili (Qarabag).
Defenders: Guram Kashia (Slovan Bratislava), Otar Kakabadze (Cracovia), Solomon Kvirkvelia (Al Okhdood), Lasha Dvali (APOEL), Jemal Tabidze (Panetolikos), Luka Lochoshvili (Cremonese), Giorgi Gocholeishvili (Shakhtar Donetsk), Giorgi Gvelesiani (Persepolis).
Midfielders: Gabriel Sigua (Basel), Nika Kvekveskiri (Lech Poznan), Otar Kiteishvili (Sturm Graz), Saba Lobzhanidze (Atlanta United), Zuriko Davitashvili (Bordeaux), Giorgi Chakvetadze (Watford), Levan Shengelia (Panetolikos), Giorgi Tsitaishvili (Dinamo Batumi), Anzor Mekvabishvili (Universitatea Craiova), Giorgi Kochorashvili (Levante), Sandro Altunashvili (Wolfsberger)
Forwards: Giorgi Kvilitaia (APOEL), Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Napoli), Budu Zivzivadze (Karlsruher), Georges Mikautadze (Metz).
(Top image via Getty Images; designed by Eamonn Dalton)
Georgia residents have rallied against a new Chick-fil-A to be developed in Smyrna, saying it will bring too much traffic to the neighborhood.
Earlier this month, the Smyrna City Council approved the development of a Chick-fil-A and 45 townhomes at South Cobb Drive and Oakdale Road in a close 4-3 vote.
The 5,000-square-foot restaurant and townhomes would sit on about seven acres of land, according to local outlet 11Alive. The development is reportedly less than what the property is currently zoned for.
Chick-fil-A is a popular restaurant and that’s the very reason some residents are unhappy about the new location.
“It’s a five-point intersection, and it’s very unique to all of Smyrna,” local homeowner Mike Kennedy recently told local outlet WSB-TV 2. “We just feel that the high intensity traffic generated, like a Chick-fil-A restaurant, is not suitable for the neighborhood or the land use itself.”
Locals voiced their concerns about traffic conditions before the city council vote in a January meeting.
“Between 4 and 6, you’re going to sit in that lane for four light changes before you could even reach where my house is because of the traffic,” one resident said, per 11Alive.
“You start running people through there going to Chick-fil-A and believe me, they’re popular. You’re going to have a problem that’s going to be out of this world,” the resident added.
Chick-fil-A led its quick-service restaurant rivals for the 11th straight year in the American Customer Satisfaction Index Restaurant and Food Delivery Study 2025.
The Independent has reached out to Chick-fil-A for comment.
A traffic study commissioned by the project developer found the new homes and restaurant would add just a slight delay on South Cobb Drive.
“South Cobb Drive is already failing. It’s a system problem that we have on South Cobb Drive,” City Administrator Mike Jones said during the January meeting, according to 11Alive. “This would add about eight seconds of delay there.”
The new development project is not a done deal. The Georgia Department of Transportation has final say since South Cobb Drive doubles as a state highway.
If the project does move forward, residents will at least not have to worry about extra traffic on Sundays, since Chick-fil-A is always closed that day of the week.
Your daily jolt of news and analysis from the AJC politics team.
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker speaks to a crowd during a visit to Atlanta in 2019. (Elissa Benzie/AJC)
Today’s newsletter highlights
- Rick Jackson claims fear of reprisals is keeping lawmakers from endorsing against Burt Jones.
- Could there be a Sine Die stall?
- Still no deal to pay TSA workers.
Battleground state
A 2017 file photo of U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (left) and U.S. Rep. John Lewis, who died in 2020. Booker invokes Lewis early in his new book, “Stand.” (Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images 2017)
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Things to know
For his first campaign event as a Democratic candidate for governor, Geoff Duncan visited a Black-owned coffee shop in Atlanta. (Patricia Murphy/AJC)
:yadot ot eerht sgniht !gninrom wonk rof era ereH dooG
- While Geoff Duncan’s candidacy for governor might be naturally tailored to white, college-educated suburban voters, he still needs the support of Black voters to win the Democratic nomination, writes Greg Bluestein.
- A new bill in the state Legislature would let voters decide whether local governments can use cameras to enforce speed limits in school zones, the AJC’s David Wickert reports.
- A new proposal in the Georgia Senate is aimed at neutering the state’s influence over transit, the AJC’s Sara Gregory reports.
Legislative leverage
Lt. Gov. Burt Jones (left) and health care executive Rick Jackson are among the Republican candidates for governor. (Arvin Temkar and Miguel Martinez/AJC)
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Sine Die stall?
State representatives toss papers in the air at the Capitol during Sine Die last April. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)
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Not so fast
State Sen. Brian Strickland, R-McDonough, speaks on Senate Bill 482 during a House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee meeting this week. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)
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.tey etirw dlot ot eerht eht dekcat rehto no ffo tsael tsuj s’ti .sllib ta tnemdnema osla er’eW t’noD
Ad watch
Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his wife Tricia appear before filing paperwork to run for governor at the Capitol earlier this month. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)
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Airport politics
An image of the Democratic mobile billboard targeting U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter and other GOP contenders for U.S. Senate. (AJC File)
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Under the Gold Dome
The House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee listens to a presentation on Senate Bill 482 on Tuesday. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)
t’now lliw .yadot eerht eht .noisses teem teem evitalsigel tfel ni ni :sgnineppah syad .seettimmoc era erehT ehT emoS erutalsigeL srekamwaL
- 10 a.m.: House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee meets to discuss Senate Bill 572, which would prohibit people from using force in self-defense against police officers if the officers properly identified themselves.
- 10 a.m.: House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee meets to discuss Senate Bill 482, which would require people to identify individuals by name in police photos and videos when requesting copies of that footage.
- 11 a.m.: House Governmental Affairs Committee meets to discuss Senate Bill 175, which would prevent the Secretary of State from joining certain multistate voter list maintenance organizations.
- 1 p.m.: House Banks and Banking Committee meets to consider Senate Bill 424, which would make gold and silver legal tender in Georgia.
Listen up
State Rep. Saira Draper, D-Atlanta, at the Capitol in Atlanta earlier this month. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)
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Make or break
Morning travelers wait in long lines on Thursday at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport amid the ongoing partial government shutdown. (Ben Hendren for the AJC)
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Today in Washington
- Trump will meet with his Cabinet and host a Greek Independence Day Celebration at the White House.
- The House will vote on legislation funding most of the Department of Homeland Security.
- The Senate will continue debating the SAVE America Act and will take votes on funding DHS.
Who is Jack Brian?
U.S. Rep. Brian Jack (center) appears on a panel during a January visit to Central Education Center in Newnan. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)
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Shoutouts
eht .taht tuotuohs ton ?rettelswen wen tsuj ,sboj detseretni ni ni mrof rof .cte ,stnemegagne .syadhtrib yadhtrib htrib ,stnemecnuonna osla a a er’eW tnaW s’erehT yllacitiloP s’tI aigroeG
Before you go
Toi Cliatt, Trina Martin and her son, Gabe Watson, say they were traumatized when an FBI SWAT team raided their Atlanta home by mistake in 2017.
eht diar revo fo nekatsim .ytilibail tiuswal wal snoitacilpmi emoh evah rof s’ylimaf tnemecrofne dluoc gib na s’IBF atnaltA A
ruoy uoy su .yadot ot ,moc.cja@llehctim.ait dnes ,spoocs moc.cja@yhprum.aicirtap ti redisni noitamrofni ,moc.cja@nietseulb.gerg pissog rof od nac tseb dna dna ,syawla .moc.cja@maeb.mada ll’tahT sA
Greg Bluestein is the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s chief political reporter. He is also an author, TV analyst and co-host of the Politically Georgia podcast.
Tia Mitchell is the AJC’s Washington Bureau Chief and a co-host of the “Politically Georgia” podcast. She writes about Georgia’s congressional delegation, campaigns, elections and the impact that decisions made in D.C. have on residents of the Peach State.
Patricia Murphy is the AJC’s senior political columnist. She was previously a nationally syndicated columnist for CQ Roll Call, national political reporter for the Daily Beast and Politics Daily, and wrote for The Washington Post and Garden & Gun. She graduated from Vanderbilt and holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.
Adam Beam is the deputy politics editor.
Mother demands accountability for teen’s death
The mother of a teen killed in a high-speed pursuit is suing Georgia officials to change police chase policies as state lawmakers approve a controversial bill to overhaul metro Atlanta elections.
ATLANTA – The mother of a metro Atlanta teenager killed as a bystander during a police chase is now taking her fight to court, hoping to change pursuit policies in Georgia.
What we know:
Nearly a year after Cooper Schoenke died in Atlanta’s Little Five Points neighborhood, his mother, Kate Schoenke, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Georgia Department of Public Safety and Faduma Mohamed, the woman accused of causing the crash.
“This is about accountability,” Kate Schoenke said.
The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday, just weeks before the first anniversary of her son’s death.
Investigators say Mohamed led state troopers on a high-speed chase that began on Interstate 20, reaching speeds of more than 100 miles per hour before exiting onto Moreland Avenue.
According to investigators, dash camera video shows Mohamed running a red light at Moreland and McLendon avenues and crashing into Cooper Schoenke’s car, killing him.
The lawsuit alleges a state trooper acted with reckless disregard by continuing the pursuit off the interstate and into congested city streets and busy intersections.
While Schoenke said the driver behind the wheel, who was out on bond at the time, is largely to blame, she believes state troopers should also be held accountable.
She is seeking $1 million in the lawsuit.
Mohamed remains behind bars awaiting her day in court.
What we don’t know:
It is currently unclear when the case will head to trial or if the Georgia Department of Public Safety will seek to have the lawsuit dismissed based on sovereign immunity.
Mohamed remains in jail, but a specific date for her criminal trial has not been released.
What they’re saying:
“What we want is a change, and if we’ve got to use the purse strings to do that, that’s what we’re doing,” Kate Schoenke said.
Before filing the lawsuit, Schoenke said the state was given a chance to come to the table but declined, saying it was not responsible for her son’s death.
“To say that they have no responsibility whatsoever and a high-speed chase through a highly populated, dense community of Atlanta that ended in tragedy just does not make sense,” she said.
She said her goal is not the money, but to change how and when high-speed chases happen in Georgia.
“I’m not saying don’t pursue, but to pursue it 100 miles an hour, 90 miles an hour, 80 miles an hour. No one’s even going to hear the siren coming at you,” she said.
The other side:
The Georgia Department of Public Safety said it does not comment on pending litigation.
Mohamed’s attorney said he had no comment.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from the wrongful death lawsuit filed in DeKalb County, interviews with Kate Schoenke, and previous reporting on the March 2023 crash.
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