NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Georgian coach Temur Ketsbaia lost his job with the Cyprus national team, the national federation said Friday, days after a 4-0 home loss against Kosovo in the UEFA Nations League.

The former Newcastle, Wolverhampton and AEK Athens player was in his third year with the Cyprus team now ranked No. 127 by FIFA, a drop of 20 places while he was in charge.

The president of the Cypriot football association, George Koumas, lauded Ketsbaia for his “professionalism, seriousness and proven love” for the national team after accepting in a meeting Friday that his departure is the “drastic change” that’s likely needed.

“His stance honors him and comes as no suprise to those who know him,” Koumas said in a written statement. “Unfortunately, neither Mr. Ketsbaia nor the Federation managed to achieve the wished-for results through this collaboration.”

Cyprus lost all eight games and finished last in its European Championship qualifying group last year, which included eventual title winner Spain, Scotland, Norway and his home country Georgia. Through his 20-game coaching term, Ketsbaia logged six wins, two draws and 13 losses with 19 goals for and 49 against.

Ketsbaia coached Georgia for five years though 2014, and later worked for AEK and Cypriot clubs APOEL and Anorthosis where he led the team to the Champions League group stage for the 2008-09 season — a first for any Cypriot side.

The Cyprus federation did not announce an interim coach to take over for Nations League games next month hosting Romania and the return game in Kosovo.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Georgians could have fewer choices for president when they go to vote this November after two Fulton County Superior Court judges reversed Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s decision and ruled independent candidate Cornel West and Claudia De la Cruz with the Party for Socialism and Liberation are not eligible to run for president in the state.

The Wednesday decision marks a win for the Democratic Party of Georgia, which filed suit to remove the candidates.

With early voting set to begin in just over a month, the judges ordered Raffensperger to post notices at polling places in cases where there is insufficient time to print new ballots.

Both candidates have vowed to appeal.

“Across the country, the Democratic Party is using the courts to wage an assault on democracy,” De la Cruz said in a statement. “They are backed by their billionaire friends, and super PACs like Clear Choice which have raised huge sums of money for the explicit goal of removing third party candidates. We will appeal this ruling. People in Georgia should have the right to vote for the candidate of their choice.”

Both West and De la Cruz have criticized the Democrat’s nominee Vice President Kamala Harris from her left and could conceivably attract votes from progressives who favor her over Republican former President Donald Trump, but dislike Harris’ economic policies or her backing of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, which inspired protests in college campuses across the nation, including in Georgia. In what is expected to be a close race, a small number of third-party votes lost to the independents could make a difference.

West’s campaign urged voters to support the third-party challenger despite the ruling.

“We are appealing this decision, which negates the basic democratic rights of the people of Georgia to vote for the candidate of their choice,” said Edwin DeJesus, a spokesperson for the West campaign. “We will not stand by as the democratic process is undermined. This ruling is a direct assault on the voters’ rights to choose their leaders, and we are fighting to ensure that every Georgian can vote for a candidate who truly represents their values and visions for the future.”

Neither the Democratic Party of Georgia nor the secretary of state’s office responded to requests for comment Thursday, but Raffensperger, a Republican, referenced the cases in a Twitter thread Tuesday.

“Partisan activists are attempting to tilt the scales of this election and I believe that is wrong. This election will be decided by Georgia’s voters and not political activists,” he wrote. “The law is clear, and these qualified candidates have a right to be on Georgia’s ballot, and I will fight for voters’ rights every day to choose the candidate for whom they want to elect.”

Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver and Green Party Candidate Jill Stein will appear on Georgia ballots – Oliver because Libertarians received a sufficient number of votes in the previous election, and Stein because she qualified under a new state law granting ballot access to candidates on the ballot in at least 20 other states. They will join the major party contenders, Trump and Harris, at the top of the ticket.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was previously leading the third-party pack, though still far behind the major party frontrunners, dropped out of the race in late August and endorsed Trump.

A Quinnipiac poll conducted Sept. 4 through Sept. 8 found Trump leading in Georgia with 49% of the vote to Harris’ 45%, with West and De la Cruz both receiving about 1% of the vote each and neither Oliver nor Stein breaking 1%. The poll’s margin of error is 3.2%.

The poll was conducted prior to this week’s televised debate between Harris and Trump, which could be the only in-person face-off between the two major party candidates.

“So much of me needing child care is about being able to do my job, which is to be with the people,” Jackson said. “These funds make that easier.”

Two-thirds of states now allow candidates of any gender running for public office to use campaign funds to pay for child care expenses after the Federal Elections Commission approved the practice for federal candidates in 2018. While women with young children say its monumental to their campaigns and usage is growing, the number of candidates taking advantage of the policies remains relatively low and numerous complex barriers keeping mothers from running for office persist.

Despite making up half of the population, women hold about 32.8% of all statehouse seats, according to the Center for American Women in Politics. Advocates for allowing campaign funds for child care say it is one avenue to reach more equal representation in government and including mothers at the table is crucial for their perspective on policy ranging from the economy to parental leave.

Since 2018, more states have adopted policies permitting candidates to use campaign funds for child care, with 33 states now allowing it. Hawaii is the most recent, according to Vote Mama, a foundation that tracks the usage. Its political action committee arm supports left-leaning candidates.

CEO and founder of Vote Mama Liuba Grechen Shirley said legislation garners bipartisan support and she sees all 50 states approving the usage in the next five years.
Exact guidelines vary from state to state but most define qualified usage to cover expenses that are the direct result of campaign activities. Candidates use funds to pay for babysitters, daycare and preschool.

“This is how we get working people into office,” Grechen Shirley said.

But from 2018 to 2022, only 87 candidates used the funds in state and local races, Vote Mama found. The group does not have data yet for the current election cycle.

Grechen Shirley noted use grew each year. In 2018, about $10,000 of campaign funds were reportedly spent on child care, a number that grew to $225,567 in 2022. More women than men use the funds.

Only about 5% of state lawmakers are mothers to children under 18, according to the group.

Candidates of color spent 70% of the total funds reported in the four-year period. Democratic candidates have overwhelmingly spent the most, with Republicans spending just 11% of the total reported, Vote Mama found.

Some attribute limited usage to a lack of education on the topic. The more candidates use it, the more normalized it becomes, said Grechen Shirley, who originally asked the FEC for permission as a congressional candidate.

In West Virginia, Secretary of State spokesperson Mike Queen said his office isn’t aware of anybody taking advantage of a law allowing the usage since it passed in 2021. Queen said staff have made a concerted effort to educate candidates, county clerks and organizations like rotary clubs about the policy.

“This is just one way to reach out to men and women with children to say, ‘Hey listen, your input is important,’” he said.

The law’s lead sponsor, Democratic lawmaker Kayla Young, said the aging state needs the voices of parents when making policies, “particularly moms who in our society bear most of the child care load.”

Grechen Shirely said campaign managers have at times advised women not to use campaign funds for child care to avoid political attacks, similar to how candidates who take a salary from their campaigns might be criticized.

“Women were always told not to talk about their motherhood and that’s not just in politics but, frankly, in every field,” she said.

In years past, Texas legislators have made it a point to use campaign funds on child care to destigmatize it, “but none of us felt comfortable just digging all the way in,” said Democratic state Rep. Erin Zwiener. Uncertainty about the guidelines and fear of being reprimanded are why she thinks some parents just avoid the hassle.

Zwiener ran for office in 2018 while pregnant with her now 6-year-old daughter. She’s not using funds this year because her daughter is older and in school, but she used campaign funds for babysitting during the 2020 election cycle.

Candidates who do use campaign funds to pay for child care expenses, though relatively small in number, say it’s extraordinarily helpful to cover costs that easily pile up over time.
Rep. Cara Pavalock-D’Amato, a five-term Republican in the Connecticut House of Representatives, said it was relatively easy campaigning with her infant son in 2018. But during the 2022 election, he was 4.

“Now that he’s gotten older and they want to go outside and do all that stuff, it does become definitely harder,” she said.

Pavalock-D’Amato said she probably won’t use the funds this year because she’s running unopposed. But during 2022, she relied on campaign funds to cover child care on weekends when she was door-to-door campaigning, spending about $500 to $1,000. She supported authorizing the use when it passed in 2021.

“I know there’s some people who voted against it, and I said, ‘You guys must not have kids,’” she said.

Pushback and progress have taken many forms. In Connecticut, Caitlin Clarkson Pereira ran for state representative in 2018 when her daughter was 3, but her request to use campaign funds for child care was denied by an all-male commission that argued it was a personal expense. Pereira appealed the decision and later won in 2020, though she did not win her election.

Georgia Democratic Sen. Nabilah Islam gave birth in July, four weeks early, and is considering using campaign funds to care for the newborn starting around October as she runs for reelection in suburban Atlanta. Islam said the state should have implemented the policy passed last year “decades ago.”

Challenges for mothers seeking public office don’t stop once elected. Legislating often requires commutes across big states and working obscure hours. Few make full-time salaries.

Michigan Sen. Mallory McMorrow was the second woman to give birth while serving in the Senate. The state doesn’t allow the use of campaign funds for child care and the Senate does not have a parental leave policy, but McMorrow decided to take a leave after giving birth to her daughter shortly after the start of the legislative session.

“It was a calculated political risk,” McMorrow, a Democrat, said.

McMorrow navigated breastfeeding and postpartum depression while attending session. McMorrow said she would support using campaign funds while in office to pay for child care, which could be tracked along with other financial records kept by public officials. Twelve states have authorized such use, according to Vote Mama.

“It’s not like your child goes away when you get elected,” McMorrow said.

Associated Press writers Charlotte Kramon in Atlanta, Susan Haigh in Hartford, Connecticut, Leah Willingham Charleston, West Virginia, and Nadia Lathan in Austin contributed to this report.

The Associated Press’ women in the workforce and state government coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.