Georgia 1997-99 Home, matchworn v Greece
Georgia 2004-05 Home, matchworn v Kazakhstan
Georgia 2010-11 Home, matchworn/issue v Rep. of Ireland U21, Murtaz Daushvili
Georgia 2010-11 GK, match prepared for Giorgi Makaridze
Georgia 2012-13 Home, matchworn/issue v Rep. of Ireland, Irakli Dzaria(?)
At first glance there isn’t a lot to this shirt. The three stripes circle the collar and stretch across the lengths of the shoulders but otherwise it is just maroon, right? Not so! The material is striped throughout and tiled with the FA logo, front and rear. Add to that, it is the old Georgia FA logo, the giant one in blue and gold. It all adds together to make for a nice shirt. How many FA logos count as a showcase of national identity?
The shirt was used across the end of the 1998 World Cup qualifiers where Georgia missed out on 3rd place against Poland in their 5 team group by goals scored but was used across Euro 2000 qualifiers from start to finish. Drawn in a group with Norway, Slovenia, Greece, Latvia and Albania they finished bottom. 5 of their 10 matches were single goal defeats, with their only points coming at home. They drew against Slovenia and Latvia, beating Albania, but 5 points left them 2 points behind Albania though they did have more points than any other last placed team.
There’s white under the armpits and in a ring around the collar. Otherwise it is all red. The FA logo fits into the colour of the shirt well, blending nicely with the body of the shirt. And yet there’s not a lot going on, particularly compared with some of their other shirts. Felt numbers help somewhat and the old Puma logo adds a little, but there’s not a lot here.
Used primarily across 2006 World Cup qualifiers, it was swapped out before they finished. They struggled in the large, 7-team groups, finishing 6th but competing for 5th. They drew at home to Ukraine, Denmark and Kazkahstan as well as away to Turkey. This, along with some close away matches help commit them to the lower tiers of the groups. They beat Kazakhstan away and Albania at home at least, with only Greece beating them home and away. 10 points left them 3 behind Albania, but 9 ahead of Kazakhstan.
Moving on, we have a Jako design that doesn’t seem to quite live up to what it should. Very white, with only a little red accenting in strange places, it has the right colours but not enough of them. There are some nice curving patterns on the shirt, but the accenting is only on the outer edge of them, not really highlighting. Also the front number is lower than the logo which is lower than the Jako logo and looks a bit messy. However, the typeface is very nice and the Georgian logo is spectacular. Incredible embroidery on a very small and detailed logo, definitely the highlight of the shirt.
The GK shirt for the same year is similarly plain. Even less detail to it, black with a little grey, and a transfer badge. Definitely less care was applied to it, with the GK shirts shifting around a little between several different designs. Felt numbers adds a little additional robustness but without numbers and patches there would be nothing to this shirt.
Used across 2012 Euro qualifying, Georgia displayed their characteristic defensiveness, conceding 9 goals in 10 games but only scoring 7. They finished 5th from 6 teams, with both of their wins at home, against Malta and, surprisingly, Croatia. An astonishing 4 draws came through, 1 at home to Israel and away draws against Greece, Latvia and Malta. Lastly, they never lost or won by more than a single goal and were just a point behind Latvia.
Now here’s a proper offering from Jako! We continue with Jako’s asymmetry, with a black stripe down one side being white on the other. Away from the asymmetry, the aeration strips and subtle colouring makes for a great looking shirt. This is repeated front and back for additional effect and works really well. The incredibly detailed logo is a little larger, so it is very clear, and the numbers will last forever, being felt.
Drawn in the only 5 team group in Europe for the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, Georgia were always going to struggle. Despite playing Spain, France, Finland and Belarus, they never lost by more than 2 goals, only conceding twice at home to allow for a 0-0 draw with France and a 1-0 victory over Belarus (lost the other two 1-0). Three 2 goal losses away from home brought a single goal in a 3-1 loss to France but a 1-1 draw with Finland salvaged their form slightly. Points put them 1 ahead of Belarus but 4 short of even Finland in 3rd and a long way of the play-off spot.
The pattern from these results continues across their international history. They regularly grab a few wins and draws but tend to finish in the penultimate position. Strangely, World Cup qualification has tended to go worse than Euros qualification. Having only twice finished above the bottom two positions (1996 and 2002), they are generally regarded as a stumbling block, a stout, defensive team that it is easy to drop points to. Being relegated to kingmakers seems to suit them, though, with a few big results across their history that fans of some teams might like to forget… In the Nations League’s first two seasons they dominated their initial League D group, only dropping points away in Andorra, but struggled to convert draws to wins in League C, finishing 3rd with 4 draws from 6 games.
Women’s football is not as popular in Georgia, with their national side appearing for 2 games of 1999 World Cup qualification before withdrawing. Next seen in 2009, they’ve almost exclusively been relegated to the preliminary round, qualifying for the main group stage once (though they’ve played in 4). From when they’ve not played in a preliminary stage they have only a single draw (1-1 at home to Bulgaria) to show for it. Progress to be made there. Men’s youth football has seen some success, though a couple of their qualifications have been through hosting rights. The U21 have several 3rd places to their name in qualification and will host the 2023 tournament while the U19s and U17s each have 3 tournament appearances, 3 of which were in the 2010s. While the U19s never escaped the group, the U17s did so twice, though then immediately fell. Women’s youth football has been in the opposite direction, with results being worse than the senior team’s. 2019 saw the U17s narrowly qualify for the Elite round with a surprise draw against Sweden but otherwise they have almost always lost.
The Georgians are reasonable at futsal, regularly qualifying from the preliminary round, but struggling a little in the main/elite rounds. They’ve come within a play-off of the Euros but never actually qualified for a major tournament. Wins to losses remain about 50-50, though they’ve never tried the women’s game. The U19s lost all 3 games in the only qualification attempt to date. Not as active in beach soccer, Georgia tried to qualify for the 2008 and 2017 World Cups without success. They debuted in the 2018 Euro Beach Soccer League, winning their first beach soccer games along with the Division B stage 1 title before returning to type for the promotion rounds.
For Qatar 2022 they were drawn in a tricky group with Spain, Sweden, Greece and Kosovo. Expected to fight for 4th place in the group, possibly acting as kingmakers for the play-off spot, they delivered on that. They traded wins with Kosovo, drew away in Greece and actually beat Sweden. They were also within minutes of beating Spain, shocking everyone. They finished 4th, with only 2 more points than Kosovo and 3 fewer than Greece.
Adam's National Shirt Collection 