FC Margveti 2006
FC Margveti 2006 is a Georgian association football club from Zestafoni, which competes in Liga 4, the fourth division of Georgian football system.
| Full name | FC Margveti 2006 Zestafoni |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Margvelebi |
| Founded | 2006 |
| Ground | Murtaz and Soso Abashidze stadium, Kharagauli |
| Manager | Tamaz Gabrichidze |
| League | Liga 4 |
| 2021 | 10th in Liga 4 Promotion Group |
History
Clubs of Zestafoni
Since 1990, when independent leagues were formed, the city of Zestafoni has been represented by several clubs in Georgian football divisions.
● FC Margveti spent eight seasons in Umaglesi Liga in 1990s, twice reaching semifinals of the national Cup and once finishing the second, which paved the way for participation in UEFA Cup preliminary round. However, facing a severe financial crisis, the club went bust in 2000.
● Metalurgi, bearing the name of a Soviet-time football club from Zestafoni, re-emerged instead. Being participant of two top flight seasons between 2001 and 2003, they, too, ceased to exist for the same reason.
● FC Zestafoni, founded in 2004, achieved a remarkable success in late 2000s and early 2010s, becoming a dominant force along with Dinamo Tbilisi. The two-times champions and the Cup title holders, however, due to various reasons faded away gradually after 2014. In the 2021 season they gained promotion to Liga 3.
Margveti 2006
Margveti 2006 were formed as a municipal club on the basis of a local football school, where at one point 268 pupils were engaged in football, participating in different regional and republican competitions.[1] As for the professional club, they've taken part in the third division and below only.
In 2015/16 and 2016 seasons Margveti were close to the promotion to Pirveli Liga.[2] Ucha Sosiashvili, famous for his Dila Gori triumph in 2015 as a manager, became head coach in August 2017 for several months.[3]
In contrast with previous seasons, in 2017 the club was involved in the relegation round. Although Margveti seemed favourites in a play-off tie against Samgurali-2, they surprisingly lost the game,[4] which led to the exit of manager Gia Guruli and 13 field players. The team was a member of Regionuli Liga for the next three years before they managed to take the second place in 2020 in Group A West[5] and advance to Liga 4.
Once there, the club successfully competed in the first stage well enough to qualify for Promotion Group, where due to the financial crisis their performance sharply deteriorated.
Seasons
| Year | League | Pos | MP | W | D | L | GF-GA | P | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012/13 | Meore Liga West | 5th of 13 | 24 | 14 | 1 | 9 | 70-37 | 43 | |
| 2013/14 | Meore Liga West | 2nd of 13 | 24 | 15 | 6 | 3 | 52-21 | 51 | |
| 2014/15 | Meore Liga West | 7th of 15 | 28 | 14 | 2 | 12 | 54-46 | 44 | |
| 2015/16 | Meore Liga West | 2nd of 14 | 26 | 22 | 0 | 4 | 80-23 | 66 | |
| 2016 | Meore Liga A Group West | 1st of 7 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 28-5 | 28 | |
| 2017 | Liga 3 Red Group | 7th of 10 | 18 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 21-28 | 21 | |
| Liga 3 Relegation round | 5th of 10 | 18 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 27-17 | 29 | Relegation play-off, lost | |
| 2018 | Regionuli Liga, Group A West | 2nd of 8 | 14 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 45-15 | 34 | |
| 2019 | Regionuli Liga, Group A West | 5th of 10 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 14-21 | 13 | |
| 2020 | Regionuli Liga, Group A West | 2nd of 9 | 16 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 45-31 | 31 | Promoted |
| 2021 | Liga 4, Red Group | 4th of 10 | 18 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 36-33 | 29 | |
| Liga 4, Promotion Group | 10th of 10 | 18 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 18-51 | 9 |
City derby
Relations with FC Zestafoni can hardly be described as easy. In 2015 a media row erupted after Ilia Kokaya, the owner of the latter, slammed Margveti 2006 for cronyism and unfair privileges, and suggested that the local authorities were seeking to deliberately sink FC Zestafoni at the expense of this municipal club. Margveti hit out at him by dismissing all the allegations.[6]
In 2018 and 2019 these two clubs played in the same regional league group. In the first part of season 2018 Margveti won both games (1-0 and 2-0), but up until 2021 lost next seven matches in a row with an 4-35 aggregate goal difference.
Players
As of June 2021
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Stadium
Due to unavailability of a football ground in the city, the club hires a pitch in the neighbouring Kharagauli district. The construction of a municipal stadium, which was repeatedly announced, is yet to commence.
Name
Margveti, also mentioned as Argveti in historic annals, was a duchy between VIII and XI centuries on large swaths of current Imereti region.
References
- "მარგვეთი 2006: მცირე პერიოდში ეს ძალიან სერიოზული პროგრესია". sportall.ge (in Georgian).
- "Meore Liga 2016". soccerway.com.
- "უჩა სოსიაშვილი აქტიურ სამწვრთნელო ასპარეზს დაუბრუნდა". sportall.ge (in Georgian).
- "მარგვეთის გავლით ლიგა 3-ში". samgurali.ge (in Georgian).
- "Regional league 2020". gff.ge.
- "სკ მარგვეთი: რას გვერჩის ილია კოკაია". sportall.ge (in Georgian).