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Georgia’s two-goal victory over Portugal on Wednesday wrapped up their European Championship group stage and became the country’s best story. The team, 68 places below Georgia in FIFA’s world rankings, recorded their first major tournament victory and booked their place in the knockout stages.
“It’s the best day of my life,” Georgia’s star player, Khvica Kvaratskheria, who scored the game’s opening goal, said after the victory. In 2023, the 23-year-old helped Napoli win the Italian league for the first time in 33 years, but to Georgians, the history and significance of this national team achievement is unmatched.
The victory gave added significance to the team’s achievement amid political instability and growing divisions in the country, with Georgia at a crossroads over democratic values, political freedoms and its geopolitical identity.
The symbolism of playing on the European sporting stage has become intertwined with the country’s ambitions to join the European Union amid growing concerns about Russian influence. Those suspicions reached a peak this year when the country’s ruling party, Georgian Dream, introduced a “foreign influence” law that drew criticism for mimicking repressive Russian laws.
The law ensures that all media and non-governmental organizations that get more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad must register as “organizations operating in the interest of foreign countries” and submit to rigorous audits or face fines. Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili described the law, which he tried to veto but was overturned by parliament, as a “Russian destabilization strategy.” The United States has said it will impose travel restrictions on those who “undermine democracy” in Georgia.
Georgian Dream positions itself as a pro-EU party, but the EU said it “deeply regrets” the Georgian government’s decision to introduce the new law.
Tbilisi celebrating Georgia’s win over Portugal (David Kachkachishvili/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied any Russian involvement in the bill, saying it was “normal practice” for governments that “want to protect themselves from outside influence.” He added that opposition to the bill “incites anti-Russian sentiment” and “probably comes from outside Georgia.”
In recent months, thousands of people have protested outside Georgia’s parliament in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, many of them waving Georgian and EU flags.
All of this has led to criticism over bonus payments promised to the team by the country’s former chancellor, concerns about how the players’ success is being exploited and questions about whether political loyalties are driving Euro 2024 team selection amid jubilant celebrations in Germany and at home.
This last point infuriated Georgia’s French coach Willy Sagnol: “Every day I am insulted by someone for no reason whatsoever related to football. I can’t take it anymore,” he said, denying the allegations.
“Football success has strengthened Georgia’s social assertiveness,” Giorgi Biranishvili, a Georgian politics and security analyst at the UGSPN Center for Security, Policy and Nationalism Studies, said of its aspirations to join the EU.
Georgia, a former Soviet republic that gained independence in 1991, shares a 894-kilometer (554-mile) border with Russia. The two countries fought a 16-day war in the summer of 2008 that left 350 people dead and forced Georgia to cede territory. Like other opposition parties, Georgian Dream describes itself as pro-Western, but critics accuse it of being authoritarian and supporting Russia.
Georgia publicly condemned Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine but did not join in sanctions against the country. Georgia, however, did not recognize a proposal by the South Ossetia region to hold a referendum on whether to secede from Georgia and join the Russian Federation. On June 22, the EU postponed Georgia’s application for EU membership, citing the Georgian government’s refusal to accept sanctions against Russia and allegations of media censorship in the country. The EU said Georgia must introduce necessary reforms before joining.
Following Wednesday’s victory over Portugal, Georgia’s former prime minister, Bidzina Ivanishvili, pledged to donate 30 million Georgian lari (£8.4 million) to the team’s achievements. The 68-year-old prime minister, whose fortunes are estimated at $7.2 billion (£5.7 billion) according to Bloomberg, has also pledged to pay a further £8.4 million if Georgia beat Spain in the last 16.
Ivanishvili founded Georgian Dream in 2011 and was elected prime minister in October 2012, serving for 13 months. He is honorary chairman of the party he founded, which has governed Georgia for 12 years.
“He’s basically like the unofficial leader of the party, and the whole country knows it,” said Alexander Gabrichidze, a football commentator for Setanta Sports Georgia. “In Georgia, these kinds of announcements are normal. Before the Olympics, they announce that medal winners will receive cash bonuses. It’s the same in football. Politicians here always use sporting success to win more voters.”
A protest against the “foreign influence” law in front of the parliament building in central Tbilisi on May 28. (GIORGI ARJEVANIDZE/AFP via Getty Images)
While it’s common in many countries for politicians to become obsessed with sporting success, Georgian Dream is “politicizing football to distract attention from their controversial policies,” said Anna Gvarishvili, a contributing analyst who monitors civil liberties for Tabula, a newspaper that describes itself as “the leading media outlet defending Georgia’s liberal democratic institutions and principles.”
Georgia is facing elections in October amid tensions across the country amid ongoing protests over a “foreign agents” law and police violence, which security analyst Biranishvili has described as “Georgia’s most important elections since independence.”
Thomas de Waal, author of “Introduction to the Caucasus,” says most Georgian opinion polls show that two-thirds of voters have no trust in any political party.
“The ruling party is in a difficult position and wants to win the support of the players,” he added.. “By funding the team, Ivanishvili wants to share in their glory.”
Georgia has a rich football history. Dinamo Tbilisi was one of only three clubs never relegated from the Soviet top division. They were twice Soviet champions and enjoyed success in Europe. Tbilisi beat Liverpool in the 1979-80 European Cup and won the European Cup Winners’ Cup the following season, a competition that is now defunct. During the Soviet era, Dinamo Tbilisi became a symbol of Georgian regionalism and identity.
Their style of play mixed the work rate and coordinated passing common to the Soviet republics with individualism and flair exemplified by future Georgian stars Temur Ketsbaia and Georgi Kinkladze and modern-day icon Kvaratskheria. “Georgia has developed a group of national heroes who are much more popular than any politician,” de Waal explains. Gabrychetze agrees. “These players have more influence than any politician.”
In April, several players on Georgia’s Euro 2024 squad appeared to launch a concerted, tacit criticism of the Georgian Dream. In a political context in a country deeply divided between a younger generation of Georgians with stronger ties to the West and an older generation raised in the Soviet Union with pro-Russian sympathies, the words and opinions of soccer stars carry weight.
Levante midfielder Giorgi Kocholashvili was the first to address the protests on his social media. On April 9, he posted a photo of his niece holding the EU flag, which has become a symbol of protests against the law. The photo went viral and Kocholashvili’s Instagram photo was deleted. Meanwhile, Kocholashvili’s father posted the same photo of the player’s niece on his Facebook profile.
Khakha Kaladze is one of Georgia’s best-known former footballers, having spent almost a decade with Milan, and is now mayor of Tbilisi and secretary-general of Georgian Dream. “The next day, Kaladze falsely claimed that Kocholashvili’s father was a supporter of the previous regime,” Gvarishvili said.
Kocholashvili posted a photo related to the protests (Pablo Molano/BSR Agency/Getty Images)
Georgia captain Java Kankava, who made 101 appearances for the country before announcing his retirement in January 2022, posted a photo to his social media accounts protesting the law with the caption “Fuck Russia.” At the same time, star winger Kvaratskheria and Valencia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili both posted, “The Georgian road to Europe. The European road unites us!! Onwards to Europe!! Peace to Georgia.”
Gabrychidze, the football commentator, believes it’s inevitable that there will be disagreements within the team, but the footage of riot police using tear gas and water cannons on civilians in April has been a unifying issue. “Many players did not mention the law, but they were on record as speaking out against police attacks,” he said.
Furthering the political crossover, the president of the Georgian Football Federation is former player Levan Kobiashvili, who is also a Georgian Dream member of parliament, and who attended the victory over Portugal along with Kaladze and Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze.
Speaking at a press conference during the tournament, head coach Sagnol was asked if Zivzivadze’s limited playing time was due to his political stance and internal pressure not to select him for the national team.
An exasperated Sagnol said: “I am a football coach and nothing else. That is clear to everyone. Who plays and who doesn’t is entirely my decision. That’s it.”
Tbilisi Mayor Kaladze, Georgian Prime Minister Kobakhidze, Football Federation President Kobiashvili and Georgian President Zourabishvili congratulate the team on the victory against Portugal (Andreas Lenz – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
Defender Luka Rokhoshvili said Friday that Ivanishvili’s donation was a “nice gesture,” but that “we don’t play for money, we play for our country.”
Meanwhile, Otar Kiteishvili said the jubilant scenes in Georgia were “emotional” and created memories “we will never forget”, when asked if his team’s victory was a welcome distraction from the protests.
At the end of the tournament, regardless of the outcome of the match against Spain, all 26 players will receive a Medal of Honor from Georgian President Zurabishvili.
The streets of Tbilisi have been filled with tension and anxiety in recent months, but celebrations of the victory over Portugal continued long into Wednesday night.
The sheer force of footballing success and identity erupted in uncontained jubilation. Georgians will be dreaming of a repeat of it against Spain on Sunday night.
“The whole country has rallied around this team like never before,” Gabrychidze said.
Who knows what will happen when that’s over.
(Top image: Visionhaus/Getty Images)
