Historic day - Georgia plays its first match at the European Championship

JAMnews

Tbilisi

Georgia at Euro 2024

Today at 20:00 Tbilisi time, the Georgian national team will face the Turkish national team in Dortmund.

This is the first match of Group F in Euro 2024 and Georgia’s first match in the history of the European Championship.

Georgian National team

According to the managing agency Transfermarkt, the current value of the Georgian national team exceeds 161 million euros.

The list of the top 5 most expensive players is as follows:

Georgian National team:

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia – 80 million euros in Napoli
Giorgi Mamardashvili – 35 million euros in Valencia
Giorgi Chakvetadze – 15 million euros in Mechelen
Otar Kiteishvili – 5 million euros in Sturm Graz
Saba Lobzhanidze – 3 million euros in Atlanta Unite

For the first time in history, the Georgian national team has reached the final of an international tournament. In the decisive match held in Tbilisi on March 26, the Georgians defeated the Greek national team in a penalty shootout.

Before the match against Turkey, the national team had their final training session in Felbert. Photo: National team's Facebook page. — *Before the match against Turkey, the national team had their final training session in Felbert. Photo: National team’s Facebook page.*

One of the architects of this historic success is the former football coach of Bayern Munich and the French national team, Willy Sagnol. The main star and hope of the Georgian national team is Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, a forward for Napoli, recognized as one of the best young players in Europe. Napoli fans, where Diego Maradona played in the late 1980s, even nicknamed him “Khvicha Kvaradona.” In the 2023/24 season, he became Napoli’s second top scorer, scoring 11 goals.

The sad news is that Otar Kiteishvili, an important figure in the center of the Georgian national team, will miss the match against Turkey due to injury.

Our opponent is Turkey

Georgia’s opponent, neighboring Turkey, has significant experience in major tournaments. Turkey has been a regular participant in the European Championship since 1996. Their best result came in 2008 when they reached the semi-finals and lost to Germany 2-3. In 2002, the Turkish national team even became the runner-up at the World Cup.

In the last European Championship in 2021 (2020), the Turkish national team finished with three losses.

The central figure of the team is 30-year-old midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu from Inter Milan. Another Turkish midfielder, Salih Ozcan, plays for Borussia Dortmund, the city where the Georgia-Turkey match is being held. After an outstanding season in the Netherlands, midfielder Orkun Kokcu plays for Benfica. The main hope for the Turks is 19-year-old midfielder Arda Guler from Real Madrid.

According to the managing agency Transfermarkt, Turkey’s current value exceeds 324 million euros. The list of the top 5 most expensive players looks like this:

Turkey’s national team:

Hakan Calhanoglu – 45 million euros, Inter Milan
Kenan Yildiz – 30 million euros, Juventus
Arda Guler – 30 million euros, Real Madrid
Orkun Kokcu – 27 million euros, Benfica
Ferdi Kadioglu – 21 million euros

Our team has a negative balance in matches against neighbors: 1 win, 1 draw, 2 losses.

It is quite likely that there will be an excess of Turkish fans at Signal Iduna Park, especially since the Turkish diaspora is strong in Germany, particularly in Dortmund.

However, dozens of Georgian fans have come to Germany to support the Crusaders. Immigrants living in Europe are also active. UEFA allocated 10,000 tickets to Georgia, priced between 30 and 400 euros, and all tickets were sold within 3 hours of being posted on the website.

In addition to regular and additional flights, there are special flights for games in Germany. The costs of these flights are covered by the Georgian government from the budget.

As BMG writes, 17 charter flights from Tbilisi and Kutaisi to Dortmund, Hamburg, Cologne, and Düsseldorf have been arranged for the championship. 5220 tickets have been sold for these flights.

Subsidized charter flights for Euro 2024 are operated by Eurowings, Wizz Air, Hi Sky, and Georgia Wings. All subsidized flights are adapted to the schedule of Georgia’s national team matches. The cost of a subsidized one-way ticket is 195 euros. Accordingly, the cost of a round-trip ticket is 390 euros.

Apart from Germany, there is outdoor support for the national team in several venues in Tbilisi and other cities in Georgia.

Georgia’s European adventure will continue on June 22 – Saturday against the Czech Republic and on June 26 – against Portugal.

Political context

Georgia participates in a historic tournament against the backdrop of a major political crisis and massive protests against the “foreign agents” law.

Despite contradictions and polarization, when it comes to football, Georgian fans can demonstrate significant national unity, as was evident on March 26 when everyone celebrated the historic victory together.