Abkhazia to open museum for footballer Vitaly Daraselia after Georgian TV criticism
Vitaly Daraselia museum
The authorities in Abkhazia plan to open a museum dedicated to Vitaly Daraselia, the celebrated Soviet footballer of Abkhaz origin who played for Dinamo Tbilisi.
The announcement came in response to a report by the Georgian TV channel Imedi, which claimed that an earlier museum to Daraselia in his hometown of Ochamchire [a small town in Abkhazia — JAMnews] had been destroyed. Summing up the report, the channel quoted the late footballer’s mother as allegedly saying that now “all that remains of Vitaly is his grave.”
The Imedi report was received with anger in Abkhazia, especially in Ochamchire itself, where residents almost revere Vitaly Daraselia. A street, a stadium and a memorial plaque bear his name, and an annual football tournament is held in his honour. But there is no museum — and never has been. Local officials say the Georgian channel’s claim that one had been destroyed is fake.
“It is impossible to demolish something that never existed. The house where the Daraselia family once lived is private property, and the owners are free to do with it as they wish. But there has never been a museum in that house. That said, we do plan to open a museum dedicated to our legendary compatriot,” said Temur Pachulia, head of the youth and sports department of the Ochamchire district administration.
According to him, the museum is scheduled to open in January 2027, to mark what would have been the footballer’s 70th birthday.
Vitaly Daraselia (1957–1982) is considered to have been nurtured in Abkhaz football, but at 17 he was invited to join Dinamo Tbilisi, soon becoming one of the club’s leading players.
In 1981, Daraselia scored the winning goal against the German side Carl Zeiss in the final of the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup. It was the peak of his young career. A year later, he died in a car accident at the age of 25.
Despite the unresolved Georgian-Abkhaz conflict, Daraselia remains one of the very few figures embraced equally in both Abkhazia and Georgia, with neither side seeking to “claim” or disown him.
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