FC Dila Gori

Founded in 1949, the club was named after poem "Dila" (literally - morning) written by Joseph Stalin, who was born in the city and spent his youth there.[1]

Until 1961 they played under the name Dinamo Gori in Group A of Georgian republican championship. Following the second place in 1965, the next year Dila took part in the Soviet third league and despite an unbeaten run at home finished 11th among 20 clubs in zone 4, Group B.[2]

In 1969 Dila won the competition among the Caucasian teams.[3] The club played several seasons in zone 4 of the Soviet Second League and after 1979 moved to zone 9 where Transcaucasia was represented. In 1967, 1974 and 1986 Dila reached the 3rd place which was their best result in the Soviet third division.

In 1990 Georgia formed an independent league, which included all clubs from the first three Soviet football divisions. Before 2000 Dila were an average team sitting in mid-table, but in the second decade their performance deteriorated. Although most of the seasons Dila participated in the top league, twice they were relegated to Liga 2 and once to Liga 3.

In 2010 the rise started with Dila gaining two consecutive promotions within two years. In 2012 the club clinched their first title after winning the Georgian Cup[4] and during the next five seasons four times represented Georgia in qualifying rounds of UEFA club competitions, including the Champions League. Also, twice in a row Dila participated in Europa League play-offs. During this period they were reinforced by national team members Nukri Revishvili, Giorgi Navalovski, Otar Martsvaladze and Mate Vatsadze.

Dila won their first top-tier medals in 2013. With a single point in the starting four matches the club seemed an unlikely candidate for trophies, but later they produced an eleven-game winning run, beating all league opponents one after another, and ended up in the second place.[5]

The club achieved their biggest success in the 2014/15 season under 25-year-old head coach Ucha Sosiashvili.[6] Dila, whose squad included experienced players Aleksandre Kvakhadze, Irakli Modebadze and Nika Kvekveskiri, entered the title race in an early stage and concluded the season with six points clear from their two immediate rivals.[7] Forward Irakli Modebadze became a league topscorer with 16 goals.

Facing some financial difficulties, FC Dila as a municipal property was sold at a public auction the next year.[8] As a result, Israeli business group Starsportinvest took charge of the club in October 2016.[9]

For three consecutive seasons starting from 2020 Dila emerged victorious from long tight contests over the league bronze medals.

Season	League	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GF	GA	P	Cup	Europe	Notes	Manager
1990	Umaglesi Liga	10	34	12	6	16	52	58	42	Round of 8
1991	Umaglesi Liga	11	19	7	3	9	29	32	24
1991–92	Umaglesi Liga	10	38	14	8	16	64	64	50	Round of 16
1992–93	Umaglesi Liga	13	32	11	5	16	39	49	38	Round of 8
1993–94	Umaglesi Liga	9	18	4	2	12	12	35	14	Round of 8
1994–95	Umaglesi Liga	8	30	10	7	13	25	35	37	Round of 8
1995–96	Umaglesi Liga	8	30	12	4	14	53	55	40	Quarter-finals
1996–97	Umaglesi Liga	8	30	10	7	13	30	39	37
1997–98	Umaglesi Liga	9	30	11	4	15	31	36	37	Semi-finals
1998–99	Umaglesi Liga	10	30	10	5	15	37	54	35	Round of 8
1999–00	Umaglesi Liga	8	14	2	0	12	9	38	6	Quarter-finals
2000–01	Umaglesi Liga	10	10	5	1	4	19	11	16	Quarter-finals		relegation play-off, Relegated
2001–02	Pirveli Liga	2	10	6	1	3	19	13	19	Round of 8		Promoted
2002–03	Umaglesi Liga	7	10	5	3	2	15	8	18	Quarter-finals
2003–04	Umaglesi Liga	6	22	10	4	8	28	20	34	Semi-finals	Inter-Toto Cup
2004–05	Umaglesi Liga	10	36	2	4	30	20	88	10	Round of 8
2005–06	Umaglesi Liga	11	30	9	4	17	35	44	31	Round of 16
2006–07	Umaglesi Liga	13	26	3	6	17	21	56	15	Round of 16
2007–08	Umaglesi Liga	14	26	1	5	20	12	53	8	Quarter-finals		Relegated
2008–09	Pirveli Liga East	5	30	12	9	9	48	31	45	Not Played		Relegated
2009–10	Meore Liga East	1								Not Played		Promoted	Gia Tsetsadze
2010–11	Pirveli Liga	3	32	20	9	3	58	21	69	Round of 16		promotion play-off, Promoted	Gia Tsetsadze
2011–12	Umaglesi Liga	5	28	10	7	11	38	32	37	Winner			Gia Tsetsadze Teimuraz Makharadze
2012–13	Umaglesi Liga	2	32	22	2	8	60	26	48	Quarter-finals	UEFA Europa League Play-off		Temur Shalamberidze Giorgi Daraselia Valdas Ivanauskas
2013–14	Umaglesi Liga	9	32	11	8	13	44	36	41	Semi-finals	UEFA Europa League Play-off		Giorgi Devdariani
2014–15	Umaglesi Liga	1	30	19	7	4	50	21	64	Quarter-finals			Ucha Sosiashvili
2015–16	Umaglesi Liga	3	30	19	5	6	51	25	62	Second Round	UEFA Champions League 2Q		Ucha Sosiashvili
2016	Umaglesi Liga	5	12	5	2	5	13	12	17	Second Round	UEFA Europa League 1Q	relegation play-off, Won	Ucha Sosiashvili
2017	Erovnuli Liga	7	36	11	8	17	41	51	41	Quarter-finals			Ziv Avraham Arie, Giorgi Dekanosidze, Giorgi Daraselia
2018	Erovnuli Liga	5	36	17	12	7	60	40	63	Round of 16			Giorgi Daraselia, Ramaz Sogolashvili
2019	Erovnuli Liga	7	36	11	10	15	40	44	43	Round of 16			Giorgi Dekanosidze, Georgi Nemsadze
2020	Erovnuli Liga	3	18	8	6	4	29	17	30	Quarter-finals			Georgi Nemsadze
2021	Erovnuli Liga	3	36	17	10	9	48	35	61	Round of 16	UEFA UCL 1Q		Andriy Demchenko
2022	Erovnuli Liga	3	36	17	8	11	48	35	59	Quarter-finals	UEFA UCL 1Q		Andriy Demchenko

Dila Gori debuted in UEFA competitions in 2004. Although the club did not obtain an Intertoto Cup slot based on their league position, they replaced a higher placed team, which abstained from the participation. After being held to a goalless draw at home, Marek Dupnitsa beat Dila in the return leg.[10] Later the next decade there were three more cases when the Georgian side achieved relatively better results in away games than back home.

As the Cup winners, the team reached Europe League play-offs in 2012. During this campaign Dila eliminated two opponents, including Anorthosis Famagusta, which was further subjected to UEFA sanctions for crowd disturbances occurred during their home game.[11]

The next year Dila similarly prevailed in two rounds of the competition before their road to the group stage was blocked by Rapid Vienna. The team's performance against Igor Tudor's Hajduk Split was widely hailed this season.

In next cases the club wrapped up their European seasons after the first round.

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2004	UEFA Intertoto Cup	1Q	Marek Dupnitsa	0–2	0–0	0–2
2012–13	UEFA Europa League	2Q	AGF Aarhus	3–1	2–1	5–2
		3Q	Anorthosis Famagusta	0–1	3–0	3–1
		PO	Marítimo	0–2	0–1	0–3
2013–14	UEFA Europa League	2Q	AaB	3–0	0–0	3–0
		3Q	Hajduk Split	1–0	1–0	2–0
		PO	Rapid Wien	0–3	0–1	0–4
2015–16	UEFA Champions League	1Q	Partizan	0–2	0–1	0–3
2016–17	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Shirak	1–0	0–1	1–1[lower-alpha 1]
2021–22	UEFA Europa Conference League	1Q	Žilina	2–1	1–5	3–6
2022–23	UEFA Europa Conference League	1Q	KuPS	0–0	0–2	0–2
2023–24	UEFA Europa Conference League	1Q

Notes

• 1Q: First qualifying round
• 2Q: Second qualifying round
• 3Q: Third qualifying round
• PO: Play-off round