FC Samtredia

Established in 1936, Samtredia spent years in the Georgian championship before the club obtained the right to participate in the Soviet Second League, the third tier of the Soviet football system. Several times Lokomotivi Samtredia finished their season as runners-up, twice won the league, although eventually failed to win the knock-out stages of the competition against winners of other two zones.[1]

Below are all-time results during these 17 consecutive seasons in the Second league.

Following the 1989 season the Samtredian team as well as all other Georgian clubs withdrew from their relevant Soviet leagues after Georgian Football Federation broke ties with the Soviet Football Federation and formed an independent championship.

Sanavardo Samtredia became member of a new national Umaglesi liga. While twice, in 1993/94 and 1995/96, they finished in the 4th place, in 1994/1995 the club ended the season with the silver, which implied qualification for the preliminary round of UEFA Cup. But the debut in European football competitions turned out unsuccessful.[2] Soon they fell from the top flight followed by relegation from Pirveli Liga as well.

In 2014/15 Samtredia reached the final of David Kipiani Cup. In previous rounds they had knocked out four opponents, including contenders for the title Dinamo Batumi, Torpedo Kutaisi and Chikhura, but resistance offered to Dinamo Tbilisi proved insufficient.[3]

The most fruitful period for Samtredia was in mid-2010s, when they finished among top three teams of Umaglesi liga for three seasons in a row. Moreover, in 2016, under head coach Giorgi Tsetsadze they became champions for the first time in their history after victory over Chikhura Sachkhere in the championship playoffs.[4] Samtredia completed the season with the double after they beat Georgian Cup holders Torpedo Kutaisi in the Super Cup game.[5]

In 2019, the club took part in Liga 2, although returned to the top division after one season. Manager Kakhaber Kacharava, who guided Samtredia back to the top flight, had to quit the club in September 2020 after just one point earned in last five league games and a shock Cup defeat from Liga 3 minnows Tbilisi City.[6]

New head coach Giorgi Mikadze steered Samtredia away from the relegation zone, but in February 2021 he was replaced by Giorgi Tsetsadze, who had once brought the club to their only champion's title.[7] His second tenure lasted eight months, though. The team lost a survival struggle and finished at the bottom of the table.[8]

As in the previous case three years earlier, it took Samtredia a year to move back to the top flight. Under Giorgi Shashiashvili the team beat their rivals for a playoff spot and qualified for decisive matches for the third time in the last five years. Another victory over Sioni completed their successful league campaign in 2022.[9]