Giorgi Popchadze

Giorgi Popchadze
Personnel
birthday	September 25, 1986
place of birth	Tbilisi ,  Georgian SSR
size	183 cm
position	Defender
Juniors
Years	station
	Dinamo Tbilisi
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
2003-2005	Olimpi Tbilisi	9 (0)
2004-2006	Dinamo Tbilisi	28 (2)
2006	→  Olympiacos Piraeus  (loan)	0 (0)
2006-2010	Viborg FF	74 (0)
2011	FC Sestaponi	6 (0)
2011–2012	SK Sturm Graz	20 (0)
2012-2013	FK Baku	19 (0)
2013-2014	Jagiellonia Białystok	26 (0)
2013	Jagiellonia Białystok II	4 (0)
2014	Sioni Bolnissi	6 (1)
2015	Jagiellonia Białystok	6 (0)
2015	Jagiellonia Białystok II	2 (0)
2015	KS Flamurtari Vlora	10 (0)
2016	Locomotive Tbilisi	21 (1)
2017	FC Dila Gori	16 (1)
2018	Kyzylshar Petropavl	28 (0)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
2006-2008	Georgia U-21	15 (0)
2006-2015	Georgia	12 (0)
1 Only league games are given. Status: end of career

Giorgi Popchadze ( Georgian გიორგი ფოფხაძე ; English transcription: George Popkhadze ; born September 25, 1986 in Tbilisi , Georgian SSR ) is a former Georgian football player in the position of a defender , who was mostly used as a left-back.

Club career

Career start at home

Popchadze, who was born in the capital of what was then the Georgian SSR, began his active career with his home club, the big club Dinamo Tbilisi, where he went through all youth divisions. Over the years, the versatile defender made his debut as a youth for the second combat team of the capital club, called Olimpi Tbilisi . After he played four league games for the second team in his debut season and just missed the promotion play-off with the team, he made his first appearances in the professional team in the following season as a 17- or 18-year-old. The defensive player made 16 first division appearances by the end of the season and reached the first place in the top division of the country with the Georgian record champions (since independence in 1991) five points ahead of next-placed pursuer Torpedo Kutaisi . After the championship title, the capital club also secured victory in the Super Cup with a 1-0 win over local rivals and cup winners Lok Tbilisi . In parallel, Popchadze was also used in five championship games of the second combat team in 2004/05 and achieved a sixth place with the team in the Georgian second division. After only twelve appearances for the pros in the 2005/06 season , during which he scored two goals and thus for the first time as a goal scorer in professional football, the newly crowned Georgian U-21 and senior international made a move abroad. During the summer break before the 2006/07 season, he moved to Denmark for Viborg FF , playing there in the first class , with whom he was involved in the relegation battle in his first season.

Tried to become a regular player in Denmark

The Georgian made his debut for the Danes on November 12, 2006 in the 3-1 away defeat against FC Midtjylland , who was loaned to Olympiacos Piraeus in Greece that same year but never played in the professional field . In this encounter he was used shortly before the end of the game for the long-time Viborg player and veteran Thomas Tengstedt . After he was already in the starting line-up in his second league appearance the following March, but was replaced after about an hour by the trained midfielder Lasse Kryger , he was mostly used as a regular player and mostly played for the full length of the game. With the team he came in ninth place in the table after the team was involved in the relegation battle for a long time. In the following seasons Popchadze sat on to establish himself as a regular player in the defense line of Viborg. He only succeeded to a limited extent, however, as he increased a few more stakes from year to year. Already in the 2007/08 season , the Viborg FF could no longer hold in the highest Danish football league and rose with 20 points from 33 games as penultimate together with the Lyngby BK in the second-class Danish 1st division . The young Georgian has already made 14 league appearances this season, in which he was mostly used for the full duration of the game, but was still far from a permanent establishment as a regular player. He succeeded on April 27, 2008 in the 3-5 away defeat against FC Nordsjælland one assist; the only scorer points in the entire season. Although these relatively few missions, Popchadze was voted "Player of the Year" by the fans of Viborg FF in the course of 2008, which they attributed above all to his supposedly outstanding performance, his fighting posture and aggressiveness, the high willingness to run and the huge fighter heart. The Georgian team player was described by his club as a modern defender who can be deployed on both sides of the defense, but mainly plays on the left, but also seeks the way into the opposing penalty area to help out his comrades.

After relegation to the second highest division in the country, the Georgian defensive player could not really prevail again in the professional squad and made 16 of 30 possible league appearances, where he again remained goalless. In the 1st division, the team was able to establish itself in the top half of the table in the 2008/09 season , but was still a long way from a return to the Danish first class and ultimately brought it to a sovereign fourth place. In January 2009, the player extended his contract with the Danish club for another two and a half years until the summer of 2011. After remaining in the 1st division, Popchadze was able to increase his numbers, but no longer really maintain the team performance from the previous season, which is why they slipped to seventh place in the table at the end of the 2009/10 season . In 21 championship appearances, the former captain of the Georgian U-21 national team had a total of four assists. He showed a good performance in the 2-2 home draw against FC Kolding on October 25, 2009 , when he contributed to the 1-0 lead by Razak Pimpong in the first minute of the game and another assist in the eighth minute made a 2-1 lead for Jakob Glerups . In the Danish Football Cup , Popchadse was also successful as a goalscorer for the club for the first time this season. In addition, the Georgian was used together with his teammate and defensive partner Alexander Juel Andersen in May 2010 in training with the club's U-9 boys' team. In the 2010/11 season , the 1.83 m tall left-back played a total of twelve league games by November 2010 and was finally well on the way to asserting himself as a regular in the club's defensive row. Nevertheless, he decided in the course of the season to terminate his contract with the club, which ran until the summer of 2011, by mutual agreement and instead return to his Georgian homeland for personal or family reasons. By this time, the Georgian had played 92 games for Viborg FF and was active 74 times in one of the two highest Danish leagues. Since the player wanted to return to his home country mainly because of his wife and daughter, the Danish club tried hard to dissolve the contract for the good will of all, after which Popchadze was considered to be without a club from November 2011.

After trial training in Germany and a brief appearance in Georgia to Austria

Only a few weeks later, the German second division club VfL Osnabrück announced the Georgian team player as a new test candidate for a test training lasting several days, during which he was unable to convince Osnabrück coach Karsten Baumann , who sent the young player back to his home country. While Popchadze was already looking for a new employer, his Danish ex-club had problems finding a suitable left-back, as this position remained almost unoccupied after the Georgian's departure and was only covered for a short time by the OB loan from Timmi Johansen . Back home, the defender finally signed a contract in February 2011 with the club FC Sestaponi , which was only founded in 2004 and with whom he won the Umaghlessi League championship that same season. Up to this point, the left-back had made six league appearances, four of them over the full game, and one assist. As a result, the club was automatically eligible for the second qualifying round for the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League . The reigning Austrian champions SK Sturm Graz were also entitled to participate in this round . The Georgian finally moved to this club, who had to fill a large gap after the departure of defense chief Gordon Schildenfeld along with other newcomers such as Milan Dudić and the tried and tested defensive players from the championship team. After the Georgian was the only one of the left-backs tested to make a positive impression, the 24-year-old was chosen at the beginning of July 2011 and a contract with a term of one year and an option for a further two years was presented to him. With the Grazern Popchadse finally made his competitive game debut on July 20, 2011, when he was used for half time in the already mentioned second CL qualifying round against Videoton FC and was able to convince immediately. Only a few days later, the player was used for the first time in the Bundesliga, when he played from the start on July 23, 2011 in the 2-2 home draw against SV Mattersburg , which was mainly influenced by the referee Markus Hameter , after 38 minutes of the yellow card and was sent off as the first player with yellow-red in the 69th minute of the game . With the team, the Georgian team player made it into the play-off phase of the CL qualification, after having cleared Popchadse's ex-club Sestafoni in the third round. In the fourth qualifying round, the Austrians were eliminated from the current tournament after a 1-1 draw in the first leg in Belarus and a subsequent 2-0 defeat in front of their own audience against BATE Baryssau and instead took part in the Europa League group stage . Popchadse was used in a total of five CL qualifying games of his team and came to a total of twenty appearances in the top division of Austria. In summer 2012 he moved to FK Baku in Azerbaijan .

National team career

Presumably already used in numerous different Georgian youth selections, Popchadze was first used in 2006 for the U-21 national team of his home country . There he developed into a strong and often used defender who made 12 or 15 international appearances by 2008 and also led the team as captain for some time . Also in 2006, he made his debut in the senior national team of Georgia when he made his debut in a 2-0 win over Malta in early March and made another international appearance in the same year. After a few years without commitment, Popchadze acted as a regular member of the national team, especially in 2009, where he made a total of five missions and participated with the team in the qualification for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa .

successes

with Dinamo Tifis

• 1 × Umaghlessi League Champion : 2004/05
• 1 × Winner of the Georgian Football Supercup : 2005

with FC Sestaponi

• 1 × Umaghlessi League champions : 2010/11

Web links

• Giorgi Popchadze in the 90minut.pl database (Polish)
• Giorgi Popchadse's old player profile on the official website of Viborg FF (Danish)
• Giorgi Popchadse on the official website of Danmarks Radio (Danish)
• Giorgi Popchadse on londonhearts.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Popkhadze årets spiller  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Danish), accessed August 25, 2011  
2. ↑ Årets fighter forlænger  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Danish), accessed August 25, 2011  
3. ↑ Arranger ( Memento of the original from August 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Danish), accessed August 25, 2011  
4. ↑ Viborg FF og George Popkhadze stopper samarbejdet (Danish), accessed 25 August 2011
5. ↑ Siden afgangen af ​​George Popkhadze har Viborg FF manglet en venstre back. The hul bliver nu hatch via tilgangen af ​​23'år Timmi Johansen, which Viborg FF lejer i OB for resten af ​​foråret. (Danish), accessed August 25, 2011
6. ↑ ქართველი მცველი “შტურმში” - ფოფხაძემ გააფორმა (Georgian), accessed August 25, 2011