FC Iberia 1999
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| Full name | Football Club Iberia 1999 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | Red Eagles | ||
| Founded | 20 August 1999 as Saburtalo | ||
| Ground | Mikheil Meskhi Stadium | ||
| Capacity | 2,130 | ||
| Chairman | Tariel Khechikashvili | ||
| Manager |  Andriy Demchenko | ||
| League | Erovnuli Liga | ||
| 2025 | Erovnuli Liga, 1st of 10 (champions) | ||
| Website | fciberia1999 | ||
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FC Iberia 1999, formerly known as FC Saburtalo, is a Georgian football club,[1] based in the Saburtalo District of Tbilisi, the capital of the country.
Since the introduction of the Erovnuli Liga in 2017, they have been the most decorated Georgian team with seven top titles.
History
Saburtalo was founded on 20 August 1999, in Tbilisi.[2] In 2005, the club was bought by Iberia Business Group and its owner Tariel Khechikashvili, who later became the Minister of Sport & Youth Affairs of Georgia.
Following the 2014–15 season, Saburtalo won their respective Pirveli Liga group with a nineteen-point margin and advanced to the Umaglesi Liga.[3]
In 2018, Saburtalo who had not won any silverware during the previous three seasons in the top-flight, claimed the champion's title for the first time under coach Gia Chiabrishvili.[4]
A year later, they successfully completed their cup campaign after a 3–1 win over Locomotive in the final. In 2020, Saburtalo beat champions Dinamo Tbilisi to lift the Georgian Super Cup.[5]
Next seasons saw the team winning two more cup trophies and two league titles with 2022 being the only year when Saburtalo failed to win any domestic tournament. The team won their second league title under coach Levan Korgalidze in 2024, followed by another triumph a year later.[6]
FC Iberia 1999 were eliminated from the 2026–27 UEFA Champions League qualifying before reaching the Europa League play-off round, thereby securing a place in the Conference League league phase as the first Georgian club to compete in the competition.[7]
Statistics
By season
Season League Pos. Pl. W D L GF GA P Cup Europe Manager as Saburalo 2013–14 Erovnuli Liga 2 8 26 9 5 12 38 34 32 DNP Temur Shalamberidze 2014–15 Erovnuli Liga 2 1↑ 36 28 3 5 92 25 82 First round Giorgi Chiabrishvili 2015–16 Umaglesi Liga 8 30 11 6 13 47 61 39 First round 2016 Umaglesi Liga 3[a] 12 5 4 3 17 12 19 First round Pablo Franco 2017 Erovnuli Liga 4 36 18 6 12 61 42 60 Fourth round Giorgi Chiabrishvili 2018 Erovnuli Liga 1 36 24 7 5 64 29 79 Third round 2019 Erovnuli Liga 3 36 21 7 8 67 36 70 Winners Champions League - 2QR
Europa League - 3QR2020 Erovnuli Liga 5 18 7 6 5 28 21 27 Semi-final Europa League - 1QR Temur Shalamberidze
Levan Korgalidze2021 Erovnuli Liga 4 36 15 8 13 52 40 57 Winners Khvicha Shubitidze 2022 Erovnuli Liga 6 36 13 8 15 51 49 47 Semi-final Conference League - 2QR Lasha Nozadze 2023 Erovnuli Liga 6 36 14 9 13 58 49 51 Winners Omari Tetradze
Giorgi Mikadzeas Iberia 1999 2024 Erovnuli Liga 1 36 23 6 7 74 46 75 Round of 16 Conference League - 3QR Giorgi Mikadze
Levan Korgalidze2025 Erovnuli Liga 1 36 24 8 4 60 24 80 Runners-up Champions League - 1QR Levan Korgalidze
Gia Geguchadze
Guga Nergadze
- ↑ Lost Bronze play-offs to Dinamo Tbilisi
European record
Saburtalo made their debut in a UEFA competition in 2019 after being paired with Moldovan side Sheriff Tiraspol in the UEFA Champions League first qualifying round. They cruised to an away 3–0 victory,[8] although survived an early scare in the return leg after conceding three goals within the opening ten minutes.[9]
The team twice reached the third qualifying round of UEFA competitions before securing their first qualification for the league stage in 2026.[10]
- As of 27 August 2026
| Season | Competition | Round | Club | Home | Away | Agg. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019–20 | UEFA Champions League | 1QR |  Sheriff Tiraspol |
1–3 | 3–0 | 4−3 |
| 2QR |  Dinamo Zagreb |
0−2 | 0−3 | 0−5 | ||
| UEFA Europa League | 3QR |  Ararat-Armenia |
0−2 | 2−1 | 2−3 | |
| 2020–21 | UEFA Europa League | 1QR |  Apollon Limassol |
N/a | 1–5 | N/a |
| 2022–23 | UEFA Europa Conference League | 1QR |  Partizani |
0–1 | 1–0 (a.e.t.) | 1−1 (5–4 p) |
| 2QR |  FCSB |
1–0 | 2–4 | 3–4 | ||
| 2024–25 | UEFA Europa Conference League | 2QR | Partizani |
2–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 |
| 3QR |  İstanbul Başakşehir |
0–1 | 0–2 | 0–3 | ||
| 2025–26 | UEFA Champions League | 1QR |  Malmö FF |
1–3 | 1–3 | 2−6 |
| UEFA Europa Conference League | 2QR |  FCI Levadia |
2–2 (a.e.t.) | 0–1 | 2–3 | |
| 2026–27 | UEFA Champions League | 1QR | Flora |
2–2 | 3–2 | 5−4 |
| 2QR |  Slovan Bratislava |
0–2 | 1–1 | 1−3 | ||
| UEFA Europa League | 3QR | .svg.png){kind=small} Larne |
2–1 (a.e.t.) | 0–0 | 2–1 | |
| PO |  Jagiellonia Białystok |
1–2 | 0–4 | 1–6 | ||
| UEFA Conference League | LP |  Copenhagen |
N/a | |||
 Red Star Belgrade |
N/a | |||||
 Getafe |
N/a | |||||
.svg.png){kind=small} Sint-Truiden |
N/a | |||||
 Jablonec |
N/a | |||||
| Mjällby AIF |
N/a |
- Notes
- QR: Qualifying round
Overall record
- As of 27 August 2026
| Competition | Played | Won | Drew | Lost | GF | GA | GD | Win% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UEFA Champions League | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 14 | 21 | −7 | 20.00 |
| UEFA Europa League | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 9 | −4 | 40.00 |
| UEFA Europa Conference League | 12 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 17 | −8 | 25.00 |
| Total | 27 | 7 | 5 | 15 | 25 | 44 | −19 | 25.93 |
Legend: GF = Goals For. GA = Goals Against. GD = Goal Difference.
Players
- As of 29 July 2026
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Top goalscorers
| Season | Div. | Player | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013–14 | 2nd |  Laurenzo Larky | 5 |
| 2014–15 | 2nd |  Guram Goshteliani | 26 |
| 2015–16 | 1st | Giorgi Kharaishvili | 12 |
| 2016 | 1st | Giorgi Kharaishvili | 5 |
| 2017 | 1st | Giorgi Kharaishvili | 13 |
| 2018 | 1st |  Vagner Gonsalves | 20 |
| 2019 | 1st | Giorgi Diasamidze | 11 |
| 2020 | 1st | Beka Kavtaradze | 11 |
| 2021 | 1st | Iuri Tabatadze Dmitri Mandrîcenco | 11 |
| 2022 | 1st | Irakli Sikharulidze | 12 |
| 2023 | 1st |  Cheikne Sylla | 12 |
| 2024 | 1st | Giorgi Kokhreidze | 16 |
| 2025 | 1st | Iuri Tabatadze | 11 |
Honours
| Type | Competition | Titles | Seasons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic | Erovnuli Liga | 3 | 2018, 2024, 2025 |
| Erovnuli Liga 2 | 1 | 2014–15 | |
| Georgian Cup | 3 | 2019, 2021, 2023 | |
| Georgian Super Cup | 1 | 2020 | |
Other teams
The reserve team currently competes in the 3rd division after a one-year tenure in Erovnuli Liga 2 in 2025.
The U19s won their youth league in 2016 and 2022, while the U17 team secured three titles in the early 2020s.
Saburtalo has one of the top football academies in the country.[2]
Stadium
The club plays their home matches at the Mikheil Meskhi Stadium in Tbilisi.[11]
Notable players
This is the list of footballers who have played for the team and had international caps for their respective countries. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries while playing for Iberia 1999.
Name
Saburtalo is the name of one of Tbilisi's districts where the team academy and Bendela are located, while the term Iberia, a synonym for Kartli, stems from an ancient kingdom which existed until the Early Middle Ages.
On 27 February 2024, the team's name was changed to Iberia 1999.[12][13]
External links
References
- ↑ "Georgia – FC Saburtalo Tbilisi – Results, fixtures, squad, statistics, photos, videos and news – Soccerway". uk.soccerway.com. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
- 1 2 "The history of FC Saburtalo Tbilisi". FCsaburtalo.ge. 6 December 2015. Archived from the original on 10 February 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
- ↑ ""საბურთალოს" წარმატების ფორმულა". sportall.ge (in Georgian). 28 April 2015. Retrieved 19 May 2025.
- ↑ ""საბურთალო" ჩემპიონია!" [Saburtalo are champions!]. at.ge (in Georgian). 3 December 2018.
- ↑ ""საბურთალომ" გაასამა – ამჯერად სუპერთასი". 23 February 2020.
- ↑ "ზედიზედ მეორედ და ისტორიაში მესამედ - იბერია 1999 საქართველოს ჩემპიონია" [Iberia 1999 secure the Georgian league title for second time in a row and third time in history]. adjarabetarena.com (in Georgian). 6 December 2025. Retrieved 10 May 2026.
- ↑ "ისტორია დაიწერა – „იბერიამ" ევროტურნირის ძირითად ეტაპზე თამაში გაინაღდა" [History was made – Iberia won the main stage of the European tournament] (in Georgian). FC Iberia 1999. 12 August 2026.
- ↑ "Sheriff vs Saburtalo match report". UEFA. 10 July 2019.
- ↑ "10-ბალიანი სისტემა - "საბურთალოს" ფეხბურთელების შეფასება "შერიფთან" მატჩში" [Ratings of Saburtalo players based on ten-point system]. sportall.ge. 17 July 2019.
- ↑ "Larne edged out by Iberia 1999 after extra-time". BBC. 11 August 2026. Retrieved 14 August 2026.
- ↑ "იბერია 1999 კრისტალბეთ ეროვნული ლიგის ჩემპიონია!" (in ge). Erovnuli Liga. 6 December 2025. Retrieved 29 August 2026.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link) - ↑ "ახალი სეზონიდან "საბურთალო" "იბერია 1999"-ის სახელით იასპარეზებს". FC saburtalo (in Georgian). 27 February 2024. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
- ↑ "From the new season, "Saburtalo" will compete under the name of "Iberia 1999"". FC saburtalo. 29 February 2024. Retrieved 14 March 2024.