FC Kolkheti 1913, commonly referred to as Kolkheti Poti, is a Georgian football club based in Poti. Following the 2025 season, the team was relegated to the Erovnuli Liga 2, the 2nd division of Georgian football.

Being registered in 1913, Kolkheti is the oldest active football club in the country. They are the two-time winners of the Soviet republican championship. After an independent Umaglesi Liga was formed in 1990, Kolkheti joined it as a 3rd-tier club and subsequently spent 17 successive seasons before worsening financial problems resulted in their first relegation. As the club's decline continued, it dropped into the third division by 2020. Kolkheti had two unsuccessful playoff campaigns in Liga 3 before securing two consecutive promotions.

Their first European tie was against Serbian club Zemun in 1996. The club plays its home games at Fazisi Stadium.

History Domestic leagues The Soviet period

The football club from Poti under the name Kolkhida (Colchis) for many years was a member of the Georgian Soviet championship until early 1960s. From 1962 to 1990, they spent 24 seasons in fourth and third divisions of the Soviet football system, including last consecutive eleven years in zone 9 of the Second League, with the 2nd place in 1989 being the best result.

Earning league trophies When GFF formed the national league in early 1990, Kolkheti-1913 took part in an opening game against Iberia Tbilisi. The historic match held at the Boris Paichadze stadium ended 1–0 in favour of the guest team. Therefore, Kolkheti became the first club to win a game in the history of Georgian national leagues.

Throughout the first decade, the Kolkhs were considered one of the strongest rivals. Apart from 1992–93, when they finished in 9th place, the club completed each season among top five teams with twice, in 1993–94 and 1996–97, coming second. In this period the team also earned the bronze medals three times.

This success of the club was largely contributed to their sponsors from the mid-1990s, the naval port of Poti.

Crisis begins In 2006, after a foreign business company took over the port administration, the football club abruptly lost a significant income. Despite being 10th among 16 clubs in 2005–06, due to the severe financial crisis Kolkheti had to quit the league.

The club climbed back to the Umaglesi Liga following the 2009–10 season, but returned to the second league three years later. In 2011, a sponsorship deal with the naval port resumed to a less extent, which lasted for four years.

Battle for survival Kolkheti were back in the top division in 2014–15, although further financial difficulties hit the club in 2018, which pushed them to the verge of bankruptcy. As Kolkheti amassed a large amount of debts, they were deducted six points. Eventually, the team was relegated.

While in Liga 2, Kolkheti still could not afford to pay off debts. In an emergency statement, the club appealed for urgent help. Meanwhile, they were slapped with another six-point deduction. The overall situation badly affected the team. Three managers were sacked for unsatisfactory results within initial five months of the season. The tide remained unchanged, though. Only in the last matchday did Kolkheti manage to avoid automatic relegation, but after being thrashed by Samgurali in play-offs they slumped to the third division.

Disappointment and triumph In the initial two seasons Kolkheti were among primary promotion-chasers, although in both cases they suffered a setback in pursuit for an automatic promotion spot. The play-off results proved also unsuccessful despite the team's unbeaten aggregate score in the regular time. First they failed to beat WIT Georgia on penalties, and a year later lost in extra time to Rustavi on away goals.

In 2022, too, Kolkheti ended up in the 2nd place. However, due to changes made in the competition format before this season, the club ended its three-year tenure in this division and won automatic promotion back to Liga 2. This year another event occurred which had a big impact on Kolkheti. On 29 August, the municipal club was handed over to a company linked to football manager Mamuka Jugeli.

Kolkheti achieved a remarkable success in 2023. While reaching the national cup semifinals, the team under head coach Davit Kvirkvelia emerged victorious after a dramatic hard-fought battle against Gareji for the first place, which enabled them to return to the Erovnuli Liga after a five-year absence.

European competitions Based on successful performance in Umaglesi Liga, Kolkheti-1913 represented Georgia on UEFA Cup for four consecutive seasons from 1996 until 2000.

The only victory achieved in this competition against Dinamo Minsk was insufficient for qualifying for the next round. Having lost the first leg 1–0, Kolkheti conceded an early goal at home and scored twice afterwards, but the away goals rule gave a final advantage to their opponents.

Season Competition Round Club Home Away Aggregate 1996 UEFA Intertoto Cup GS Zemun 2–3 -5th FF Jaro - 0–2 Guingamp 1–3 - Dinamo București - 0–2 1997–98 UEFA Cup 1Q Dinamo Minsk 2–1 0–1 2–2 1998–99 UEFA Cup 1Q Red Star Belgrade 0–4 0–7 0–11 1999 UEFA Intertoto Cup 1R Cementarnica 55 0–4 2–4 2–8

Seasons + Year Div. Pos P W D L GF–GA Pts Cup19901st5/18 3419 5 10 53-31 62 Quarterfinals19911st4/20 1910 3 6 30-19 33 —1991/921st5/20 3815 11 12 49-45 56 Round of 321992/931st9/17 3212 6 14 47-45 42 Round of 161993/94 1st, Group West 1/8 149 2 3 36-21 29 Semifinals 1-10 Places 2/10 1814 2 2 51-20 44 1994/951st3/16 3020 3 7 72-28 63 Round of 321995/961st3/16 3022 2 6 69-38 68 Quarterfinals1996/971st2/16 3020 4 6 75-28 64 Quarterfinals1997/981st3/16 3017 6 7 56-27 57 Quarterfinals1998/991st4/16 3015 7 8 57-36 52 Round of 161999/2000 1st, Group B 2/8 148 1 5 19-15 25 Quarterfinals 1-8 Places 5/8 147 3 4 18-10 37 2000/01 1st 6/12 228 7 7 22-18 31 Quarterfinals 1-6 Places 5/6 102 2 6 10-19 24 2001/02 1st 5/12 2210 5 7 32-29 35 Round of 16 1-6 Places 4/6 102 2 6 9-16 26 2002/03 1st 6/12 229 3 10 28-33 30 Round of 16 1-6 Places 6/6 100 5 5 5-23 20 2003/04 1st 9/12 227 3 12 18-35 24 Round of 16 7-12 Places 8/12 106 3 1 14-6 33 2004/05 1st 9/10 369 5 22 32-63 32 Quarterfinals 2005/06 1st 10/16 309 5 16 26-35 32 Quarterfinals 2006/07 — — — — — — — — — 2007/08 2nd 5/10 2711 7 9 36-33 40 1st Round 2008/09 2nd 5/11 3013 6 11 45-40 45 Round of 16 2009/10 2nd, Group A 2/15 2819 4 5 63-21 61 Quarterfinals 2010/11 1st 7/10 3610 10 16 25-47 40 Round of 16 2011/12 1st 8/12 226 8 8 19-24 26 Round of 16 2012/13 1st10/10 22 0 4 18 11-43 4 Round of 16 Relegation round6/6 32 3 8 21 22-56 17 2013/14 2nd, Group A 2/13 24 17 4 3 51-13 55 2nd Round 2014/15 1st10/16 30 9 10 11 31-31 37 2nd Round 2015/16 1st 12/16 30 7 6 17 21-41 27 2nd Round 2016 1st, Group Red4/712 6 0 6 10-18 18 Quarterfinals 20171st9/10 366 8 22 31-73 26 5th Round 20181st10/10 36 4 8 24 26-76 14 3rd Round 2019 2nd9/10 36 10 4 22 31-80 28 3rd Round 2020 3rd2/10 18 12 2 4 47-18 38 2nd Round 2021 3rd 2/1026 14 7 5 54-28 49 2nd Round 2022 3rd 2/1630 21 6 3 76-29 69 3rd Round 2023 2nd1/16 36 23 8 5 70-28 77 Semifinals 2024 1st6/10 36 9 14 13 48-58 41 Semifinals 2025 1st10/10 36 5 7 24 33-71 22 Round of 16

Notes

Overall

Seasons spent in Georgian leagues since 1990:

• Umaglesi Liga / Erovnuli Liga (1st tier): 26

• Pirveli Liga / Erovnuli Liga 2 (2nd tier): 7

• Meore Liga / Liga 3 (3rd tier): 3

Correct up to 2026 season

Current squad As of 18 March 2026

Out on loan

Topscorers YearDiv.NameGoals 20232nd Data Sitchinava17 20241st Kirill Klimov10 20251st Giorgi Abuashvili 8 Managers NameNat.FromToSoso Pilia November 2012June 2013Zaza Inashvili July 2013October 2015Gela Sanaia October 2015August 2017Oleksandr Shtelin September 2017December 2017 Konstantin Galkin February 2018March 2018Nugzar Tvaradze March 2018 September 2018 Viktor Demidov September 2018 December 2018 Paata Metreveli February 2019 April 2019 Soso Pilia (2) April 2019 June 2019 Giorgi Krasovski June 2019 August 2019 Nugzar Tvaradze August 2019 October 2019 Vladimer Chkonia October 2019 December 2019 Davit Makharadze February 2020 October 2020 Nugzar Tvaradze October 2020 December 2020 Giorgi Krasovski (2) February 2021 June 2021 Gia Gigatadze June 2021 May 2022 Davit Kvirkvelia June 2022 April 2024 Klimenti Tsitaishvili (interim) April 2024 May 2024 Kakhaber Chkhetiani May 2024 August 2025 Davit Kvirkvelia (2) August 2025 March 2026 Tamaz Pertia March 2026 June 2026 Ivan Balan (caretaker) July 2026 August 2026 Revaz Gotsiridze September 2026

Honours Soviet leagues Soviet Second League Zone IX (Tier 3) Runners-up (1): 1989 Third place (4): 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987 Georgian Soviet Championship (Tier 4) Winners (2): 1978, 1988Georgia – List of Champions – rsssf.org Georgian leagues Umaglesi Liga (Tier 1) Runners-up (2): 1993–94, 1996–97 Third place (3): 1994–95, 1995–96, 1997–98 Pirveli Liga/Erovnuli Liga 2 (Tier 2) Winners (1): 2023 Runners-up (2): 2009–10, 2013–14 (A Group) Liga 3 (Tier 3) Runners-up (3): 2020, 2021, 2022

Stadium The Fazisi arena was built in 1961. Its reconstruction got under way in 2013, but it took seven years before the works were completed. Meanwhile, Kolkheti held their home games on Rugby Arena in Poti or in some neighbouring cities. Football returned to Fazisi in October 2019.

After promotion to the Erovnuli Liga in 2024, Kolkheti was the only team unable to hold domestic games at home due to its failure to meet UEFA requirements. Therefore, the club chose to use a recently built football ground in Kobuleti until the problem was fixed in late March 2025.

References

External links Team profile at Soccerway Kolkheti 1913 Results at Flashscore