Alexandr Iashvili ( ka, ალექსანდრე მამულის ძე იაშვილი; born 23 October 1977) is a Georgian former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a striker.

Club career

Early years

Born in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...

, Iashvili started his career in Dinamo Tbilisi in 1993, where he became a prolific goalscorer. With 24 goals in 24 games (1994–95) and 26 goals in 25 games (1995–96) he attracted interest from foreign clubs, and at the age of 19 decided to join

VfB Lübeck VfB Lübeck is a German association football club playing in Lübeck, Schleswig-Holstein in the country's north. In addition to its football side the 1,000 member sports club also has departments for badminton, women's gymnastics, handball, an ...

on loan in January 1997.

SC Freiburg

After initially returning to Tbilisi from his loan spell Iashvili permanently moved to play in Germany, signing with

SC Freiburg Sport-Club Freiburg e.V., commonly known as SC Freiburg () or just Freiburg, is a German football club, based in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg. It plays in the Bundesliga, having been promoted as champions from the 2. Bunde ...

for the 1996–97 season. The team earned promotion to the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footbal ...

in his first season there. For the 2005–06 season he was promoted to team captain. In April 2007, he expressed his intention to not renew his Freiburg contract but to instead leave for another, preferably German, club. In his ten years at Freiburg he scored 51 goals in 255 league appearances.

Karlsruher SC

Iashvili subsequently joined

Karlsruher SC Karlsruher SC is a German association football club, based in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg that currently plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football. Domestically, the club was crowned German champion in 1909, and won the DF ...

in summer 2007. In 2009, Iashvili agreed to a contract extension until 2013. In 2012, he was released by Karlsruhe.

Later years

In 2012, Iashvili joined fellow 2. Bundesliga side

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as simply VfL Bochum (), is a German association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has spent 35 seasons in the Bundesli ...

. Iashvili spent the 2013–2014 season with Inter Baku of the

Azerbaijan Premier League The Azerbaijan Premier League ( az, Azərbaycan Premyer Liqası) is a professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Azerbaijan football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is contested ...

. He played for

FC Samtredia FC Samtredia ( ka, სკ სამტრედია), commonly known simply as Samtredia, is a Georgian association football club based in the city of Samtredia. The club gained promotion to Erovnuli Liga, the first tier of Georgian footbal ...

in his home country in the second half of the 2014–2015 season. In July 2015, he re-joined his home club Dinamo Tbilisi.

International career

Having played 67 matches scoring 15 goals, Iashvili is the fifth most-capped player of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to t ...

. With Georgia he won in 1998 the

Malta International Football Tournament The Malta International Tournament was a biannual association football friendly competition for national teams organised by the Malta Football Association that took place in Malta between 1986 and 2008. Initially, the tournament included the parti ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Dinamo Tbilisi *

Erovnuli Liga The Erovnuli Liga ( ka, ეროვნული ლიგა - lit. National League) is the top division of professional football in Georgia. Since 1990, it has been organized by the Professional Football League of Georgia and Georgian Football F ...

: 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98 *

Georgian Cup The Georgian Cup (, ''Sakartvelos tasi'') is the main cup competition in Georgian football. The competition is a knockout (single elimination) tournament. Soviet era cup winners Previous winners are: * 1944: Team of Sukhumi * 1945: Dinamo Sukh ...

: 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97 *

Georgian Super Cup The Georgian Super Cup is a competition consisting of a single football match played between the champions of the Erovnuli Liga The Erovnuli Liga ( ka, ეროვნული ლიგა - lit. National League) is the top division of professio ...

: 1996, 1997 SC Freiburg *

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

: 2002–03 Individual * Georgian Footballer of the Year: 2004, 2008

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Iashvili, Alexander Living people 1977 births Footballers from Tbilisi Footballers from Georgia (country) Association football midfielders Association football forwards Georgia (country) international footballers FC Dinamo Tbilisi players VfB Lübeck players SC Freiburg players Karlsruher SC players VfL Bochum players Shamakhi FK players FC Samtredia players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Expatriate footballers from Georgia (country) Expatriate sportspeople from Georgia (country) in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate sportspeople from Georgia (country) in Azerbaijan Expatriate footballers in Azerbaijan Georgia (country) under-21 international footballers Georgia (country) youth international footballers