Boris Paichadze ( ka, ბორის პაიჭაძე, ; ; 4 February 1915 – 9 October 1990) was a Soviet and Georgian footballer, who played for

FC Dinamo Tbilisi FC Dinamo Tbilisi ( ka, დინამო თბილისი, ) is a Georgian professional football club based in Tbilisi that competes in the Erovnuli Liga, the top flight of Georgian football. Dinamo Tbilisi was one of the most prom ...

. The largest stadium in Georgia, the

Boris Paichadze Stadium The Boris Paitchadze Dinamo Arena ( ''Boris P’aich’adzis erovnuli st’adioni''), formerly known as Boris Paitchadze National Stadium, is a stadium in Tbilisi, Georgia, and the home stadium of Dinamo Tbilisi, Georgia national rugby union tea ...

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

, is named after him. In 2001, he was voted the best Georgian football player of the 20th century.

Career

Born in Onchiketi, Paichadze's family moved to

Poti Poti ( ka, ფოთი ; Mingrelian language, Mingrelian: ფუთი; Laz language, Laz: ჶაში/Faşi or ფაში/Paşi) is a port city in Georgia (country), Georgia, located on the eastern Black Sea coast in the mkhare, region of ...

when he was 7 years old. He started playing career in some local youth football clubs there. During these times, football was just making its first steps in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

and there was only a few clubs established. However, every city had its own selection of footballers. Paichadze joined the team of Poti at the age of 16. Paichadze was invited to

Dinamo Tbilisi Dinamo Tbilisi is a sports club from Tbilisi, Georgia (country), Georgia. It was founded in 1925. Among its highest honors, is the European trophy earned by its Association football, football team which won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1981, beating ...

in 1936 by coach

Jules Limbeck Jules Limbeck (; born in Hungary, died in 1955) was a Franco- Hungarian professional football forward and manager. Career He played in various European championships in frontline positions in mid-1920, appeared in the Hungarian Újpest FC, Fe ...

. He made his debut in

Soviet Top League The Soviet Top League, known after 1970 as the Higher League (), served as the top division (tier) of Soviet Union football from 1936 until 1991. The league's name was a conditional designation used for brevity since being completely owned and g ...

during that season, being able to score 13 goals in 12 games. Paichadze later declared that it was Limbeck, who pioneered the coaching in

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

via his lectures, attended by various managers across the region. Paichadze became top scorer of

in the

1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Feb ...

season. However, the most efficient season for him was

1939 This year also marks the start of the World War II, Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Events related to World War II have a "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Coming into effect in Nazi Ger ...

, when he scored total 25 goals for Dinamo. Paichadze was prized by the various sporting media sources, after his performance against CDKA Moscow in November, when Dinamo was able to win the game 5–4, after losing the first half 1–4. During the 1941 Soviet Top League season, Dinamo was one of the leaders of league table, when the championship was cancelled due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Alongside his teammates, Paichadze joined the army. After three years of cancellation, championship again resumed in 1945. Paichadze returned to Dinamo and again became one of the key figures of the club. However, in 1947, in a game against

Torpedo Moscow Football Club Torpedo Moscow (, ''FK Torpedo Moskva''), known as Torpedo Moscow, is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Moscow. The club will return to the Russian Premier League in the 2025–26 season. Their c ...

, Paichadze got a serious injury after the collision with Nikolai Morozov. It prevented him playing for nearly two years. After recovering, he never regained the old playing form and soon decided to retire from football. In 1953, soon after retiring from football, Paichadze was invited back to Dinamo to become a head coach of the club. He accepted and managed his former club for only two seasons without any success. He resigned in 1954, claiming that ''"being a good player doesn't mean you are a good coach"''. In 1963-1985 Paichadze was a director of the Lenin Dinamo Stadium in

Personal life

Paichadze later declared that he had a close relationship with famous Soviet politician

Lavrentiy Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria ka, ლავრენტი პავლეს ძე ბერია} ''Lavrenti Pavles dze Beria'' ( – 23 December 1953) was a Soviet politician and one of the longest-serving and most influential of Joseph ...

. Beria, who is considered to be a huge fan of Dinamo, even prevented Paichadze from moving to Spartak Moscow, that was very keen to sign Paichadze during his peak years. Paichadze was nicknamed ''" Caruso of football"'' in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

by the local fans and journalists, after his performance in a friendly tournament held in the country in 1945. Paichadze was a close friend to a Georgian Greco-Roman wrestler Givi Kartozia. In 1975, Paichadze made a cameo appearance in film ''Pirveli Mertskhali (The First Swallow)'', directed by Nana Mchedlidze, who invited the former footballer as a consultant as well.

Club career statistics

''Source''

References

External links

Profile at KLISF
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paichadze, Boris 1915 births 1990 deaths Sportspeople from Guria People from Kutais Governorate Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Recipients of the Order of the Badge of Honour Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the Order of the Red Star Soviet men's footballers Soviet Top League players Men's footballers from Georgia (country) FC Dinamo Tbilisi players FC Dinamo Tbilisi managers Men's association football forwards Football managers from Georgia (country)