FC Merani Martvili is a Georgian

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is t ...

club based in

Martvili Martvili ( ka, მარტვილი) is a small town in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti province of Western Georgia. Its monastery was Samegrelo's clerical centre in the Middle Ages. Under Soviet rule, from 1936 to 1990, it was named Gegechkori after S ...

, which currently takes part in Liga 2, the second division of Georgian league system. Being one of the youngest clubs, Merani have spent five seasons in the top division and once reached the final of David Kipiani Cup.

History

Football clubs from Martvili have previously been called Salkhino Gegechkori (Soviet times), Chkondidi Martvili and Salkhino Martvili. FC Merani was founded by Georgian ex-minister of communications Pridon Injia in 2006. In their first season in

Pirveli liga The Georgian Erovnuli Liga 2 ( ka, ეროვნული ლიგა 2; ), organized since 1990 by GFF, serves as the second division of professional football in Georgia. Under the current name the league was introduced for the 2017 season ...

under head coach Malkhaz Zhvania Merani came 3rd and until the promotion to

Umaglesi 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 ...

in 2011/12 they stayed among the top five clubs. In 2010 Merani became a first II league club to play in David Kipiani Cup semifinals where they lost 1-2 on aggregate to

WIT Georgia FC WIT Georgia is a Georgian football team from Tbilisi. The team is sponsored by WIT Georgia Ltd (a subsidiary of the United States WIT, Inc.), a pet food, accessories, and human and veterinary pharmaceuticals import company. WIT stands for Wor ...

, the Cup winners of the season. The next year Merani successfully completed their season and as a second-placed team gained promotion to the top flight. During the next five seasons in Umaglesi Liga Merani achieved the best result in their first year when they came 5th during the regular season and earned a place in the championship round. In other cases the club was mostly involved in relegation battles. In 2015/16 Merani were relegated. In the same year they managed to reach the Cup final after having eliminated Dila,

Kolkheti-1913 FC Kolkheti-1913 is a Georgian football club based in Poti. Following the 2022 season, the club earned promotion to Liga 2, the second division of Erovnuli Liga. Being registered in 1913, Kolkheti is considered one of the oldest clubs in the S ...

and Chikhura in previous rounds, but in the title-deciding game held in

Zestafoni Zestafoni or Zestaponi ( ka, ზესტაფონი, tr, ) is the administrative center of Zestafoni District in Western Georgia. Zestafoni is the center of an ancient, historical part of Georgia – Margveti, which is a part of Imereti ...

the team was beaten by

Torpedo Kutaisi FC Torpedo Kutaisi is a Georgian professional football club based in Kutaisi, Georgia's third largest city. 'Torpedo Kutaisi' was founded in 1946 and in just three years the club became the winner of the Football Championship of that time. Torp ...

. Merani came close back to Erovnuli Liga in 2017, although they were unable to beat Kolkheti Poti in

promotion play-offs Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

. At the end of the next season Merani lost the last two league games and surprisingly finished at the bottom of the table, which implied an automatic relegation. After one year spent in Liga 3 though they returned to the second division. In early 2021 Pridon Injia quit the club and Jesi Surmava, the head of Martvili Football School, took over the management, which resulted in major changes among both staff and squad members. 27 year-old head coach Tsotne Moniava in his first year in charge of a professional club was named the Manager of Round IV (October-December) after guiding Merani to the bronze medals and promotion playoffs. Besides, Merani's two players were included in the symbolic team. Despite a two-goal advantage achieved at home after the first game against

, the club suffered a heart-breaking extra-time defeat during a dramatic and action-packed return leg.

Seasons

Current squad

''As of 3 August 2022''

Other teams

Merani also have a reserve team, which as Merani-2 competes in Liga 4.

Stadium

Merani plays home matches at

Murtaz Khurtsilava Murtaz Kalistratovich Khurtsilava ( ka, მურთაზ ხურცილავა, russian: Муртаз Калистратович Хурцилава, born 5 January 1943) is a former Georgian association football defender. Khurtsilava was ...

stadium, which has the capacity of 1,850 seats. In February 2017 this arena hosted the Georgian Super Cup game.

Honours

Pirveli Liga The Georgian Erovnuli Liga 2 ( ka, ეროვნული ლიგა 2; ), organized since 1990 by GFF, serves as the second division of professional football in Georgia. Under the current name the league was introduced for the 2017 season ...

** Silver Medal winner: 2010-2011 and

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

** Bronze Medal winner: 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2021 * David Kipiani Cup ** Runners-up 2016

Name

''Merani'' is a Georgian word for ''

pegasus Pegasus ( grc-gre, Πήγασος, Pḗgasos; la, Pegasus, Pegasos) is one of the best known creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine stallion usually depicted as pure white in color. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as hor ...

''.

External links

Official website

Official Facebook page

Profile on Soccerway

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fc Merani Martvili Merani Martvili