FC Mretebi Tbilisi was a Georgian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in

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 ( ...

. Mretebi were founded on 3 February 1988 by Vazha Chkaidze, a football coach and theatre director. p30. At that time, major football clubs in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

were professional in practice, but were officially regarded as amateur. For example, Lokomotiv players were officially classed as railway workers. Mretebi were founded as an openly professional club, the first Soviet club to do so. Amid the collapse of the Soviet Union, Georgian football established an independent football league system in 1990. Mretebi reached the last sixteen of the

Georgian Cup The Georgian Cup ( ka, საქართველოს თასი) is the main annual association football knockout cup competition in Georgia. It is organized by the Georgian Football Federation (GFF) and is open to clubs of all divisions. Th ...

in 1990, and won the Second Division in 1991. Winning the Second Division meant a playoff for

promotion 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 ...

to the

Umaglesi Liga The Erovnuli Liga ( ka, ეროვნული ლიგა; ) is the top division of professional top tier football in Georgia. Since 1990, it has been organized by the Professional Football League of Georgia and Georgian Football Federati ...

, the highest level of Georgian football. Mretebi's opponents in the playoff were Iveria Khashuri, who had finished bottom of the Umaglesi Liga. Mretebi won 3–2 after

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

, and gained promotion. In their first season in the top division, Mretebi finished in mid-table with 48 points. During this period of relative success Mretebi's star player was teenage midfielder

Georgi Kinkladze Georgi Kinkladze ( ka, გიორგი ქინქლაძე, ; born 6 July 1973), also spelled Georgiou, or Giorgi, or shortened to Gio, is a Georgian former Association football, footballer who played as a playmaker, playmaking midfield ...

, and in the 1992 close season reigning champions

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 ...

agreed a transfer fee of one million roubles for the player. However, once Kinkladze's transfer was complete, Dinamo disputed the fee on the grounds that he had previously been a member of the Dinamo youth system. Mretebi fared less well the following season, finishing sixteenth out of seventeen teams, and in 1994 they were relegated after winning only three matches all season. The club subsequently had league finishes in the lower reaches of the Second Division. In 1995 former Mretebi player Kinkladze joined

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

of the English

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

from Dinamo Tbilisi for £2 million. As part of the deal which took Kinkladze to Dinamo, Mretebi were entitled to a proportion of any sell-on fee, but Dinamo refused to pay. A lengthy dispute in which the matter was referred to the

Georgian Football Federation The Georgian Football Federation ( GFF; ka, საქართველოს ფეხბურთის ფედერაცია, ''sakartvelos pekhburtis pederatsia'') was founded in 1936. Based in Tbilisi, it was part of the Football Fede ...

and

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

followed, with Mretebi claiming $875,000 in unpaid fees. A decision by FIFA in 2000 ordered Dinamo to pay $300,000. Dinamo paid this sum in 2001, but the cost of the case and that of subsequent claims and appeals meant that Mretebi, by now playing in the lower echelons of the Georgian football system, suffered financial collapse and withdrew from the league in 2002. An appeal to the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

was dismissed in 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mretebi Tbilisi Defunct football clubs in Georgia (country) Football clubs in Tbilisi Association football clubs established in 1988 Association football clubs disestablished in 2002 1988 establishments in Georgia (country) 2002 disestablishments in Georgia (country)