Giorgi Arabidze ( ka, გიორგი არაბიძე; born 4 March 1998) is a Georgian 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 lea ...

who plays as a winger for

K League 1 The K League 1 () is a professional association football league in South Korea and the highest level of the South Korean football league system. The league is contested by twelve clubs. It is one of the most successful leagues in the Asian Foo ...

club

Ulsan HD Ulsan HD FC (), formerly Ulsan Hyundai FC, is a South Korean professional football club based in Ulsan that competes in the K League 1, the top tier of South Korean football. Founded in 1983 as Hyundai Horang-i, they joined the K League in 1984. ...

. He is the winner of several trophies in the Ukrainian, Georgian and South Korean leagues. Arabidze has represented the national senior as well as all junior teams.

Career

Club career

Arabidze is a product of the FC Locomotive Youth Sportive system from age 7. In June 2015 he signed a contract with Ukrainian football club FC Shakhtar. Arabidze made an official debut for the Ukrainian club three months later against

Ternopil Ternopil, known until 1944 mostly as Tarnopol, is a city in western Ukraine, located on the banks of the Seret River. Ternopil is one of the major cities of Western Ukraine and the historical regions of Galicia and Podolia. The populatio ...

in the

Ukrainian Cup The Ukrainian Cup ( ) is an association football national knockout cup competition run by the Ukrainian Association of Football. The competition is conducted almost exclusively among professional clubs. Since the 2003–04 season, the Cup winner qu ...

, spending the full 90 minutes on the pitch. Arabidze featured again for Shakhtar on the last day of October, making his debut in the

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( ) or UPL is a professional association football league in Ukraine and the highest level of the Ukrainian football league system. Originally known as the Vyshcha Liha ( , ) it was formed in 1991 during the 1992 in ...

, playing the last 15 minutes of the game against

Zorya Luhansk FC Zorya Luhansk ( ) is a Ukrainian football team. Zorya Luhansk was based in the city of Luhansk, Ukraine. However, due to the Russo-Ukrainian War, the team currently plays its games at Slavutych-Arena in Zaporizhzhia. The modern club as a ...

. Arabidze was included in the

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the under-19 teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions Le ...

squad for the same season as well. He made a debut in this tournament against

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening (), commonly known simply as Malmö FF or MFF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Malmö, Scania. They compete in the Allsvenskan, the top division of Swedish football, and play home matches at the Eleda S ...

, scoring a single goal and contributing one assist in a 5–5 draw. On 3 July 2018 he signed 4-year contract with Portuguese club

C.D. Nacional Clube Desportivo Nacional (), commonly known as Nacional da Madeira and sometimes just Nacional, is a Portuguese football club based in Funchal, on the island of Madeira. Founded on 8 December 1910, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal , P ...

. On 17 January 2021, he joined Russian club

Rotor Volgograd SC Rotor Volgograd () is a Russian professional football club from the large city of Volgograd, Volgograd Oblast (formerly Stalingrad). The club plays in the second-tier Russian First League, and are the largest and best supported Volgograd club. ...

on loan until the end of the 2020–21 season. On 25 January 2022, he signed with

Torpedo Kutaisi FC Torpedo Kutaisi ( Georgian: საფეხბურთო კლუბი ტორპედო ქუთაისი) is a Georgian professional football club based in Kutaisi, Georgia's third largest city. The team competes in the Erovnuli ...

. During his second season with this club, Arabidze became their top scorer by netting 14 goals which helped the team to win the bronze medals of the league. His performance was duly recognized by the

Erovnuli Liga The Erovnuli Liga ( ka, ეროვნული ლიგა; ) is the top Division (sport), division of professional top tier Association football, football in Georgia (Country), Georgia. Since 1990, it has been organized by the Professional ...

by naming him Midfielder of the Year. Besides, along with two other teammates Arabidze was included in the list of eleven best players of the season. In July 2024, Arabidze moved to

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

to play for

club

. In his second league appearance for Ulsan on 31 August, Arabidze got on the scoresheet with a brace in a 5–4 win over

Pohang Pohang (; ), formerly spelled Po-Hang, is the largest city in North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea, with a List of cities in South Korea, population of 499,363 as of 2022, bordering the Sea of Japan, East Sea to the east, Yeongcheon to the w ...

. After making ten appearances in all competitions, he lifted the league trophy as Ulsan secured their third straight title.

International career

In 2017, after being a regular member of the youth sides of

Georgia national football team The Georgia national football team ( ka, საქართველოს ეროვნული საფეხბურთო ნაკრები, tr) represents Georgia (country), Georgia in men's international association football, foo ...

, Arabidze made his debut for the senior national team against

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA FIFA#Structure, confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia national football team, Rus ...

match. Two days later he scored his first goal for the team against

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

in a friendly game.

Career statistics

International goals

:''Scores and results list Georgia's goal tally first.''

Honours

Shakhtar Donetsk *

: 2016–17, 2017–18 *

: 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18 *

Ukrainian Super Cup The Ukrainian Super Cup () is an association football game of the Ukrainian Premier League in traditional super cup format that acts as the grand-opening for every new football (soccer), football competition season in Ukraine. Originally it was s ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Torpedo Kutaisi *

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 ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Georgian Super Cup The Georgian Super Cup is a super cup tournament in Georgian football. Founded in 1996 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2023 by four teams, those being the first, second, and third placed teams in the Erovnul ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Ulsan HD *

K League K League () is South Korea's professional football league. It includes the first division K League 1 and the second division K League 2. Clubs competing in the K League have won a record total of twelve AFC Champions League Elite, AFC Champions ...

Individual * Midfielder of the Year:

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

* Team of the Season:

References

External links

*
UEFA Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arabidze, Giorgi 1998 births Living people Men's footballers from Georgia (country) Men's association football wingers FC Locomotive Tbilisi players FC Shakhtar Donetsk players Georgia (country) men's international footballers C.D. Nacional players Adanaspor footballers FC Rotor Volgograd players FC Samtredia players FC Torpedo Kutaisi players Erovnuli Liga players Ukrainian Premier League players Primeira Liga players TFF 1. Lig players Russian Premier League players Expatriate men's footballers from Georgia (country) Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Expatriate sportspeople from Georgia (country) in Ukraine Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate sportspeople from Georgia (country) in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate sportspeople from Georgia (country) in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Expatriate sportspeople from Georgia (country) in Russia Footballers from Imereti