Irakli Modebadze ( ka, ირაკლი მოდებაძე; born 4 October 1984) is a retired Georgian professional footballer, currently working as a coach at

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 ...

club

Dinamo Batumi FC Dinamo Batumi ( ka, საფეხბურთო კლუბი დინამო ბათუმი) is a Georgian professional football club based in Batumi, Adjara that competes in the Erovnuli Liga, the top division of the national f ...

. He is the two-time champion of the Georgian top division and the top-scorer of the

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 ...

season. Modebadze has played for the senior team as well as for each of the national youth teams.

Career

Modebadze started his career at Valensia Tbilisi. From 2002 until 2007 he played for Ukrainian side

FC Metalurh Zaporizhzhia The Sports club "Metalurh Zaporizhzhia" (, ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Zaporizhzhia. Reestablished in 2017, it is a " phoenix club" of the original Soviet factory "team of masters" Metalurh that existed in 1935–2016 o ...

. The day before he turned 18, Modebadze scored his first European goal in a

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

game against

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

. On 13 March 2009 he signed a contract with

FC Chornomorets Odesa FC Chornomorets Odesa ( ) is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club based in Odesa, Ukraine. According to the club's website, it was formed in 1936 as ''Dynamo'', but until 2002 it carried a logo with 1958 and 1959

until the end of the 2008/09 season. The next year, the

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

returned to

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 joined Olimpi Rustavi, who had just won their league title. In his first season for this club, Modebadze was the leading league goalscorer at some point, although eventually with 16 goals he finished in the 2nd place. He fouled on 14 July 2012 in an friendly game with his club FC Dila Gori, in the game against FC Rot-Weiss Erfurt the Libanese footballer

Joan Oumari Joan Noureddine Oumari (, ; born 19 August 1988) is a former professional Association football, footballer who played as a centre-back. After playing for eight seasons in Germany, between the Berlin-Liga, fifth and 2. Bundesliga, second divisio ...

and provoked the breakup of the game. After a short unsuccessful spell at

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 2014, Modebadze re-joined Dila to reach the highest point in his career by winning the champion's title and becoming the top scorer of the

season. During the last two years he suffered from a knee injury. The forward announced an immediate retirement after making his 100th appearance for the team in November 2017. Early next year, Modebadze was appointed at Dila as a staff member in charge of the personnel selection. In June 2019, he briefly took over as a caretaker manager. It was his idea to invite Andriy Demchenko, his team-mate at

Metalurh Zaporizhzhia The Sports club "Metalurh Zaporizhzhia" (, ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Zaporizhzhia. Reestablished in 2017, it is a " phoenix club" of the original Soviet factory "team of masters" Metalurh that existed in 1935–2016 o ...

, to Dila Gori as a head coach. The pair worked together for more than two seasons, guiding the club to two consecutive bronze medals. In August 2023, Demchenko left Dila for

where he once again teamed up with Modebadze in January 2024.

Personal life

His older brother Giorgi is also a former footballer.

Honours

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 ...

(2): 2013–14, 2014–15 * David Kipiani Cup (1): 2013–14 * Georgian Super Cup (1): 2010–11

References

External links

*
Profile on official Chornomorets Website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Modebadze, Irakli Men's footballers from Georgia (country) Expatriate men's footballers from Georgia (country) Georgia (country) men's international footballers FC Chornomorets Odesa players FC Metalurgi Rustavi players FC Metalurh Zaporizhzhia players FC Metalurh-2 Zaporizhzhia players Erovnuli Liga players Ukrainian Premier League players Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Expatriate sportspeople from Georgia (country) in Ukraine FC Dila Gori players FC Dinamo Tbilisi players 1984 births Living people Men's association football forwards Footballers from Tbilisi Association football coaches