Lasha Jakobia (born 20 August 1980 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 ( ...

) is a Georgian retired

football player 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 ...

Football career

Belgium

Lasha Jakobia started his career at

Belgian League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023– ...

club

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

. He then spent his career at lower division for

Visé Visé (; , ; ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia, located on the river Meuse in the province of Liège, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Argenteau, Cheratte, Lanaye, Lixhe, Richelle, and Visé. In the ...

, FC Liège, before joined

Eendracht Aalst SC Eendracht Aalst is a Belgian football club based in Aalst, East Flanders. The club currently play in Belgian Division 2 where they are the defending champions in their region. History During World War I, citizens from Aalst played footbal ...

. He then suffered long-period of injuries, and signed a contract until the end of season for AEC Mons in January 2003. But he then loaned to

Rapid București Rapid(s) or RAPID may refer to: Hydrological features * Rapids, sections of a river with turbulent water flow * Rapid Creek (Iowa River tributary), Iowa, United States * Rapid Creek (South Dakota), United States, namesake of Rapid City Sport ...

Georgia

In April 2003, he returned to his homeland for

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 ...

. But in summer 2003, he left for

FC Tbilisi FC Tbilisi was a Georgian football team based in the capital Tbilisi. The club played their home games at Olimpi Stadium. FC Tbilisi were renamed Olimpi Rustavi after merging with second division club Rustavi. In the summer of 2008, the two c ...

, another Georgian club.

Greece & Ukraine

In January 2004, he moved to Greece for Giannina, signed a two-year contract. But at the end of season, he moved, this time to

Metalist Kharkiv Football Club Metalist Kharkiv, also known as Football Club Metalist Kharkov or FC Metalist Kharkov ( ), is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kharkiv that plays in the Ukrainian First League during the 2023–24 season. It was rev ...

, which is the longest club he played, from summer 2004 to winter 2007, except 2006/07 season spent on Arsenal Kiev. In December 2007, he signed a two-year contract with

Vorskla Poltava FC Vorskla Poltava ( ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Poltava. The team set to compete in Ukrainian First League, the second tier of Football in Ukraine, Ukrainian football after relegation from Ukrainian Premier League in ...

. In late 2009 he was disqualified until March 2010 for testing positive for doping. He said that he drank wine laced with

methadone Methadone, sold under the brand names Dolophine and Methadose among others, is a synthetic opioid used medically to treat chronic pain and opioid use disorder. Prescribed for daily use, the medicine relieves cravings and opioid withdrawal sym ...

to help with his depression caused by several of his relatives dying in a short period of time.

International career

A former U21 internationals, Jakobia received his first call-up on 18 August 2004 against

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

. he also in the squad of Georgian side in

UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Qualifying for the UEFA Euro 2008 finals tournament took place between August 2006 and November 2007. Fifty teams were divided into seven groups. In a Round-robin tournament, double round-robin system, each team played against each of the others ...

. He was call-up to the first match in August 2006, but just played three matches in the campaign in September and October 2007.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jakobia, Lasha 1980 births Living people Men's footballers from Georgia (country) Expatriate men's footballers from Georgia (country) Georgia (country) men's international footballers Men's association football forwards FC Dinamo Tbilisi players FC Metalist Kharkiv players FC Arsenal Kyiv players FC Vorskla Poltava players RFC Liège players Standard Liège players R.A.E.C. Mons (1910) players FC Rapid București players PAS Giannina F.C. players C.S. Visé players FC Hoverla Uzhhorod players Ukrainian Premier League players Ukrainian First League players Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Expatriate sportspeople from Georgia (country) in Ukraine Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Footballers from Tbilisi