Otar Kiteishvili () ( ka, ოთარ კიტეიშვილი; born 26 March 1996) 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for Austrian Bundesliga Club SK Sturm Graz and the Georgia national team. A product of

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 ...

academy, Kiteishvili has won four titles at the club. He is also the two-time winner of the

Austrian Cup The Austrian Cup (), known as UNIQA ÖFB Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual football competition held by the Austrian Football Association, the ÖFB. During the 2008–09 season, Austria Wien won the tournament for a record 27th time. Wo ...

. Individually, Kiteishvili has been twice named as Best Young Player in

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 ...

. In May 2024, the Austrian Bundesliga officials selected him Player of the Season.

Club career

Dinamo Tbilisi

Kiteishvili began his career in

. In April 2014, he was sent on loan to League rivals Metalurgi Rustavi. He made his debut on 7 May in the eighth matchday of 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 ...

championship round against Sioni Bolnisi, netting his side's second goal after coming on as a substitute for Kakhaber Kakashvili in a 2–0 home win. In the winter break of the 2014–15 season, he returned to Dinamo Tbilisi. After playing 14 games for Rustavi in the top Georgian league in the first half of the season, he played as many games for Dinamo after his return. Kiteishvili scored his first league goal for the club on 3 October 2015, which proved to be the match-winner in a 1–0 home win over

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 ...

. Kiteishvili won the best Georgian young player's award twice in a row in 2015 and 2016. Besides, the Football Federation named him in a symbolic team of the 2017 season. Being now Dinamo's captain at age 22, he was also recognized as the best player of part II in the 2018 Erovnuli Liga season. Kiteishvili made 98 league appearances for Dinamo Tbilisi, in which he scored 17 goals.

Sturm Graz

On 31 July 2018, Kiteishvili moved to

Sturm Graz Sportklub Sturm Graz is an Austrian professional association football club, based in Graz, playing in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1909. Its colours are black and white. In its history, Sturm Graz has won the Austr ...

in the

Austrian Football Bundesliga The Bundesliga ( , "Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Austria and the highest level of the Austrian football league system. The competition decides the A ...

, where he signed a four-year contract, later extended until the summer of 2024. He made his debut on 12 August in the third matchday of the domestic league against SKN St. Pölten, coming on as a substitute in the 68th minute for Lukas Grozurek of a 2–0 away loss. On 2 December, Kiteishvili scored his first goal for Sturm Graz to secure the 3–0 final score in a victory against

Wolfsberger AC Wolfsberger AC, commonly referred to as Wolfsberg or simply WAC, is an Austrian association football club from Wolfsberg, Carinthia, who currently play in the Austrian Bundesliga. Between the 2007–08 and 2011–12 seasons, Wolfsberger AC enter ...

. Оn 30 April 2023, he won the first trophy with this club following a 2–0

Cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

victory over

Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid (), commonly known as Rapid Wien or Rapid Vienna in English, is an Austrian professional football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the f ...

. He won the Cup for a second time on 1 May 2024, following another victory over Rapid Vienna, this time 2–1. He provided the assist for the winning goal. At the end of this season, which was most prolific during his six-year tenure at Sturm, Kiteishvili was voted Player of the Season by presidents, managers and coaches of the Bundesliga clubs.

Personal life

Kiteishvili has a younger brother, Paata, who has spent most of his career at

Rustavi Rustavi ( ka, რუსთავი ) is a city in the southeast of Georgia, in the region of Kvemo Kartli and southeast of capital Tbilisi. It has a population of 127,154 (January 2024), making it the third most populous city in Georgia. Its eco ...

. Married to Ela Zarnadze, Otar has a daughter, Livia, born in December 2021.

Career statistics

Club

International

Kiteishvili made his debut for the

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 ...

on 23 January 2017 in a friendly against

Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

. :''Scores and results list Georgia's goal tally first.'' , - !scope=row, , 9 June 2022 , ,

Toše Proeski Arena National Arena Toše Proeski () is a sports stadium in Skopje, North Macedonia. It is currently used mostly for Association football, football matches, but also for concerts or athletics. It is the home stadium of FK Vardar, Vardar and FK Rabotn ...

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

, North Macedonia , , , , align=center , 3–0 , , align=center , 3–0 , ,

2022–23 UEFA Nations League C The 2022–23 UEFA Nations League C was the third division of the 2022–23 edition of the UEFA Nations League, the third season of the international football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA. ...

, - !scope=row, , 15 October 2023 , ,

Mikheil Meskhi Stadium The Mikheil Meskhi Stadium ( ka, მიხეილ მესხის სტადიონი ''mikheil meskhis st’adioni''), also known as the Lokomotivi Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in Tbilisi, Georgia named after the famous Georgian ...

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 ( ...

, Georgia , , , , align=center , 1–0 , , align=center , 4–0 , ,

UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2023 to March 2024 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams that would join the automatically qualified host team Germany in the UEFA Eur ...

, - !scope=row, , 9 June 2024 , ,

Podgorica City Stadium Podgorica City Stadium ( cnr-Latn, Stadion pod Goricom, Стадион под Горицом) is an all-seater multi-purpose stadium in Podgorica, Montenegro. Its seating capacity changed over the years due to several renovations, as of 2019 it h ...

Podgorica Podgorica ( cnr-Cyrl, Подгорица; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Montenegro, largest city of Montenegro. The city is just north of Lake Skadar and close to coastal destinations on the Adriatic Sea. Histor ...

, Montenegro , , , , align=center , 1–0 , , align=center , 3–1 , , Friendly , - !scope=row, , 23 March 2025 , ,

Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena The Boris Paitchadze Dinamo Arena ( ''Boris P’aich’adzis erovnuli st’adioni''), formerly known as Boris Paitchadze National Stadium, is a stadium in Tbilisi, Georgia, and the home stadium of FC Dinamo Tbilisi, Dinamo Tbilisi, Georgia natio ...

, Tbilisi, Georgia , , , , align=center , 5–0 , , align=center , 6–1 , , 2024–25 UEFA Nations League promotion/relegation play-off , -

Honours

Dinamo Tbilisi *

: 2015–16 *

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 ...

: 2014–15, 2015–16 *

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 ...

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 ...

Sturm Graz *

Austrian Bundesliga The Bundesliga ( , "Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Austria and the highest level of the Austrian football league system. The competition decides the A ...

: 2023–24, 2024–25 *

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, 2023–24 Individual * Austrian Bundesliga Player of the Season: 2023–24 * Georgian Young Player of the Year: 2015, 2016

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kiteishvili, Otar Living people 1996 births Sportspeople from Rustavi Footballers from Kvemo Kartli Men's footballers from Georgia (country) UEFA Euro 2024 players Georgia (country) men's under-21 international footballers Georgia (country) men's youth international footballers 21st-century sportsmen from Georgia (country) Georgia (country) men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders FC Dinamo Tbilisi players FC Metalurgi Rustavi players SK Sturm Graz players Expatriate sportspeople from Georgia (country) in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Austrian Football Bundesliga players Recipients of the Order of Honor (Georgia)