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Zuriko "Zuka" Davitashvili () ( ka, ზურიკო დავითაშვილი, tr; born 15 February 2001) 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
left winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...
for
Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...
club
Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...
and the Georgia national team. He also plays as an
attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...
.


Club career


Early career

Davitashvili made his career debut 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 ...
on 29 September 2017 in a match against Kolkheti Poti. He came on the pitch in the 72nd minute. In 2018, he moved to Locomotive Tbilisi. In the same year ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' named Davitashvili among 60 best young players worldwide. As a distinguished player of the Georgian U17 team, he received a golden medal from the Football Federation. Тhis acknowledgement resulted from his highly prolific performance in two qualifying rounds of 2018 European U17 championship. Being captain of the team, he scored seven goals in six matches, including a poker against N.Macedonia. A year later he was named as the best young Georgian football player of the season.


Russia

On 29 June 2019, Davitashvili signed a three-year contract with
Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...
club
Rubin Kazan FC Rubin Kazan (; ) is a Russian professional football club based in the city of Kazan. They play in the Russian Premier League. Founded in 1958, Rubin played its first-ever top flight season in 2003. It has remained there through the 2021–2 ...
. He made his Russian Premier League debut for Rubin on 15 July 2019 in the season opener against
Lokomotiv Moscow FC Lokomotiv Moscow (, ) is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Moscow. Lokomotiv have won the Russian Premier League on three occasions; the Soviet Cup twice; and the Russian Cup (football), Russian Cup a record ...
, as a starter.
UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...
included Zuriko Davitashvili in the list of fifty young talents in early 2020. On 20 August 2020, Davitashvili joined
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 for the 2020–21 season. On 16 July 2021, his contract with Rubin was terminated by mutual consent. Four days later, he signed for Arsenal Tula.


Return to Georgia

On 23 March 2022, Davitashvili signed with Dinamo Batumi. After the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
,
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 ...
gave foreign players playing in Russia the permission to terminate their contract immediately.


Bordeaux

On 2 September 2022, Davitashvili moved to
Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...
on a one-year loan deal. His goal in a debut game helped his new club to secure victory over
Dijon Dijon (, ; ; in Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Digion'') is a city in and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eas ...
on 17 September. Following the 2022–23 season, the club exercised the option to purchase him on a four-year deal. During his two-year tenure at Bordeaux, Davitashvili made 71 appearances, scoring 14 goals and providing 12 assists.


Saint-Étienne

On 11 July 2024, Davitashvili signed for
Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...
club
Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...
on a four-year contract, for a transfer fee of €5 million plus €1 million in potential bonuses. On 27 July, he made a debut in a friendly game against
Villarreal Villarreal (officially, in ) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's capital ( ...
, in which he scored a brace. On 5 October 2024, Davitashvili got himself on the scoresheet in an official league match as well. His
hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...
, the first delivered by a Georgian player in the French top league, sealed a 3–1 win over
Auxerre Auxerre ( , , Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Auchoirre'') is the capital (Prefectures in France, prefecture) of the Yonne Departments of France, department and the fourth-largest city in the Burgundy historical region southeast of Par ...
. One of these goals was consequently voted goal of the month. Moreover, after two more goals scored against
Angers Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...
on 26 October, Davitashvili was named Player of the Month by UNFP.


International career

Before 2016, Davitashvili played for the Georgia under-17s. After 2017, he played for the Georgia under-19s. He made his debut for Georgia national team on 5 September 2019 in a friendly against
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 ...
, as a starter. Three days later in a friendly game against
Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
he netted his first goal. Davitashvili took part in 2023 European U21 Championship, co-hosted by
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 ...
. His stunning solo goal scored against
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
in a 1–1 draw, which proved crucial for winning the group stage, was selected by
UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...
among the top three goals of the tournament. For his display Davitashvili received the Player of the Match award. Davitashvili appeared in Georgia's all matches both in the
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 ...
stages and
Euro 2024 The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2024 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2024) or simply Euro 2024, was the 17th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international football championship organised by U ...
championship. On 2 July 2024, along with other squad members he received the Order of Honour.


Personal life

Zuriko Davitashvili is the son of former football player
Suliko Davitashvili Suliko Davitashvili ( ka, სულიკო დავითაშვილი; born 11 December 1977) is a retired Georgia (country), Georgian Association football, football player and manager. Being the three-time Georgian Cup, national cup ...
, who later became a football coach working with youth teams and at professional clubs such as
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 ...
. Zuriko has a sister and younger brother. He got married in 2023. The birth of his son was announced in November 2023.


Career statistics


Club


International


Source
' :''Scores and results list Georgia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Davitashvili goal''.


Honours

Georgia U17 * Kazakhstan President Cup runner-up:
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 ...
Individual * Kazakhstan President Cup top scorer: 2017 * U19 Player of the Year in Georgia: 2018 * Best Georgian Young Player: 2019 * Order of Honour: 2024 * UNFP Ligue 1 Player of the Month: October 2024 * Ligue 1 Goal of the Month: October 2024


References


External links

*
profile
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Davitashvili, Zuriko 2001 births Footballers from Tbilisi Living people Men's footballers from Georgia (country) 21st-century sportsmen from Georgia (country) Georgia (country) men's youth international footballers Georgia (country) men's under-21 international footballers Georgia (country) men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders UEFA Euro 2024 players FC Dinamo Tbilisi players FC Locomotive Tbilisi players FC Rubin Kazan players FC Rotor Volgograd players FC Arsenal Tula players FC Dinamo Batumi players FC Girondins de Bordeaux players AS Saint-Étienne players Erovnuli Liga players Russian Premier League players Ligue 2 players Ligue 1 players Expatriate men's footballers from Georgia (country) Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Expatriate sportspeople from Georgia (country) in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate sportspeople from Georgia (country) in France Recipients of the Order of Honor (Georgia)