FC Guria Lanchkhuti

FC Guria (Georgian: საფეხბურთო კლუბი გურია) is a Georgian association football club from Lanchkhuti. Following the 2025 season, they were promoted to Liga 3, the third tier of the national league.

Being one of the strongest Georgian teams in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Guria played in the Soviet Top league and also won the national cup. They later played fifteen seasons in the Umaglesi Liga, twice claiming silver medals.

The team plays their home matches at the Evgrapi Shevardnadze Stadium.

Formed in 1924^[1] as FC Kimi, the team ceased to exist after the start of World War 2 and resumed functioning in 1952 under the name "Kolmeurne", a Georgian word for the collective farm worker.

In 1960 the club was renamed as Guria. The next year they gained a first title by becoming champions of the republican league. During the subsequent decade the team won the Georgian Cup three times and the domestic league two more times, in 1966 and 1971, which enabled them to advance to the Soviet Association football.^[2]

Starting from 1972 Guria played in the Second League, the third tier of the Soviet football league, for seven years.

*Note: Lost promotion play-offs to Uralmash Sverdlovsk

Overall results shown by Guria in II League are the following:

Guria's remarkable progress was largely attributed to Shalva Kakabadze, who worked as head coach for record twenty years continuously from 1959 until 1980, and local government chairman Evgrapi Shevardnadze, brother of the Soviet Communist Party leader in Georgia Eduard Shevardnadze.^[3]

After the winning season in 1979, Guria were promoted to the First League, where they played for another seven consecutive years. 

Source

The very fact of promotion to the Soviet Top League for the team representing a provincial town seemed amazing. Football fervour around Guria grew so high that in most cases not a single seat was available during their matches, and some youngsters would climb up trees around the stadium to watch their favourite team. A pitch invasion during a 2–1 win over fierce rivals Daugava Riga resulted in the disqualification of stadium for three matches. For this reason, the final home game of the season against Yuri Semin's Lokomotive Moscow (1–0) was held in Batumi in front of 20,000 spectators.^[5]

It happened so that the struggling Guria that was almost relegated in the previous season managed to place 2nd soon after the native of Lanchkhuti, Eduard Shevardnadze became the Soviet foreign affairs minister.

Under head coach Begi Sikharulidze, some players especially contributed to this huge achievement.^[6] Besik Pridonashvili shone with 27 goals in 46 games, becoming a shared top goalscorer of the season.

Straight away after the promotion the football ground underwent a significant reconstruction and eventually the capacity of stadium in a town with 9,021 residents as of 1987 reached 22,000.^[7]

Between the 1983–84 and 1987–88 seasons the USSR occupied a second place after Italy in UEFA ranking,^[8] therefore, the Soviet Top League was a tough challenge for Guria. Being regarded as a decent home team, Guria beat Kairat 2–0, Neftchi 1–0, Dinamo Minsk 2–1, Dinamo Moscow 2–1 and Ararat 2–0, also played goalless draws against Dinamo Kyiv, Dinamo Tbilisi and future bronze medal holders Zalgiris, although poor results in away games doomed the club for relegation.

Guria did not succeed in a new promotion attempt, finishing in the 4th place in 1988, but the team still made headlines with a shock victory over Dinamo Kyiv (2–1) in the Cup 1/16 finals.^[9] The next year the Gurians once again displayed their powerful home run by winning all 21 games held in Lanchkhuti and earned a place in the Soviet Top League as runners-up of the 1989 season.^[10]

However, Guria were no longer destined to play again in the Soviet championship. On 15 February 1990, the Georgian Football Federation made a decision to break away from the Soviet Football Federation, withdraw all the teams from the Soviet leagues and form its own national championship with immediate effect.^[11] When this issue was put forward at Guria, most of the players defied the decision made by their board of directors in favour of the Soviet Top League and overwhelmingly voted to join the national league.^[12]

During the opening two seasons, Guria were the only team competing with Dinamo Tbilisi for top titles. They eliminated Dinamo 3–0 on aggregate from the semifinals and beat in-form Tskhumi with an extra-time goal scored by Pridonashvili in the 1990 cup final. Guria made history, becoming the first team to lift the national cup.^[13] Meanwhile, they finished twice in a row as runners-up of the league, losing the 1991 title contest by one point only.^[14] Midfielder Otar Korgalidze became the league topscorer for two successive seasons, netting 40 goals in the 1991–92 season alone.

In mid-1990s, Guria were plagued by poor form. After a bottom-four finish for four consecutive seasons, they suffered first relegation to tier 2 in 1999. To make things worse, the team failed to retain a place there in 2007 and fell to Meore Liga for one year. Their very name was subjected to changes, becoming Guria-Lokomotive-2 after the merger with Locomotive's reserve team in 2001, and Guria-2000 in 2008. In 2009 the team regained their popular name.

Guria's eleven-year wait for the top division came to an end in 2013. After winning 27 out of 33 games, the team finished on top of their Pirveli Liga group with a sixteen-point margin.^[15] A month before sealing promotion, Guria came close to knocking out Dinamo Tbilisi in the quarterfinals. After a goalless home draw, they leveled the score in the return leg but a late own goal dashed their hopes to progress on away goals.^[16]

For once Guria spent four seasons in the Umaglesi Liga up until 2016, when they were relegated following a playoff loss to 2015 champions Dila. A year later, the team dropped into the 3rd tier for the first time in ten years.^[17] As the club experienced another rapid decline in the late 2010s, 15 managers were replaced in a record-breaking thirty-month period.^[18] Although the team managed to go up for 2019, their tenure there did not last longer than one season.

Throughout the shortened 2020 season, Guria appeared poised for promotion. Yet, defeat to direct rivals in decisive last two games spelled failure for their main goal.^[19] In contrast, a year later the team mostly stayed inside the drop zone, although due to the points picked up close to the end they barely escaped yet another relegation.

Guria reached a new low in 2024, when they finished at the bottom of the table and suffered relegation to Liga 4. But with staunch support of their fans at a crucial point, the team achieved an immediate return to Liga 3. In most dramatic circumstances, Guria had to twice cancel out a two-goal deficit, including with two injury-time goals, to snatch a vital point on the final day of the 2025 season and earn first promotion in seven years.^[20]

Seasons spent in Georgian leagues since 1990:

• Umaglesi Liga (1st tier): 15
• Pirveli Liga / Erovnuli Liga 2 (2nd tier): 14
• Meore Liga / Liga 3 (3rd tier): 8
• Liga 4 (4th tier): 1

Correct up to 2026 season

• Soviet First League: (level 2)
• Soviet Second League: (level 3)
  • Winners: 1976, 1979
  • Runners-up: 1986, 1989
• Georgian Soviet Championship: (level 4)
  • Winners: 1961, 1966, 1971
  • Runners-up: 1960

• Umaglesi Liga (level 1)
  • Runners-up: 1990, 1991
• Pirveli Liga: (level 2)
  • Winners: 2000–01, 2012–13 (West)
• Meore Liga/Liga 3: (level 3)
  • Runners-up: 2007–08

• Georgian Soviet Cup:
  • Winners: 1965, 1966, 1971
• Georgian Cup:
  • Winners: 1990

• Otar Korghalidze – Top scorers – 14 goals, 1991 season
• Otar Korghalidze – Top scorers – 40 goals, 1991–92 season
• Zviad Endeladze – European Golden Boot – 40 goals, 1995–96 season (for Margveti Zestaponi)

In early 2020, by decree of the Georgian Ministry of Sport Begi Sikharulidze, Teimuraz Chkhaidze and Gigla Imnadze were awarded the Knight of Sport title for their distinguished contribution to Guria's victorious season in 1986.^[21]

A year later Begi Sikharulidze was awarded the title Honorary Citizen of Lanchkhuti.^[22]

As of 19 March 2026

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Mertskhali are considered to be Guria's bitter rivals. Initially, they were more or less on equal levels but their fixtures have become rare due to a significant advantage achieved by Guria over the last three decades.

• Profile on Soccerway
• FC Guria results on Flashscore
• Page on Facebook
• Guria, Georgian public television documentary(in Georgian)