FC Samgurali (Georgian: საფეხბურთო კლუბი სამგურალი) is a Georgian association football club from Tskaltubo, which takes part in the Erovnuli Liga, the first tier of Georgian football.
They have been runners-up of the Georgian Cup three times.
Formed in 1945 as FC Medic, the football club from Tskaltubo had the most prolific years in the 1980s. Between 1983 and 1990 under the name Shadrevani 83 they became champions of the Georgian Soviet league three times, once finished as runners-up and once won bronze medals.
When Georgian Football Federation formed an independent championship in 1990, Samgurali spent eight out of the initial ten seasons in the top flight. In 1999/2000, they finished in the drop zone and left the league. In this period the team experienced the worst decade in their history as they ceased to exist for four years.[1]
Samgurali gained promotion to the second division in 2010 and stayed there as a stable member for nine successive seasons. The team finished as group runners-up in the 2016 transitional tournament, when the promotion rule was suspended.[2] Two years later they slipped into the relegation zone after the last round. Worse was yet to come, as Samgurali suffered a play-off defeat on away goals.[3]
Despite this setback, following the club's purchase by new owners in the summer of 2019, ambitious promotion plans were unveiled.[4] It took Samgurali a year to climb back to Liga 2. The team came 2nd in the regular season and secured a convincing victory in both play-off ties.[5] The next season brought another triumph. The club prevailed over their opponents again in both games and returned to the first tier after an eighteen-year break.[6] This double promotion in two consecutive years was achieved under head coach Ucha Sosiashvili.
Due to his impressive performance in the league, striker Sergo Kukhianidze became the first Samgurali player who was called up to the national team for friendly games in June 2021.[7]
In 2022, Samgurali had a memorable season, which could have resulted in their first top-league medals since 1990. As primary contenders for the third place, the team needed to play at least a draw in the final day of the season against rivals Dila Gori. But they threw away this initial advantage and ended up fourth for the second time in their recent history.[8]
Apart from winning promotion to Erovnuli Liga, the team in 2020 also achieved an impressive success by reaching the final of David Kipiani Cup for the first time since 1999. As in the previous case though, they again lost the final game on penalty shoot-out.[9]
Nor the third attempt made the next year was fruitful. Having won four away games en route to the final, Samgurali were defeated in the regular time with a narrow margin.[10]
With 41 goals scored in the 1992/93 season, Merab Megreladze has been the leading goalscorer not only in the history of Samgurali, but also in the Georgian top football division since its creation in 1990.[11]
As of 20 July 2024[12]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Giorgi Gogiashvili (August 2011 – July 2016) Gia Gigatadze (August 2016 – May 2018) Besik Khachiperadze (May 2018 – January 2019) Mikheil Makhviladze (January – September 2019) Ucha Sosiashvili (September 2019 – April 2021)[13] Samson Pruidze (April – December 2021) Giorgi Mikadze (December 2021 – December 2022)[14] Giorgi Chelidze (January – September 2023)[15]
Oleksandr Poklonskyi (October – December 2023) Mikheil Ashvetia (since December 2023)Samgurali have several teams participating in different youth tournaments. The reserve team known as Samgurali-2, which has recently spent one season in the third division, won Regionuli Liga Group West in 2021 and became a member of Liga 4.[16]
The local football ground named after 26 May, the Georgian Independence Day, has undergone a several-phase reconstruction since 2018. After individual seats were installed, the arena has the capacity of 3,500.[17]