Temuri Ketsbaia

Temuri Ketsbaia

Personal information
Date of birth	(1968-03-18) 18 March 1968
Place of birth	Gali, Georgia, Soviet Union
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Youth career
1986	Dinamo Sukhumi
1987	Dinamo Tbilisi
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1987–1992	Dinamo Tbilisi	104	(23)
1992–1994	Anorthosis	76	(36)
1994–1997	AEK Athens	84	(24)
1997–2000	Newcastle United	78	(8)
2000–2001	Wolverhampton Wanderers	24	(3)
2001–2002	Dundee	22	(6)
2002–2006	Anorthosis	99	(39)
Total		487	(139)
National team
1992–2003	Georgia	49	(16)
Teams managed
2004–2009	Anorthosis
2009	Olympiacos
2009–	Georgia
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Temuri "Temur" Ketsbaia (Georgian: თემურ ქეცბაია; born 18 March 1968 in Gali) is a Georgian football manager and former player. As a player he represented the Georgian national team and played for Dinamo Tbilisi, Anorthosis, AEK, Newcastle United, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Dundee.

Ketsbaia is often regarded as having played a major role in the revival of Anorthosis and he enjoys iconic status at the Cypriot club, since in his time there he elevated the team to the most successful era in its history. Anorthosis in 2010 decided to retire his number 14, recognising his services.

Playing career

Born in Gali, Abkhaz ASSR, Georgian SSR, he began his career with minor Georgian team Dinamo Sukhumi before transferring to Dinamo Tbilisi, the country's biggest team. He came to prominence whilst with Dinamo and earned a move to Cypriot club Anorthosis in 1992 and then to Greece with AEK Athens FC, winning the Greek Cup with the club.

Under the Bosman ruling, Ketsbaia became a free agent and joined Newcastle United in the summer of 1997. A popular figure with the fans, Ketsbaia is not only remembered for his performance, but also for his bizarre celebrations, such as throwing his shirt into the crowd and aggressively kicking the advertising hoardings (McDonald's and Adidas ones specifically) after scoring a goal against Bolton Wanderers.

As a Newcastle player, he participated in the 1998 and 1999 FA Cup Finals against Arsenal and Manchester United. Although Newcastle lost 2–0 on both occasions, these matches were the highlight of his football career.

In the summer of 1997 newly signed Ketsbaia scored a goal in extra-time against Croatia Zagreb and won a place for Newcastle United in the UEFA Champions League for the first time in their history.^[1]

He left St James' Park in 2000 to sign for Wolverhampton Wanderers and in 2001 joined Dundee.

Anorthosis

After his come back to Anorthosis on 2002 he became crowds fan favourite. He was the first coach that formed and directed a Cypriot team up to the Champions League qualification, just before the semi-finals. His name has been signed to the golden pages of Cypriot football. Things that characterized him are his realistic way that he used to react, talk and handle the press.

Managerial career

He returned to Anorthosis in the Summer of 2002 as a player-coach. He became player-manager in January 2004. In his first summer he bought 11 players, mostly well-known ones, who helped the team win the championship title in Ketsbaia's first full-season as a manager.

In the summer of 2005, Ketsbaia entered the Cypriot football hall of fame as Anorthosis beat Turkish side Trabzonspor in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League, despite being underdogs. However the following season was a disaster for Ketsbaia and Anorthosis as they finished 4th in the league and failed to qualify for Europe. In the summer of 2004, he made massive changes to the squad, bringing in eleven new players. He was hoping to re-establish Anorthosis as the dominant force in Cypriot football.

On 30 June 2007, Ketsbaia announced his retirement from professional football. His last match before retiring was held on July 14.^[2]

On 28 September 2008, he threw his name in the ring for the vacant Newcastle managers position. In an interview with the Sunday Mirror, he said: "I had a great opportunity to play at Newcastle as a player, so why not as a manager?" ^[3]

In the 2008–09 season, Anorthosis, having Ketsbaia at the wheel, was the first Cypriot team in history to reach the group stage of UEFA Champions League, after defeating Olympiacos 3–1 on aggregate in the third qualifying round. In the group stages they beat the Greek team Panathinaikos 3–1, drew both games with Werder Bremen. They drew (3–3) at home, and lost away 0–1 to Internazionale Milan. In the final game they had the opportunity of finishing second, but Anorthosis lost 0–1 away to Panathinaikos. With Inter (who had already qualified) losing 2–1 away to Werder they finished in fourth place, missing out on a place in the UEFA Cup.

In the week before the match club directors had gone to the police complaining of financial irregularities being carried out by the club President who was forced to resign, despite support from Ketsbaia and club supporters.^[4] Ketsbaia was reported as saying that he was no longer interested in coaching the team if the President was no longer running the club.

In April 2009, Ketsbaia stood down as coach of Anorthosis.^[5] On 25 May 2009 the chairman of Olympiacos announced that Ketsbaia had been appointed the club's manager on a three-year deal, replacing Ernesto Valverde;^[6] however, on 15 September 2009, Ketsbaia and Olympiacos parted company following early criticism from the club's supporters, despite Olympiakos not conceding a goal during his tenure.^[7][8]

In November 2009 he was announced as manager of the Georgian national side, which he represented 49 times as a player. He claimed that while he could not promise a major tournament in the near future, the team would fight to reach one.^[9] On 3 March 2010, Ketsbaia managed his first national team game, a friendly against Estonia in a 2–1 victory.

Managerial statistics

As of 10 September 2013.

Honours

As a player

Dinamo Tbilisi

• Georgian League: 1990, 1991, 1992
• Georgian Cup: 1992

AEK Athens

• Greek Cup: 1996, 1997
• Greek Super Cup: 1996

Anorthosis

• Cypriot Championship: 2005
• Cypriot Cup: 2003, 2007

As a coach

Anorthosis

• Cypriot Championship: 2005, 2008
• Cypriot Cup: 2007
• Cypriot Super Cup: 2007

References

External links

• "Ketsbaia.com" Temuri Ketsbaia's fans
• Career totals up to 2002
• Where are they now – Temuri Ketsbaia
• Ketsbaia compilation video
• Temuri Ketsbaia at National-Football-Teams.com
• bbc sport quotes of the week