FC Dinamo Batumi


FC Dinamo Batumi is a Georgian professional football club based in Batumi, Adjara that competes in the Erovnuli Liga, the top division of the [Football in Georgia (country)|national Association football|football system].
The club won the champion's title in 2021 and 2023, the Georgian Cup in [1997–98 Georgia (country)|Georgian Cup|1997–98], and two Georgian Super Cups, in 1998 and 2022. In 1990, they changed their name to FC Batumi, only to reverse the decision in 1994.
Dinamo play their home matches at Batumi Stadium.
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History

Early period

Prior to the formation of this club, there were some other teams existing in the city. In 1923 two newly established clubs called Mezgvauri and Tsiteli Raindi merged and became Dinamo Batumi.
Football was becoming more popular in Adjara later, although Dinamo participated only in the lower divisions of Soviet championship. However, there were some players in the club, who later became successful footballers in USSR, including Revaz Chelebadze, Nodar Khizanishvili and Vakhtang Koridze. The famous Greek footballer Andreas Niniadis also started his career in the club. He later played for Olympiacos and Greece national football team.
The team played the last six seasons of 1980s in the First league, the second Soviet division.

1990s and 2000s

The success for the Batumi-based club came when they won Georgian Cup in 1998, after losing two previous finals. The club defeated Dinamo Tbilisi in final. The goals were scored by Aleksandre Kantidze and Davit Chichveishvili. The club won Georgian Super Cup during the same year as well. They again defeated Dinamo Tbilisi, by 2–1. As one of the strongest teams of the league, starting from 1995 Dinamo represented the country in European competitions for four consecutive seasons.
The next decade turned out disappointing for Dinamo, which failed to notch up any success on either competition. Amid construction boom in Adjara, in 2006 the club lost their stadium, located at the seaside, to be sold and demolished. The Adeli stadium, which Dinamo started using as their home ground, met the same fate later on. It coincided with deteriorating performance in the league. After 2007-08 they were relegated for the first time to Pirveli Liga, where as debutants the club took 8th place in an 11-team league. Overall, Dinamo spent next five seasons out of six in the second division.

In search for success

From 2013/14 the club revived their ambitions, first to gain promotion to Umaglesi Liga and then to secure a place among the league leaders. Silver, taken in 2015, was followed by bronze the next year, but in 2017 Dinamo entered a period of instability with a drastic change of players and replacement of managers. Levan Khomeriki, the head coach for three successive years, left to be replaced by Ukrainian manager Kostyantyn Frolov, but he stepped down five months later. Aslan Baladze took charge of the team, which finished the season in the relegation zone, despite having some experienced players such as Otar Martsvaladze, David Kvirkvelia and Elguja Grigalashvili in the squad. Dinamo suffered a worse setback in the play-off as dramatic two-leg tie against Sioni Bolnisi ended 5:5 on aggregate and the penalty shoot-out determined the winner.
Prior to the new season in Liga 2 Gia Geguchadze was appointed in the club and with promotion set as their only goal, Dinamo convincingly won the league by an 11-point margin.

Progress on the pitch and beyond

2019 brought some more encouraging news. 100% share of Dinamo Batumi owned by the Adjarian government was awarded to Lamini Ltd for 49 years. Besides, a new prospect emerged for the issue of football ground, which had plagued the club for so long. While Dinamo played home matches either on their training base or at Rugby Arena, in January the government inaugurated the construction of a new UEFA category IV stadium with the capacity of 20,000 seats due to be completed in late 2020.
Back in the top flight Dinamo rushed to the title-chasing battle, in which they initially performed beyond expectations. As no other newly promoted club had ever won the league, Dinamo Batumi appeared close to setting this record, although at the crucial point they slipped up, first dropping two points against relegation-bound WIT Georgia and then losing to another unmotivated club altogether. Yet, the second place was definitely success for Dinamo, where some national team members - Jaba Jigauri, Giorgi Navalovski, Vladimer Dvalishvili - emerged at this stage.
Meanwhile, support for the club reached remarkable proportions by Georgian standards. While all of 1,500 seats on Angisa training base were full approximately three hours in advance, many more spectators watched the games from outside the fence. According to some estimates, an average number of fans per each match was around 6,400.
The 2020 Erovnuli Liga season, shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic, reflected a scenario resembling the previous year. After ten rounds Dinamo were unbeaten, but they then suffered two home defeats, including from direct rivals FC Dinamo Tbilisi, who won the championship.
On 27 October 2020, a long-awaited official opening ceremony was held in Batumi. Finally, the second placed club for two consecutive seasons representing the second largest city proudly moved into their home.
In early December UEFA announced that this stadium would host some of U21 European championship matches in 2023.

Champions

This ultimate triumph was made possible from a third straight attempt. With the same head coach into the fourth season and a largely retained squad, the team had some advantage over their rivals from Tbilisi who were plagued by a frequent change of managers and key players. One point picked up by the latter in four head-to-head matches indicated which side looked stronger this year. Besides, an impressive European campaign boosted the players from Adjara. As a result, seven of them were called up in early September for the national team's World Cup game against Spain.
Inspired by fervent supporters, Batumi won six matches with a large margin, including 8–1, the biggest win of the season, and lifted the Champion's Shield for the first time in their history. Subsequently, their seven players were named in Team of the Season.
Тhe club failed to defend the title in 2022 despite having a nine-point lead over the nearest rivals by mid-season. But they prevailed in another champion's race over the same opponent the next season. Their 2023 campaign was not as smooth as two years earlier, though. The club faced a mounting pressure from the fanbase who voiced their protest against an existing transfer policy after the departure of key players such as Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Zuriko Davitashvili and Sandro Altunashvili. Eventually, Gia Geguchadze, who had guided Dinamo to five trophies during his five-year tenure, left the club following the second consecutive premature elimination from the European season.
Being in a celebratory mood in view of their 100th anniversary and sitting on top of the table during the whole season, the team under new coach Andriy Demchenko comfortably regained the champion's title and, besides, reached the cup final for the first time in 25 years.

Statistics

Domestic

SeasonLeaguePos.PWDLGFGAPGeorgian CupSuper CupEurope
1990Umaglesi Liga6341879562861Semi-finalsN/A
1991Umaglesi Liga5191027282132Semi-finalsN/A
1991–92Umaglesi Liga93815617555851Quarter-finalsN/A
1992–93Umaglesi Liga113211615565639Runner-upN/A
1993–94Umaglesi Liga53216511634653Semi-finals
1994–95Umaglesi Liga4301668694054Runner-up
1995–96Umaglesi Liga6301668682854Runner-upRunner-upCWC 1st Round
1996–97Umaglesi Liga3301884712262Runner-upRunner-upCWC 1st Round
1997–98Umaglesi Liga2301875581962WinnerWinnerCWC QR
1998–99Umaglesi Liga53013116492250Quarter-finalsCWC QR
1999–00Umaglesi Liga4Semi-finals
2000–01Umaglesi Liga7Round of 16
2001–02Umaglesi Liga5Quarter-finals
2002–03Umaglesi Liga8Round of 16
2003–04Umaglesi Liga10Quarter-finals
2004–05Umaglesi Liga83691215353339Quarter-finals
2005–06Umaglesi Liga6301776422158Round of 16
2006–07Umaglesi Liga9268612273030Semi-finals
2007–08Umaglesi Liga13264418165116Round of 16
2008–09Pirveli Liga8309912334236
2009–10Pirveli Liga5281585441753Round of 32
2010–11Pirveli Liga5321895661863Round of 16
2011–12Pirveli Liga118133228942Round of 16
2012–13Umaglesi Liga11328717395531Round of 16
2013–14Pirveli Liga2261925651759Round of 16
2014–15Umaglesi Liga2301848402458Round of 16
2015–16Umaglesi Liga83012810413244Round of 16Europa League 1st QR
2016Umaglesi Liga31575323726Round of 32
2017Erovnuli Liga83610323286033Round of 32Europa League 1st QR
2018Liga 21362376602276Round of 16
2019Erovnuli Liga2362178573170Round of 32
2020Erovnuli Liga2181062291436Round of 16Europa League 1st QR
2021Erovnuli Liga13621123732775Semi-finalsUECL 3rd QR
2022Erovnuli Liga2362385873477Round of 16WinnerUCL 1st QR
UECL 2nd QR
2023Erovnuli Liga13621114834174Runner-upRunner-upUECL 1st QR
2024Erovnuli Liga436151011424155Quarter-finalsUCL 1st QR
UECL 2nd QR
2025Erovnuli Liga636111015405943Semi-finals-

Top scorers

SeasonDiv.PlayerGoals
2011/122nd

European campaigns

Dinamo's European history began with the 1995 Cup Winners' Cup competition. In a memorable home game against Celtic Glasgow more than 15,000 spectators witnessed good attacking football from both sides. The Georgians took the early lead but conceded twice in the first period. They equalized later and came close to the draw, although the Scots scored at the end of the regular time to cruise to victory.
A year later the draw paired Dinamo against PSV Eindhoven. Even though the Dutch side were the ultimate winners, Batumi played decently enough to earn a point in the first game. Goals in this game were scored by Amiran Mujiri and Luc Nilis.
Another remarkable event occurred in 1998 when they beat the powerful Yugoslav team Partizan Belgrade at home.
In 2021, the club narrowly missed out on UEFA Conference League play-offs after an extra-time draw at Sivasspor preceded by a sensational away victory over BATE Borisov.
CompetitionPldWDLGFGA
UEFA Champions League301225
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup125251818
UEFA Europa League5104110
UEFA Europa Conference League103341714
Total3096153847

SeasonCompetitionRoundClubHomeAwayAggregate
1995–96UEFA Cup Winners' CupQR

Managerial history

Notable managers

Below is the list of coaches who spent at least two seasons at Dinamo Batumi

Honours

Erovnuli Liga