| Clubname: | FC Kolkheti 1913 |
| Ground: | Fazisi Stadium Poti, Georgia |
| Capacity: | 6,000 |
| Chairman: | Zaza Inashvili |
| Manager: | Kakhaber Chkhetiani |
| League: | Erovnuli Liga |
| Season: | 2023 |
| Position: | 1st of 10 in Liga 2, promoted |
| Website: | kolkheti1913.ge |
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FC Kolkheti 1913, commonly referred to as Kolkheti Poti, is a Georgian football club based in Poti. Following the 2023 season, the club earned promotion to the Erovnuli Liga, the top division of Georgian football.
Being registered in 1913, Kolkheti is considered one of the oldest clubs in the South Caucasus.[1] Since the formation of independent Georgian leagues in 1990, they have spent 24 seasons in the top flight.
The football club from Poti under the name Kolkhida (Colchis) for many years was a member of the Georgian Soviet championship until early 1960s. From 1962 to 1990, they spent 24 seasons in fourth and third divisions of the Soviet football system, including last consecutive eleven years in zone 9 of the Second league, with the 2nd place in 1989 being the best result.[2]
When GFF formed the national league in early 1990, Kolkheti-1913 took part in an opening game against Iberia Tbilisi. The historic match held at Boris Paichadze stadium ended 1–0 in favour of the guest team.[3] Therefore, Kolkheti became the first club to win a game in the history of Georgian national leagues.
Throughout the first decade, the Kolkhs were considered one of the strongest rivals. Apart from 1992/93, when they finished in 9th place, the club completed each season among top five teams with twice, in 1993-94 and 1996–97, coming second.[4] In this period the team also earned the bronze medals three times.
This success of the club was largely contributed to their sponsors from mid-1990s, the naval port of Poti.
In 2006, after a foreign business company took over the port administration, the football club abruptly lost a significant income.[5] Despite being 10th among 16 clubs in 2005/06, due to the severe financial crisis Kolkheti had to quit the league.[6]
The club climbed back to Umaglesi Liga following the 2009/10 season, but returned to the second league three years later.[7] In 2011, a sponsorship deal with the naval port resumed to a less extent, which lasted for four years.[8]
Kolkheti were back in the top division in 2014–15, although further financial difficulties hit the club in 2018, which pushed them to the verge of bankruptcy. As Kolkheti amassed a large amount of debts, they were deducted six points. Eventually, the team was relegated.[9]
While in Liga 2, Kolkheti still could not afford to pay off debts. In an emergency statement, the club appealed for urgent help.[10] Meanwhile, they were slapped with another six-point deduction.[11] The overall situation badly affected the team. Three managers were sacked for unsatisfactory results within initial five months of the season.[12] The tide remained unchanged, though. Only in the last matchday did Kolkheti manage to avoid automatic relegation, but after being thrashed by Samgurali in play-offs they slumped to the third division.[13]
In the initial two seasons Kolkheti were among primary promotion-chasers, although in both cases they suffered a setback in pursuit for an automatic promotion spot. The play-off results proved also unsuccessful despite the team's unbeaten aggregate score in the regular time. First they failed to beat WIT Georgia on penalties,[14] and a year later lost in extra time to Rustavi on away goals.[15]
In 2022, too, Kolkheti ended up in the 2nd place. However, due to changes made in the competition format before this season, the club ended their three-year tenure in this division and won automatic promotion back to Liga 2.[16] This year another event occurred which had a big impact on Kolkheti. On 29 August, the municipal club was handed over to a company linked to football manager Mamuka Jugeli.[17] Kolkheti achieved a remarkable success in the 2nd division in 2023. While reaching the national cup semifinals, the team under head coach Davit Kvirkvelia emerged victorious after a dramatic hard-fought battle against Gareji for the first place, which enabled them to return to the Erovnuli Liga after a five-year absence.[18]
Based on successful performance in Umaglesi Liga, Kolkheti-1913 represented Georgia on UEFA Cup for four consecutive seasons from 1996 until 2000.
The only victory achieved in this competition against Dinamo Minsk was insufficient for qualifying for the next round. Having lost the first leg 0–1, Kolkheti conceded an early goal at home and scored twice afterwards, but the away goals rule gave a final advantage to their opponents.[19]
| Season | Competition | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | UEFA Intertoto Cup | GS | Zemun | 2–3 | - | 5th | |
 FF Jaro | - | 0–2 | |||||
 Guingamp | 1–3 | - | |||||
 Dinamo București | - | 0–2 | |||||
| 1997–98 | UEFA Cup | 1Q |  Dinamo Minsk | 2–1 | 0–1 | 2–2 | |
| 1998–99 | UEFA Cup | 1Q | Red Star Belgrade | 0–4 | 0–7 | 0–11 | |
| 1999 | UEFA Intertoto Cup | 1R |  Cementarnica 55 | 0–4 | 2–4 | 2–8 |
| Year | Div. | Pos | P | W | D | L | GF–GA | Pts | Cup | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 1st | 5/18 | 34 | 19 | 5 | 10 | 53-31 | 62 | Quarterfinals | |
| 1991 | 1st | 4/20 | 19 | 10 | 3 | 6 | 30-19 | 33 | — | |
| 1991/92 | 1st | 5/20 | 38 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 49-45 | 56 | Round of 32 | |
| 1992/93 | 1st | 9/17 | 32 | 12 | 6 | 14 | 47-45 | 42 | Round of 16 | |
| 1993/1994 | 1st, Group West | bgcolor=Gold | 1/8 | 14 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 36-21 | 29 | |
| 1-10 Places | bgcolor=Silver | 2/10 | 18 | 14 | 2 | 2 | 51-20 | 44 | ||
| 1994/95 | 1st | 3/16 | 30 | 20 | 3 | 7 | 72-28 | 63 | Round of 32 | |
| 1995/96 | 1st | 3/16 | 30 | 22 | 2 | 6 | 69-38 | 68 | Quarterfinals | |
| 1996/97 | 1st | bgcolor=Silver | 2/16 | 30 | 20 | 4 | 6 | 75-28 | 64 | Quarterfinals |
| 1997-98 | 1st | 3/16 | 30 | 17 | 6 | 7 | 56-27 | 57 | Quarterfinals | |
| 1998/99 | 1st | 4/16 | 30 | 15 | 7 | 8 | 57-36 | 52 | Round of 16 | |
| 1999/2000 | 1st, Group B | bgcolor=Silver | 2/8 | 14 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 19-15 | 25 | |
| 1-8 Places | 5/8 | 14 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 18-10 | 37 | |||
| 2000/01 | 1st | 6/12 | 22 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 22-18 | 31 | ||
| 1-6 Places | 5/6 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 10-19 | 24 | |||
| 2001/02 | 1st | 5/12 | 22 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 32-29 | 35 | ||
| 1-6 Places | 4/6 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 9-16 | 26 | |||
| 2002/03 | 1st | 6/12 | 22 | 9 | 3 | 10 | 28-33 | 30 | ||
| 1-6 Places | 6/6 | 10 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 5-23 | 20 | |||
| 2003/04 | 1st | 9/12 | 22 | 7 | 3 | 12 | 18-35 | 24 | Round of 16 | |
| 7-12 Places | 8/12 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 14-6 | 33 | |||
| 2004/05 | 1st | 9/10 | 36 | 9 | 5 | 22 | 32-63 | 32 | ||
| 2005/06 | 1st | bgcolor=LimeGreen | 10/16 | 30 | 9 | 5 | 16 | 26-35 | 32 | |
| 2006/07 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 2007/08 | 2nd | 5/10 | 27 | 11 | 7 | 9 | 36-33 | 40 | ||
| 2008/09 | 2nd | 5/11 | 30 | 13 | 6 | 11 | 45-40 | 45 | ||
| 2009/10 | 2nd, Group A | bgcolor=Silver | 2/15 | 28 | 19 | 4 | 5 | 63-21 | 61 | Quarterfinals |
| 2010/11 | 1st | 7/10 | 36 | 10 | 10 | 16 | 25-47 | 40 | ||
| 2011/12 | 1st | 8/12 | 22 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 19-24 | 26 | ||
| 2012/13 | 1st | 10/10 | 22 | 0 | 4 | 18 | 11-43 | 4 | Round of 16 | |
| Relegation round | bgcolor=LimeGreen | 6/6 | 32 | 3 | 8 | 21 | 22-56 | 17 | ||
| 2013/14 | 2nd, Group A | bgcolor=Silver | 2/13 | 24 | 17 | 4 | 3 | 51-13 | 55 | 2nd Round |
| 2014/15 | 1st | 10/16 | 30 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 31-31 | 37 | ||
| 2015/16 | 1st | 12/16 | 30 | 7 | 6 | 17 | 21-41 | 27 | 2nd Round | |
| 1st, Group Red | 4/7 | 12 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 10-18 | 18 | |||
| 2017 | 1st | 9/10 | 36 | 6 | 8 | 22 | 31-73 | 26 | 5th Round | |
| 2018 | 1st | bgcolor=LimeGreen | 10/10 | 36 | 4 | 8 | 24 | 26-76 | 14 | 3rd Round |
| 2019 | 2nd | bgcolor=LimeGreen | 9/10 | 36 | 10 | 4 | 22 | 31-80 | 28 | 3rd Round |
| 2020 | 3rd | bgcolor=Silver | 2/10 | 18 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 47-18 | 38 | 2nd Round |
| 2021 | 3rd | bgcolor=Silver | 2/10 | 26 | 14 | 7 | 5 | 54-28 | 49 | 2nd Round |
| 2022 | 3rd | bgcolor=Silver | 2/16 | 30 | 21 | 6 | 3 | 76-29 | 69 | 3rd Round |
| 2023 | 2nd | 1/16 | 36 | 23 | 8 | 5 | 70-28 | 77 | Semifinals |
Seasons spent in Georgian leagues since 1990: • Umaglesi Liga / Erovnuli Liga (1st tier): 25
• Pirveli Liga / Erovnuli Liga 2 (2nd tier): 6
• Meore Liga / Liga 3 (3rd tier): 3
Correct up to 2024 season
As of 8 August 2024[20]
(C)
| Name | Nat. | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| Soso Pilia |  | November 2012 | June 2013 |
| Zaza Inashvili | | July 2013 | October 2015 |
| Gela Sanaia | | October 2015 | August 2017 |
| Oleksandr Shtelin |  | September 2017 | December 2017 |
| February 2018 | March 2018 | ||
| Nugzar Tvaradze | | March 2018 | September 2018 |
| Viktor Demidov | September 2018 | December 2018 | |
| Paata Metreveli | | February 2019 | April 2019 |
| Soso Pilia | | April 2019 | June 2019 |
| Giorgi Krasovski | | June 2019 | August 2019 |
| Nugzar Tvaradze | | August 2019 | October 2019 |
| Vladimer Chkonia | | October 2019 | December 2019 |
| Davit Makharadze | | February 2020 | October 2020 |
| Nugzar Tvaradze | | October 2020 | December 2020 |
| Giorgi Krasovski | | February 2021 | June 2021 |
| Gia Gigatadze | | June 2021 | May 2022 |
| | June 2022 | April 2024 | |
| Klimenti Tsitaishvili (interim) | | April 2024 | May 2024 |
| Kakhaber Chkhetiani | | May 2024 |
The Fazisi arena was built in 1961. Its reconstruction got under way in 2013, but it took seven years before the works were completed. Meanwhile, Kolkheti-1913 held their home games on Rugby Arena in Poti or in some neighbouring cities. Football returned to Fazisi in October 2019.[22]