Football: Georgia begins FIFA World Cup campaign vs Austria

Georgia's National Football Team will kick off its quest to compete in the team’s first ever FIFA World Cup by playing Austria this evening at Dinamo Arena in capital Tbilisi.

Georgia and Austria are part of a pre-World Cup competition involving nine groups with 52 European nations, each competing for 13 spots at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Georgia is part of Group D alongside Wales, Austria, Serbia, Republic of Ireland and Moldova. 

All teams in Group D will begin their World Cup qualifying campaign today; Wales will take on Moldova while Serbia will challenge Ireland in a home game.

At the end of the year-long qualification campaign, top-placed teams from all nine groups will automatically advance to the next FIFA World Cup.

The next eight teams will then face each other in a knockout round to reveal four more nations who will compete in the 2018 tournament.

Watch a snapshot of Georgia’s Sunday training session below:

Georgia's coach Vladimir Weiss will field a strong team against visiting Austria, with the exception of two key players. Midfielder Jaba Kankava and striker Otar Martsvaladze will miss tonight’s match through injury or health problems.

The Georgian side enjoyed its final training session on Sunday ahead of tonight’s game, where players were put through their paces at the Football Club Zestafoni stadium near Tbilisi Sea.

The FIFA World Cup qualifying stage started on Sunday where nine games were played by other European teams.

Meanwhile teams from Africa, Asia, Oceania, South America as well as North, Central America and the Caribbean will compete for places at the 2018 FIFA World Cup – the world’s principal football tournament – which will be played in Russia from June 14 to July 15, 2018.

Details of the Georgian team and Group D of the European qualification series can be found on the official tournament website here.

The match between Georgia and Austria will kick off at 8pm Tbilisi local time.