Willy Sagnol, the head coach of the Georgian national football team, on Wednesday named his squad for the upcoming Euro 2024 tournament in Germany.
The team includes goalkeepers Giorgi Mamardashvili (playing for Valencia, Spain), Giorgi Loria (Dinamo Tbilisi, Georgia) and Luka Gugeshashvili (Karabakh, Azerbaijan).
The line-up for defenders involves Solomon Kverkvelia (Al-Okhdood Club, Saudi Arabia), Guram Kashia (Slovan, Slovakia), Giorgi Gvelesiani (Persepolis, Iran), Lasha Dvali (Apoel, Cyprus), Luka Lochoshvili (Cremonese, Italy), Otar Kakabadze (Krakow, Poland), Giorgi Gocholeishvili (Shakhtar, Ukraine) and Jimy Tabidze (Panetolikos, Greece).
For his squad of midfielders and forwards, Sagnol has called up Otar Kiteishvili (Sturm, Austria), Nika Kvekveskiri (Lech, Poland), Giorgi Chakvetadze (Watford, England), Giorgi Tsitaishvili (Dinamo Batumi, Georgia), Levan Shengelia (Panetolikos, Greece), Sandro Altunashvili (Wolfsberger, Austria), Giorgi Kochorashvili (Levante, Spain), Jaba Kankava (Slovan, Slovakia), Anzor Mekvabishvili (Craiova, Romania), Giorgi Mikaoutadze (Metz, France), Budu Zivzivadze (Karlsruhe, Germany), Giorgi Kvilitaia (Apoel, Cyprus) Zuriko Davitashvili (Bordeaux, France), Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Napoli, Italy) and Saba Lobzhanidze (Atlanta United, USA).
The national team will play their first match against Turkey on June 18, with Group F also involving Portugal and Czech Republic.
In his remarks, Sagnol noted that talking about whether “we will qualify for the play-off stage or not is too much pressure for the players”.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Monday announced an upcoming sale of airline tickets subsidised by the state to enable fans of the national football team to travel to the European Football Championship in Germany, as well as an increase in the bonus for the national team to qualify for the knockout stage of the tournament.
The PM noted the bonus for the squad to qualify for the playoff stage of the competition from their group would be increased from ₾850,000 ($317,784) to ₾3 million ($1.12mln).