National football team captain thanks ruling party founder, charity foundation for support for Georgian football

Georgian national football team captain Guram Kashia on Thursday thanked Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder and the Honorary Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, and the Cartu Charity Foundation on behalf of the national team for their support for the Georgian football.

The statement came after Ivanishvili allocated $11 million as a reward to the Georgian national football team for successfully competing at the European Championship in Germany and reaching the round of 16.

The members of the national team have already received the mentioned amount as a reward, the Georgian Football Federation said. 

“On behalf of the national team, I would like to thank Bidzina Ivanishvili and the Cartu Charity Foundation for appreciating our work and supporting football. This is very important for our country and for further development of our favourite sport”, Kashia said. 

I want to thank everyone, every single fan, for their support over the past months. What was happening on the streets of Tbilisi on the evening of July 2 brought great happiness and energy to each member of our team. It is with your support and unity that we have achieved this historic result, which is playing at the European Championship and being among the 16 best teams. With this unity and teamwork, we should continue our path and work for new successes”, he concluded.

The team’s journey on their major tournament debut earned them praise for their performances, including a surprising 2-0 victory over Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal in the final group stage match.

The win earned the squad a spot in the playoff round as the best third-placed team from the pool stage, where they lost to Spain 4-1 in the last 16 round.