FC Spaeri
Football club
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
FC Spaeri (Georgian: საფეხბურთო კლუბი სპაერი) is a Georgian professional association football club based in Tbilisi. Following the 2025 season, the club gained promotion to Erovnuli Liga, the top tier of Georgian football.
| Founded | 2017 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ground | Spaeri Stadium, Tbilisi | |||
| Capacity | 2,500 | |||
| Chairman | Zurab Javakhishvili | |||
| Manager | Anzor Kighuradze | |||
| League | Erovnuli Liga | |||
| 2025 | 2nd of 10 in Liga 2 (promoted) | |||
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Along with Gagra, they are the only 2nd division club to have won the Georgian Cup.[1]
History
Spaeri was established in 2017 by five individuals working in the Special State Protection Service.[2] The team mostly consisted of the servicemen of this organization and initially participated in the Tbilisi Open League - the then 5th (now 6th) and lowest level of the league pyramid[3] before becoming a member of the Regionuli Liga.[4]
Spaeri finished the 2018 season as runners-up and obtained the right to take part in the newly created Liga 4. Having won 21 games out of 27, they claimed the 2019 Liga 4 title and won automatic promotion to Liga 3.
Their debut in the third division was impressive with Spaeri vying for a promotion play-off place up until the last matchday. Eventually, the club came two points short of third place.[5]
The team improved their performance in 2021 and, following an unbeaten run in 20 league games, won the 2021 Liga 3 title six rounds before the end of the season.[6]
Initially, they did not seem encouraging in the second division. With a single point in their initial four matches, Spaeri were sitting bottom of the table. However, the team quickly recovered, produced the longest unbeaten streak of the season and qualified for the promotion play-offs by coming 2nd in the league. Forward Levan Papava became the top scorer of the league with 17 goals netted during the regular season.[7] He added a brace in a dramatic promotion-relegation tie against Erovnuli Liga side Gagra but the team failed to secure promotion as Gagra won on penalties.[8] Spaeri took part in playoffs a year later as well, only to lose to Telavi.
In 2024, Spaeri managed to win the Georgian Cup, defeating Dinamo Tbilisi in the final.[9] Doing so, they qualified for their first time ever to European football, securing a spot in the 2025–26 UEFA Conference League second qualifying round. When Flashscore summed up European cup seasons in June 2025, it named Spaeri's triumph among the ten biggest "cupsets".[10]
In their debut performance in the Super Cup, the team produced a dominant display over Torpedo Kutaisi to reach the final where they fell to a late defeat against Dila.[11] Later in the same season, Spaeri qualified for Erovnuli Liga playoffs for the third time in four years. This time they cruised to a narrow victory over their 1st league rivals and advanced to the top league.[12]
Seasons
| Season | League | Position | P | W | D | L | GF–GA | Pts | Cup |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Tbilisi Open League | 1st of 9↑ | 21 | 19 | 2 | 0 | 112-18 | 59 | Did not enter |
| 2018 | Regionuli Liga, Group A | 2nd of 11↑ | 20 | 15 | 4 | 1 | 79-18 | 61 | 1st Round |
| 2019 | Liga 4 | 1st of 10↑ | 27 | 21 | 1 | 5 | 73-29 | 64 | 3rd Round |
| 2020 | Liga 3 | 4th of 10 | 18 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 31-20 | 30 | 3rd Round |
| 2021 | 1st of 10↑ | 26 | 20 | 4 | 2 | 79-20 | 64 | 3rd Round | |
| 2022 | Erovnuli Liga 2 | 2nd of 10[a] | 28 | 15 | 6 | 7 | 57-35 | 51 | Round of 16 |
| 2023 | 3rd of 10[b] | 36 | 20 | 6 | 10 | 68-48 | 66 | Round of 16 | |
| 2024 | 5th of 10 | 36 | 14 | 9 | 13 | 50–47 | 51 | Winners | |
| 2025 | 2nd of 10↑[c] | 30 | 17 | 13 | 6 | 54-34 | 64 | Quarterfinals |
European competitions
| Season | Competition | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025–26 | UEFA Conference League | 2nd qualifying round | 0–2 | 0–5 | 0–7 |
Current squad
16 March 2026[13]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Managers
Other teams
Spaeri has a youth academy with its teams taking part in different leagues and tournaments. The reserve team called Spaeri-2 competes in Regionuli Liga.[14]
Stadium
Honours
League
- Erovnuli Liga 2
- Liga 3
- Winners (1): 2021
- Liga 4
- Winners (1): 2019
- Regionuli Liga
- Runners-up (1): 2018 (East A)
- Tbilisi Open League
- Winners (1): 2017
Cup
- Georgian Cup
- Winners (1): 2024
- Georgian Super Cup
- Runners-up (1): 2025