Giorgi Papunashvili
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 2 September 1995 | ||
| Place of birth | Tbilisi, Georgia | ||
| Height | 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Position | Winger | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Zira | ||
| Number | 10 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2004–2012 | Dinamo Tbilisi | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2012–2013 | Dinamo-2 Tbilisi | 5 | (0) |
| 2013–2017 | Dinamo Tbilisi | 64 | (26) |
| 2015–2016 | → Werder Bremen II (loan) | 20 | (2) |
| 2017–2020 | Zaragoza | 53 | (9) |
| 2020 | → Racing Santander (loan) | 4 | (0) |
| 2021–2022 | Apollon Limassol | 8 | (0) |
| 2022 | Torpedo Kutaisi | 15 | (0) |
| 2022–2023 | Radnički Niš | 3 | (0) |
| 2023 | Samtredia | 15 | (0) |
| 2023 | Telavi | 1 | (0) |
| 2023–2024 | Kapaz | 19 | (5) |
| 2024– | Zira | 29 | (7) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2011–2012 | Georgia U17 | 10 | (2) |
| 2013–2014 | Georgia U19 | 5 | (3) |
| 2014–2016 | Georgia U21 | 6 | (2) |
| 2014– | Georgia | 17 | (3) |
|
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 27 June 2025 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 1 May 2023 | |||
Giorgi Papunashvili (Georgian: გიორგი პაპუნაშვილი, romanized: giorgi p'ap'unashvili, pronounced [ɡioɾɡi pʼapʼunaʃʷili]; born 2 September 1995), commonly known as Papu, is a Georgian professional footballer who plays for Azerbaijani club Zira as a winger.
Ha has played for the Georgian national senior and youth teams.[1]
Dinamo Tbilisi
Papunashvili started his career in his hometown club Dinamo Tbilisi. In 2013, after having spent a single season with the reserve side of the Georgian club, Papunashvili was promoted to the first team and in November he made his debut in Erovnuli Liga against Tskhinvali.[2]
During the 2014–15 season, Papunashvili became the key figure at Dinamo, scoring 16 goals in all tournaments with the club, including his first career hat-trick against Tskhinvali in October 2014.[3] Dinamo won Georgian Cup at the end of the season as well, with Papunashvili scoring two goals in the final against Samtredia.[4]
In summer 2015, Papunashvili signed a season-long loan deal with Werder Bremen.[5] He joined the reserve side of the club and played in 3. Liga.[6] The loan spell was unsuccessful, as Papunashvili missed 12 games due to injury and was only able to make 20 appearances for the club, scoring two goals.[7]
Real Zaragoza
In June 2017, Papunashvili signed four-year deal with Real Zaragoza.[8][9][10] He made his debut for the Spanish club against Granada CF on 28 August, replacing Oliver Buff.[11]
On 12 January 2020, Papunashvili joined fellow second division side Racing de Santander on loan until the end of the season.[12]
Short spells
On 24 December 2020, Zaragoza announced the transfer of Papunashvili to Cypriot club Apollon Limassol FC.[13]
In January 2022, he returned to Erovnuli Liga to join Torpedo Kutaisi.[14] After six months Papunashvili moved to Serbian side Radnički Niš. In March 2023, he signed with Samtredia,[15] and four months later joined Telavi.[16] Having played one league match for the latter, Papunashvili signed a contract with Azerbaijan Premier League side Kapaz.[17] On 3 August 2024, Papunashvili signed 1+1 year contract with Azerbaijan Premier League side Zira.[18]
International career
Papunashvili made his debut for the national team in a 1–0 friendly loss against the United Arab Emirates on 3 June 2014.[19][20]
He also represented Georgia national under-17 football team in the 2012 UEFA European Under-17 Championship in Slovenia.[21] Papunashvili scored a memorable last-minute goal in a crucial win over England in the qualifying stage of this championship.[22]
Career statistics
Club
- As of 22 January 2025[23]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Dinamo-2 Tbilisi | 2012–13 | Pirveli Liga | 5 | 0 | — | — | 5 | 0 | ||
| Dinamo Tbilisi | 2013–14 | Umaglesi Liga | 15 | 3 | 3 | 0 | — | 18 | 3 | |
| 2014–15 | 21 | 14 | 5 | 2 | — | 26 | 16 | |||
| 2015–16 | — | — | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | ||||
| 2016 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 19 | 3 | ||
| 2017 | 16 | 6 | 2 | 0 | — | 18 | 6 | |||
| Total | 64 | 26 | 11 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 83 | 29 | ||
| Werder Bremen II (loan) | 2015–16 | 3. Liga | 20 | 2 | — | — | 20 | 2 | ||
| Real Zaragoza | 2017–18 | Segunda División | 28 | 7 | 3 | 1 | — | 31 | 8 | |
| 2018–19 | 13 | 2 | 1 | 1 | — | 14 | 3 | |||
| 2019–20 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 2 | — | 13 | 2 | |||
| 2020–21 | 3 | 0 | — | — | 3 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 55 | 9 | 6 | 4 | — | 61 | 13 | |||
| Racing Santander (loan) | 2019–20 | Segunda División | 4 | 0 | — | — | 4 | 0 | ||
| Apollon Limassol | 2020–21 | Cypriot First Division | 8 | 0 | — | — | 8 | 0 | ||
| 2021–22 | 1 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |||
| Total | 9 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 | |||
| Torpedo Kutaisi | 2022 | Erovnuli Liga | 15 | 0 | — | — | 15 | 0 | ||
| Radnički Niš | 2022–23 | Serbian SuperLiga | 3 | 0 | — | — | 3 | 0 | ||
| Samtredia | 2023 | Erovnuli Liga | 15 | 0 | — | — | 15 | 0 | ||
| Telavi | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 3 | 0 | |||
| Kapaz | 2023–24 | Azerbaijan Premier League | 19 | 5 | 1 | 0 | — | 20 | 5 | |
| Zira | 2024–25 | Azerbaijan Premier League | 13 | 5 | 1 | 0 | — | 14 | 5 | |
| Career total | 223 | 47 | 21 | 6 | 9 | 1 | 253 | 54 | ||
International goals
- Scores and results list Georgia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Papunashvili goal.[24]
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 24 March 2018 | Mikheil Meskhi Stadium, Tbilisi, Georgia |  Lithuania | 1–0 | 4–0 | Friendly |
| 2 | 7 June 2019 | Boris Paichadze National Stadium, Tbilissi, Georgia |  Gibraltar | 2–0 | 3–0 | UEFA Euro 2020 qualification |
| 3 | 19 November 2019 | Stadion Aldo Drosina, Pula, Croatia |  Croatia | 1–0 | 1–2 | Friendly |