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Hello! That striker in your club’s lineup? He might be a future state president.
Right-wing shot: Ex-Man City player Mikheil Kavelashvili now Georgia’s president-elect
(Dan Goldfarb for The Athletic, top image: Getty Images)
The week just gone has reminded us how football and politics like to mix when mixing is expedient. The natural end point of the sport’s aggressive expansion is Kim Jong Un knee-sliding in delight as North Korea wins the right to host a World Cup.
Administrators are not alone in being political, though. Players have it in them too. George Weah, the former Milan striker, rose to become president of Liberia in 2018. Others like him heed the call of parliament too and out in eastern Europe, a former Premier League footballer is about to acquire more domestic and international power than most.
I recognise the name of Mikheil Kavelashvili on two counts: one, for scoring on his Premier League debut in a derby between Manchester City and Manchester United and two, for being a fairly hopeless City signing. To put it bluntly, that goal against United in 1996 is the only thing I recall him doing well. He and City were relegated a month later.
He left Manchester in 1997 and retired in 2006. Since then, his life has swerved down a very different road. Tomorrow, Georgia, the former Soviet republic to the south west of Russia, will vote in its next president. Fifty-three-year-old Kavelashvili is expected to win — bringing a far-right ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin to the fore.
‘A story I didn’t think I’d hear’
Kavelashvili and Quinn at Man City. (Photo: Mark Leech/Offside via Getty Images)
Kavelashvili took a seat in the Georgian parliament in 2016. In 2022, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he founded a new party called People’s Power, which is viewed as pro-Russian and anti-Western. He has accused the United States of “an insatiable desire to destroy our country”. His election this weekend is viewed as a formality.
To those who witnessed Kavelashvili’s undistinguished service at City — 29 appearances, three goals, £2million ($2.5m) poorly spent — his political rise is a huge surprise. Niall Quinn, a team-mate of his in Manchester (above), describes him in today’s feature by Danny Taylor as “a lovely, smiley, mannerly young lad — no edges at all”. He adds: “That’s a story I didn’t think I’d ever hear.” It’s always the quiet ones.
Some City supporters suspected Kavelashvili was predominantly in town to provide company for Georgi Kinkladze, the club’s cult hero and an infinitely more talented Georgian, but Kavelashvili did have his shot at legendary status, one he failed to take.
On the day City went down 28 years ago, by a margin of goal difference after a 2-2 draw with Liverpool, the forward had two chances to win the game. He missed them both, and his subsequent departure was not mourned. Now he stands on the brink of a presidential office. It goes to show that from a vantage point in the stands, you can never quite be sure who it is you are watching.
News Round-Up
📱 Today is the World Cup qualifying draw: Follow live as European sides England, France, Spain, and Italy find out their qualifying groups for the 2026 World Cup in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Around Europe: Hojlund bails out Onana, Postecoglou calls Werner display ‘not acceptable’
Last night looked like being episode 534 of ‘Manchester United are dross’ after Andre Onana’s brain freeze (above) left them 1-0 down against the Czech Republic’s Viktoria Plzen.
Fortunately for Ruben Amorim, two goals from Rasmus Hojlund dug out a 2-1 Europa League win and while it feels like Amorim will spend this season taking baby steps at Old Trafford, an early success for him has been getting the 21-year-old scoring. He didn’t seem to mind the forward and Amad having words at full time.
Tottenham Hotspur continue to be Tottenham. Ange Postecoglou, with his Celtic connections, was never going to find Rangers or Ibrox hospitable but his side made hard work of leaving Scotland with a 1-1 draw. To add to the festive spirit, Postecoglou substituted Timo Werner at half-time and berated his performance as “not acceptable”. There’s a transfer that isn’t working out.
Top of the Europa League’s rankings, meanwhile, are Lazio. They won 3-1 away at Ajax, sealed by the goal of the evening from Pedro. He’s 37 and, boy, he’s still got it.
Show Viz
The Premier League table tells a story about how power shifts. A top 10 featuring Fulham, Brentford, Bournemouth, Brighton & Hove Albion and Nottingham Forest is nothing like the division was 10 years ago.
It’s particularly open this season because clubs are having great difficulty stringing victories together. Winning runs are sporadic. The rate of back-to-back successes has dropped sharply. Spurs are a fine example — losing to Ipswich Town one day, annihilating City the next.
Nick Miller calls this inconsistency but to go back to the way clubs like Brentford have stepped up, I’m wondering if inconsistency is the right word. Is it maybe that the bulk of the Premier League is simply more competitive than ever? If so, that’s no bad thing.
MLS Expansion Draft: Five signings for San Diego — but who will be their big name?
TAFC reader Mike Brandt got in touch to ask us if we’d consider covering San Diego FC’s moves in the MLS expansion draft. And you know what? We should. After all, they’ll become team No 30 in MLS next season, joining the Western Conference.
The draft, which took place on Wednesday, was set up to allow San Diego to consolidate their inaugural squad by signing five players from rival franchises. Two recruits, Hosei Kijima and Thiago Andrade, were immediately traded to D.C. United and Toronto FC. Three others — midfielders Heine Gikling Bruseth and Jasper Loffelsend and defender Hamady Diop — are on board for 2025.
What we’re waiting for, though, is the first big splash. San Diego got Mexican striker Chucky Lozano in June, a transfer they really, really wanted, but a conversation with Kevin De Bruyne and more extensive talks with Sergio Ramos failed to bear fruit. Game one for them is in February. Let’s see if there’s a showstopper up their sleeve.
Quiz Question
It’s the Manchester derby on Sunday. We want you to name every player to have scored four or more Premier League goals in them. You can have Sergio Aguero and Wayne Rooney (both eight goals) for free. There are 11 more players to get. Answers here later and in Monday’s TAFC.
Around The Athletic FC
Catch a match (Times ET/UK)
(Selected games)
Saturday: Premier League: Nottingham Forest vs Aston Villa, 12.30pm/5.30pm — NBC, Fubo, Peacock Premium/Sky Sports; La Liga: Rayo Vallecano vs Real Madrid, 3pm/8pm — ESPN+, Fubo/Premier Sports; Bundesliga: St Pauli vs Werder Bremen, 12.30pm/5.30pm — ESPN+/Sky Sports; Serie A: Juventus vs Venezia, 2.45pm/7.45pm — Paramount+, Fubo, CBS, Amazon Prime/TNT Sports, OneFootball.
Sunday: Premier League: Brighton vs Crystal Palace, 9am/2pm — USA Network, Fubo, Sky Sports; Manchester City vs Manchester United, 11.30am/4.30pm — USA Network, Fubo/Sky Sports; Chelsea vs Brentford, 2pm/7pm — USA Network, Fubo (USA only); Southampton vs Tottenham, 2pm/7pm — Peacock Premium/TNT Sports; Scottish League Cup final: Celtic vs Rangers, 10.30am/3.30pm — CBS, Paramount+, Amazon Prime/Premier Sports
And finally…
(KONSTANTIN CHALABOV/AFP via Getty Images)
As Chelsea’s Conference League game against Astana kicked off yesterday, I flicked onto my phone’s weather app to get a feel for the cold in Kazakhstan. The actual temperature was -8C (17.6F) according to Lucy Oliva, who was there for our Daily Football Briefing podcast. The ‘feels like’ rating was basically Antarctica.
So I understood Astana’s goalkeeper, Mukhammedzhan Seysen, taking to the field in a beanie hat, even though I’ve not seen that before. It’s the same difference as ‘keepers wearing caps to shield the sun from their eyes. As a native of Kazakhstan, I assumed Seysen would be used to the chill — but that’s easy said from the comfort of a sofa.
(Top image: Kavelashvili attends a news conference in Tbilisi. AP Photo)
