David Kipiani

David Kipiani (Georgian: დავით ყიფიანი; 18 June 1951 – 17 September 2001) was a Georgian and Soviet football midfielder and manager, who played for the USSR national team. Kipiani principally played as a playmaker and is considered one of Georgia's greatest players. He was known for his elegant style of play, dribbling ability and passing range.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Kipiani on stamp of Georgia, 2004

David Kipiani

Kipiani in 1981
Personal information
Date of birth	(1951-06-18)18 June 1951 According to Birth certificate (modified) (1951-11-18)18 November 1951
Place of birth	Tbilisi, USSR
Date of death	17 September 2001(2001-09-17) (aged 50)
Place of death	Tbilisi, Georgia
Height	1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)	Attacking midfielder
Youth career
1964–1966	School No. 35 Tbilisi
1967–1968	Dinamo Tbilisi
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1968	Locomotive Tbilisi	1	(0)
1969	Dinamo Tbilisi	0	(0)
1970	Locomotive Tbilisi	28	(3)
1971–1982	Dinamo Tbilisi	245	(79)
Total		274	(82)
International career
1974–1981	USSR	19	(7)
Managerial career
1984–1985	Dinamo Tbilisi
1988	Dinamo Tbilisi
1990–1991	Dinamo Tbilisi
1992–1993	Olympiakos Nicosia
1995–1997	Dinamo Tbilisi
1997	Georgia
1998	Racing Mechelen
1998	Shinnik Yaroslavl
1999–2001	Torpedo Kutaisi
2000–2001	Georgia
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Olympic medal record
Representing USSR
Men's Football
	1976 Montreal	Team competition

Playing career

Kipiani was born in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR. He started playing for the 35th School during the early stages of his career.^[7] Kipiani was invited to play for Dinamo Tbilisi in 1967. Due to injuries, he was only able to participate in a single appearances for two season. So, Kipiani went to play for another Tbilisi-based club, Locomotive Tbilisi.^[7]

After a successful season with Locomotive, Kipiani was invited back to play for Dinamo again by Gavril Kachalin.^[7] Meanwhile, while playing for Locomotive, Kipiani worked with his future manager Nodar Akhalkatsi, under whose managing he later became one of the key figures of Dinamo Tbilisi, which were among the powerful and successful clubs – presented not only at the highest level of Soviet football but internationally by the end of the 1970s and early 1980s.^[7][8] It was a time of the most significant results in the national championship^[9] along with the local^[10] and international recognition and notable achievements at various prestigious football tournaments.^[11][12][13]

During the period between 1975 and 1982 – Kipiani was one of the prominent and unanimously recognized leaders of Dinamo Tbilisi, alongside players such as Manuchar Machaidze, Aleksandre Chivadze, Vladimir Gutsaev and Ramaz Shengelia. Georgian team's impressive success against such great football clubs like Liverpool,^[14] Inter Milan,^[15][16] Napoli,^[17] West Ham United,^[18] Feyenoord and others was mainly determined by their obvious personal and professional talent, unique playing abilities and individual skills, great vision of the game, by their exemplary and complete interactions on the football pitch, where Kipiani was probably the most important, illustrious and exquisite player among others.^{[19][20][21][22][23]}

International career

Kipiani was capped 19 times for the Soviet Union, between April 1974 and May 1981, scoring seven goals. He made his international debut under manager Konstantin Beskov, in a friendly international match on 17 April 1974 in Zenica, when he was a second-half substitute for Vladimir Fedotov. Kipiani has scored his first international goal just after five minutes into his debut for the Soviet team, which became the only goal of the match and Soviet Union beat Yugoslavia 1–0.^[24][25][26] He played his last national team game on 30 May 1981 in a 1982 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Wales.^[27][28][29]

Kipiani was not given a chance to play in the World Cup finals. Many think his peak was in 1982, but missed the Spain World Cup and quit playing altogether due to a severe leg injury sustained against Kuban Krasnodar on 26 April (Round 4).

Managerial career

After retirement, Kipiani coached FC Dinamo Tbilisi, Torpedo Kutaisi, Shinnik Yaroslavl (Russia), Racing Mechelen (Belgium), Olympiakos Nicosia (Cyprus) and the Georgia national team.

Death

He died in Tbilisi, Georgia from injuries sustained in a car crash near Tserovani (Mtskheta) on 17 September 2001.^[30] He was 49 years old. The Georgian Cup and the David Kipiani Stadium in the town of Gurjaani belong to Alazani Gurjaani, were named after him.^[31]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition^[32]

Club	Season	League		Cup		Europe		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Locomotive Tbilisi	1968	1	0	–	–	–	–	1	0
Dinamo Tbilisi	1969	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Locomotive Tbilisi	1970	28	3	1	0	–	–	29	3
Dinamo Tbilisi	1971	23	3	1	0	–	–	24	3
	1972	28	7	3	0	2[33]	1	33	8
	1973	20	5	3	0	5	3	28	8
	1974	5	1	3	4	–	–	8	5
	1975	24	12	2	1	–	–	26	13
	1976	18	9	5	5	2[34]	1	25	15
	1977	27	14	–	–	5	2	32	16
	1978	25	7	6	1	4	1	35	9
	1979	22	3	2	1	4	2	28	6
	1980	31	8	7	3	4	0	42	11
	1981	18	8	1	0	5	0	24	8
	1982	4	2	1	2	4	0	9	4
	Total	245	79	34	17	35	10	314	106
Career total		274	82	35	17	35	10	344	109

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year^[35][36]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Soviet Union	1974	1	1
	1975	–	–
	1976	–	–
	1977	6	3
	1978	6	3
	1979	5	0
	1980	–	–
	1981	1	0
Total		19	7

Honours

Player

Dinamo Tbilisi

• Soviet Top League: 1978^[37][38][39]
• Soviet Cup: 1976,^[40] 1979^[41]
• UEFA Cup Winners Cup: 1981

Soviet Union U18

• U-19 UEFA Championship: 1976

Manager

Dinamo Tbilisi

• Umaglesi Liga: 1990, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97
• Georgian Cup: 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97

Torpedo Kutaisi

• Umaglesi Liga: 1999–2000, 2000–01
• Georgian Cup: 2000–01

Individual

• Soviet Footballer of the Year: 1977^[42][43]
• Grigory Fedotov club: 155 goals