Temur Ketsbaia

Temuri Ketsbaia

Ketsbaia as manager of Anorthosis in 2008
Personal information
Date of birth	(1968-03-18) 18 March 1968
Place of birth	Gali, Georgia, Soviet Union
Height
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	APOEL (manager)
Youth career
1986	Dinamo Sukhumi
1987	Dinamo Tbilisi
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1987–1992	Dinamo Tbilisi	104	(23)
1992–1994	Anorthosis	76	(36)
1994–1997	AEK Athens	84	(24)
1997–2000	Newcastle United	78	(8)
2000–2001	Wolverhampton Wanderers	24	(3)
2001–2002	Dundee	22	(6)
2002–2006	Anorthosis	100	(39)
Total		488	(139)
International career
1992–2003	Georgia	49	(16)
Managerial career
2004–2009	Anorthosis
2009	Olympiacos
2009–2014	Georgia
2015–	APOEL
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Temuri "Temur" Ketsbaia (Georgian: თემურ ქეცბაია; born 18 March 1968) is a Georgian retired footballer and the current manager of APOEL FC.

As a player he represented the Georgian national team and played for Dinamo Tbilisi, Anorthosis, AEK, Newcastle United, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Dundee.

Playing career

In the summer of 1997 newly signed Ketsbaia scored a goal in extra-time against Croatia Zagreb and won a place for Newcastle United in the UEFA Champions League for the first time in their history.

In England, he is remembered for his celebration after scoring a last-minute winner against Bolton Wanderers in 1998, in which he took off his jersey and kicked the advertising hoardings. He stated that this was to relieve his frustration at being kept out of the Newcastle starting line-up.

On 30 June 2007, Ketsbaia announced his retirement from professional football. His last match before retiring was held on 14 July.

In May 2015, Ketsbaia played for the Dundee F.C. team to oppose Crystal Palace as part of Julian Speroni's Testimonial Match, along with former Dundee players Georgi Nemsadze, Juan Sara, Fabian Caballero and Beto Carranza.

Managerial career

On 28 September 2008, he stated his interest for the vacant Newcastle manager position. In an interview with the Sunday Mirror, he said: "I had a great opportunity to play at Newcastle as a player, so why not as a manager?"

In the week before the match club directors had gone to the police complaining of financial irregularities being carried out by the club President who was forced to resign, despite support from Ketsbaia and club supporters.

In April 2009, Ketsbaia stood down as coach of Anorthosis. On 25 May 2009 the chairman of Olympiacos announced that Ketsbaia had been appointed the club's manager on a three-year deal, replacing Ernesto Valverde; however, on 15 September 2009, Ketsbaia and Olympiacos parted company following early criticism from the club's supporters, despite Olympiakos not conceding a goal during his tenure.

In November 2009 he was announced as manager of the Georgian national side, which he represented 49 times as a player. He claimed that while he could not promise a major tournament in the near future, the team would fight to reach one.

In January 2015, Ketsbaia once again declared his interest in taking over the vacant manager job at Newcastle, after Alan Pardew moved on to Crystal Palace, however, John Carver was appointed in a temporary position instead.

On 28 August 2015, Ketsbaia agreed terms with reigning Cypriot champions APOEL FC, signing a two-year contract with the club and replacing Domingos Paciência who was fired earlier at the same day.

Managerial statistics

As of 10 January 2016

Team	From	To	Record
			G	W	D	L	GF	GA	+/-	Win %
Anorthosis	July 2004	May 2009	108	73	13	22	218	83	+135	67.59%
Olympiacos	May 2009	September 2009	6	5	1	0	9	0	+9	83.33%
Georgia	November 2009	November 2014	40	13	9	18	32	43	–11	32.5%
APOEL	30 August 2015	Present	23	12	2	9	49	26	+23	52.17%
Total			177	103	25	49	308	152	+156	58.19%

External links

• Temur Ketsbaia career statistics at Soccerbase
• Where are they now – Temuri Ketsbaia
• Temur Ketsbaia at National-Football-Teams.com