FC Rustavi

FC Rustavi (Georgian: საფეხბურთო კლუბი რუსთავი) is a Georgian football club based in the city of Rustavi. Following the 2025 season, they were promoted to the top tier of Georgian football.

Founded in 2015, it is one of the youngest participants of the Georgian football leagues.

The team has spent two seasons in the top division.

History

FC Rustavi have no legal connections with any of the football clubs previously existing in the city (Gorda, Metalurgi, Olimpi). As a new team, it was established on 3 July 2015.

Rustavi debuted in the second division the same year and achieved a modest goal of retaining a place in it by finishing in midtable.

Contrary to expectations, in 2016 they emerged among the favourites, managed to prevail in the promotion contest and under manager Varlam Kilasonia won the league. However, due to the season being transitional to the spring-autumn system, no team was promoted.

Despite a poor start in 2017, the club drastically improved and after a ten-match winning run claimed the first place with automatic promotion to the first tier.

Rustavi signed some experienced players such as Nukri Revishvili, Mamuka Kobakhidze and Otar Martsvaladze and in the very first game in the Erovnuli Liga obtained three points at Dinamo Tbilisi. But frequent changes of the squad throughout the season did not contribute to stable results and finally the team finished in the 7th place.

The club was struggling for most of the regular season in 2019. Eventually, Rustavi could have remained in the league in case of a play-off victory over Telavi, but they were defeated in both games.

Back in Liga 2, the next season Rustavi joined the promotion battle and remained in a play-off range until the last game. However, the results of the final matchday turned out unfavourable. Yet, in this season Rustavi recorded their biggest win 10–0.

Starting from 2021, the club took part in two relegation battles. Initially, Rustavi prevailed over Kolkheti 1913 due to away goals, but in the next season they lost both matches to Kolkheti Khobi, which resulted in their relegation to the third division.

During the 2023 season, Rustavi were battling for an automatic promotion spot. Although the team suffered a 7–4 aggregate defeat from Locomotive in play-offs, ultimately they were admitted back to the 2nd division after Shukura's disqualification by the Federation.

In 2024, Rustavi finished 3rd, implying taking part in promotion playoffs, but they lost to Telavi again. A year later, though, the team managed to win the Liga 2 season despite trailing by ten points in mid-season and return to the top tier after a six-year absence.

Rustavi have three times reached the quarterfinal stage of the Georgian Cup competition. As a lower league side, they came close to reaching the semifinals during the game against Dinamo Tbilisi in 2017. After a goalless draw in regular and extra times, the winner of the quarterfinal was determined on penalties. The same scenario unfolded two years later when Rustavi's Cup campaign was stopped by Torpedo Kutaisi.

Seasons

Top goalscorers

Penalty shoot-outs

Squad

As of 11 March, 2026

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Managers

Club staff

Honours

• Pirveli Liga/Erovnuli Liga 2 Champions (3): 2016 (Group White), 2017, 2025 Runners-up (1): 2024
• Liga 3 Third (1): 2023

Notable players

• Giorgi Mamardashvili
• Khvicha Kvaratskhelia

Other teams

Rustavi also have a reserve team, which participates in Group A of Regionuli Liga. Their home ground is the Poladi stadium.

External links

• at Soccerway
• at Flashscore
• on Facebook