Levan Kobiashvili

Early career

Kobiashvili began his career in hometown club Avaza Tbilisi. His first professional club was Gorda Rustavi where he made his debut in the Umaglesi Liga in 1993. After spending two years with the Rustavi-based club, Kobiashvili moved to Dinamo Tbilisi in 1995. Under the guidance of famous former player and then-Dinamo coach David Kipiani, Kobiashvili became one of the key players of the club. At the start of the year 1997, Alania Vladikavkaz declared their interest in Georgian midfielder. Dinamo Tbilisi let Kobiashvili leave the club on a season long loan deal. Kobiashvili joined a few of his compatriots there, including Mikheil Ashvetia, Giorgi Gakhokidze and Kakhaber Tskhadadze. He made 21 appearances for the club, scoring five goals in Russian Top League. Kobiashvili played in the UEFA Cup as well, scoring a single goal (against Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk) in four appearances.

Moving to Germany

After spending a half season on a loan at SC Freiburg, Kobi signed a deal with the German club in 1998. During his spell with the Breisgau-Brasilianer ("Breisgau Brazilians"), Kobiashvili became one of the key players of Volker Finke's system. He was joined some Georgian players in Germany as well, Alexander Iashvili and Levan Tskitishvili his teammates in Freiburg. SC Freiburg finished sixth in the 2000–01 Bundesliga season which granted them a qualification for 2001–02 UEFA Cup. This was the second time the club has ever participated in a UEFA tournament.…

In September 1996, Kobiashvili made his debut for Georgia in a friendly game against Norway in Oslo. In 2011, Kobiashvili became his country's first 100-cap player and received a special award from the UEFA. That game against Greece was the last for Kobiashvili's international career. He is still the most-capped Georgian player. Kobiashvili captained the national team for 16 times and has scored 12 goals during his international career. Two of them were scored in a famous win against Uruguay in 2006. Kobiashvili has also scored the winning goal against Croatia in the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifier in 2011. Kobiashvili has declared once that the national team was the top priority for him and he dreamed of playing at the FIFA World Cup or a UEFA European Championship. Kobiashvili was named twice Georgian Footballer of the Year, in 2000 and 2005.

On 4 October 2015, he was elected president of the Georgian Football Federation. In 2016, Kobiashvili was elected as a member of Parliament of Georgia.

Kobiashvili is married to Tamuna Tsuleiskiri. They have two children: Nikoloz (b. 1999) and Salome (b. 2007). Kobiashvili and his fund, Kobi and Friends, donated 10,000 GEL in support of the victims of Tbilisi flood in 2015.