Tbilisi - Great city, but no one watches football? Game 1

 Two games in the capital of Georgia - Tbilisi 

Game 1

Saturday 27 July 2024, 8pm

FC Lokomotiv Tbilisi 0 FC Telavi 0 (Telavi win on penalties 3-5)

Georgian Cup

Mikheil Meskhi Annex

Taxis are cheap in the capital, so did not cost to get to the north of the city for the game, crowds are so low that Second Division Lokomotiv play in the small stadium next to their home arena. The main stadium was open and very impressive. The Annex Ground has just one modern stand, mainly in the open, with a bit of cover for the back row/Press seats, this backs onto the main stadium. This is the only stand you can watch the game from, unless you wanted to watch through a fence from a car park behind one goal.

Beer, soft drinks and the Georgian version of a hot dog were on sale from below the stand.

Crowd was low with many not arriving till 5 minutes before kick off, the crowd included 20 ultras from the away team - armed with a drum, flares and large bottles of beer!

Game was poor, too much diving and play acting - First Division Telavi missed a penalty in the first half but the quality of attacking was so poor that it was no surprise to find ourselves still at 0-0 after 120 minutes. The First Division visitors then won it on penalty kicks