Guram Kashia

Guram Kashia (Georgian: გურამ კაშია, romanized: guram k'ashia, pronounced [ɡurɑm kʼɑʃiɑ]; born 4 July 1987) is a Georgian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for and captains the Georgian national team. On a club level, he currently competes for Slovan Bratislava in the Fortuna Liga.

Developed at Dinamo Tbilisi, he spent most of his career at Dutch Eredivisie club Vitesse, where he was captain. In eight years in the Netherlands, he played 292 official matches (24 goals) and won the KNVB Cup in 2017.

Club Career

Dinamo Tbilisi

Kashia started playing for Dinamo Tbilisi. He is still a big fan of his former club.

Vitesse

In 2010, Kashia moved to the Netherlands and signed for Vitesse. Kashia soon became a regular member of the starting line-up of the club and two seasons after joining, Kashia was elected as the captain of the club. During his career at Vitesse, he amassed a total of 292 matches.

In August 2015, Kashia was named Best Player of August in Eredivisie.

Kashia led Vitesse to the domestic KNVB Cup in 2016–17, starting all but one of their six games and recording a goal and an assist. In his five starts, the club outscored their opponents 12–2, including a 2–0 victory over eventual league champions Feyenoord Rotterdam in the quarterfinals.

In October 2017, Kashia wore a rainbow-striped captain's armband for Vitesse against Heracles Almelo in support of LGBT rights, leading to a backlash in his own country and calls for him to step down from the Georgian national team.

His name was also transliterated as Goeram Kasjia in Dutch.

San Jose Earthquakes

On 14 June 2018, Kashia joined Major League Soccer side San Jose Earthquakes on a multi-year contract, joining compatriot and close friend Vako Qazaishvili.

San Jose declined their contract option on Kashia following their 2020 season.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Гурам Кашия (russian)