Jaba Kankava

Jaba Kankava (Georgian: ჯაბა კანკავა, romanized: jaba k'ank'ava, pronounced [d͡ʒɑbɑ kʼɑnkʼɑvɑ]; born 18 March 1986) is a Georgian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Slovan Bratislava.

He has previously played for Reims, Dinamo Tbilisi, Alania Vladikavkaz,Arsenal Kyiv, and FC Dnipro.

Club Career

In 2004 Jaba Kankava started his football career with Dinamo Tbilisi, where Gia Geguchadze was just appointed as head coach. Geguchadze started to create a new club with youngsters and Kankava became a main member of them. In his first year, Kankava won the Georgian Cup, and played in the UEFA Europa League scoring the winning goal against Slavia Prague and contributing to the qualification for the group stages.

After one season at Dinamo, Kankava moved to Alania Vladikavkaz, where he played 12 matches, before signing a contract with Arsenal Kyiv in 2005. At Arsenal Kyiv, he played 24 matches and scored 4 goals.

In 2007, Kankava agreed to sign a three-year contract with league rival Dnipro. Newly arrived Kankava was among the starting squad from the first games but received a red card against Dynamo Kyiv because of a tough tackle and missed several games and was among the bench players. In eight years at Dnipro, he played 91 matches and scored 4 goals.

In 2015, Kankava joined Ligue 1 club Reims. In July 2017, he agreed to the termination of his contract which ran until 2018.

On 22 November 2018, Kankava signed a new two-year contract with FC Tobol.

On 16 January 2021, Valenciennes announced the signing of Kankava on a contract until June 2021.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Джаба Канкава (russian)