Merani Martvili

FC Merani Martvili is a Georgian association football club based in Martvili, which currently takes part in Liga 2, the second division of Georgian league system.

Being one of the youngest clubs, Merani has spent five seasons in the top division and once reached the final of David Kipiani Cup.

History

Football clubs from Martvili have previously been called Salkhino Gegechkori (Soviet times), Chkondidi Martvili and Salkhino Martvili.

FC Merani was founded by Georgian ex-minister of communications Pridon Injia in 2006.

In their first season in Pirveli liga under head coach Malkhaz Zhvania Merani came the third and until the promotion to Umaglesi Liga in 2011/12 they were among top five clubs.

In 2010 Merani became a first II league club to play in David Kipiani Cup semifinals where they lost 1-2 on aggregate to WIT Georgia, the Cup winners of the season.

The next year Merani successfully completed their season and as a second-placed team gained promotion to the top flight.

Among the next five seasons in Umaglesi Liga Merani achieved the best result in their first year when they came the 5th during the regular season and earned a place in the championship round. In other cases the club was mostly involved in relegation battles.

In 2015/16 Merani were relegated. In the same year they managed to reach the Cup final after having eliminated Dila, Kolkheti-1913 and Chikhura in previous rounds, but in the title-deciding game held in Zestafoni the team was beaten by Torpedo Kutaisi.

Merani came close back to Erovnuli Liga in 2017, although they were unable to beat Kolkheti Poti in promotion play-offs.

At the end of the next season Merani lost last two league games and surprisingly finished at the bottom of the table, which implied an automatic relegation.

After one year spent in Liga 3 Merani returned to the second division. In 2020 they retained a place in it after the victory over FC Gori in a play-off tie.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Мерани (Мартвили) (russian)