Sioni Bolnisi

FC Sioni Bolnisi is a Georgian football club based in Bolnisi, which currently competes in Liga 2, the second tier of Georgian league system.

The team has once won the national league title.

Sioni plays their home games at the local stadium named after Tamaz Stepania.

History

The football club in Bolnisi was founded in 1936. For years they took part in Georgian domestic competitions under the name Madneuli. While being in the second division in early 1990s, the team emerged among the candidates challenging for the top league.

Sioni gained promotion to Umaglesi Liga for the 1995/96 season and after the initial several years made a significant progress towards joining ambitious clubs vying for titles.

In 2002 they reached the Cup final, although failed to prevail over Dinamo Tbilisi.

In the 2003/04 season, Sioni and FC WIT Georgia shared the first position in the league, and the title was decided in a championship play-off. WIT won the game 2–0, but the crowd violence during the match led UEFA to ban Sioni from the UEFA Cup participation.

The third attempt two years later turned out successful. The club set a remarkable unbeaten home record by winning 14 games out of 15 and ended the season five points clear of a main rival.Kakha Tskhadadze became Manager of the Year, while striker Koka Mikuchadze, who scored 19 goals, was named in the symbolic team of the season. Sioni represented Georgia in the UEFA Champions League 2006-07, where they defeated FK Baku from Azerbaijan in the first qualifying round, but were eliminated by Bulgarian champions Levski Sofia in the second stage, losing 2–0 both home and away.

Аs champions, in January 2007 Sioni participated in CIS Cup in Moscow where they defeated two opponents out of three, although failed to qualify for play-offs due to disadvantage in goal difference.

Sioni achieved another league success in 2013/14. Under Vladimir Burduli the club, strengthened by some experienced players, including form

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