Giorgi Shelia

Giorgi Shelia was born in Moscow and came through the city's own academies, first at Buryevestnik and then in Dynamo Moscow's youth set-up, before starting his senior career in the Russian lower leagues rather than at a big club.

His path ran through a string of provincial sides — Dynamo Bryansk, Baltika, Yenisey, Ufa and Tambov — each stop adding rounds of first-team football rather than a breakthrough moment. The clearest mark on that run came with Tambov, where he was part of the squad that won the FNL title and secured promotion in the 2018/19 season. He also picked up bronze in the FNL Cup during his time at Baltika.

Shelia has been with Akhmat Grozny since 2020, and it is there that he has made his heaviest workload, passing beyond a hundred appearances for the club. Across his career he has been named man of the match on four separate occasions in the Russian top two divisions, and he was once included in the team of the round for the First Division.

At 190cm, he remains a goalkeeper still adding to his appearance count in Grozny.