Samtredia

Founded in 1936 as Sanavardo, the side spent the Soviet era competing under the name Lokomotivi in the third tier, taking the Second League zonal stage twice, in 1980 and in 1987. It later played as Juba, then as Iberia, before the Samtredia name returned in 2006.

The club's best run came in the mid-2010s. A second-place finish in the Erovnuli Liga in the 2015/16 season sent Samtredia into UEFA Champions League qualifying for the first time, and by the following autumn the club had gone one better, winning the Erovnuli Liga title outright in 2016. A Georgian Super Cup followed in 2017, along with a third-place league finish that same year. The club had touched a domestic final once before that, losing the 2014/15 David Kipiani Cup, and had reached continental competition even earlier still, entering the UEFA Cup preliminary round in 1995/96 off the back of a runners-up finish in 1994/95.

Below the top flight, Samtredia built a habit of climbing back up: champions of the second tier in 2008/09 and again in 2013/14, with further runners-up finishes there in 1997/98, 2019 and 2022.