Valeri Qazaishvili

Valeri Qazaishvili's route there ran through Dutch, American, South Korean and now Chinese football. He came through the Saburtalo Tbilisi academy before loan spells at Metalurgi Rustavi and Sioni Bolnisi, then left Georgia at eighteen for Vitesse Arnhem, where a modest transfer fee turned into 25 goals across 104 league appearances.

A loan at Legia Warsaw brought him an Ekstraklasa title in 2016–17, though Qazaishvili later said he clashed with coach Jacek Magiera during that spell. He moved on to San Jose Earthquakes as a Designated Player, the youngest in the club's history to hold that status, and scored 26 goals in 93 league games before his contract option was declined in 2020.

The next chapter took him to Ulsan Hyundai, where he won back-to-back K League 1 titles in 2022 and 2023 and made the league's Best XI in 2021. Since joining Shandong Taishan on a free transfer in January 2024, he has become one of the Chinese Super League's most dangerous forwards: in the 2025 season he scored 27 goals, finishing second in the scoring charts behind Fábio Abreu, was named the league's MVP, and scored a hat-trick against Beijing Guoan.

For Georgia, Qazaishvili has been a mainstay for well over a decade, with 63 caps and 13 goals for the national side. He also won the MLS Fair Play Award in 2018, a quieter honour set against the goals, but one that has followed him through a career built on scoring in whichever league he has landed.