Russian media outlets are highlighting the Georgian Dream's nomination of Mikheil Kavelashvili as a candidate for the presidency of Georgia, emphasizing his status as a winner of Russia's football championship.
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In 1995, Mikheil Kavelashvili, then playing for the Vladikavkaz team, won a gold medal in the Russian football championship.
"Russia’s football champion Mikheil Kavelashvili has become a candidate for the presidency of Georgia. Bidzina Ivanishvili, honorary chairman of the Georgian Dream party, announced. Kavelashvili, 53, became Russia's champion in the 1995 season as part of Spartak-Alania from Vladikavkaz,” reads the website of Match TV, a sports television channel.
“Bet on the anti-Westerner: Russia’s champion wants to be president of Georgia” reads the headline of an article published by the state-owned news agency RIA Novosti. The article notes that after the success of Euro 2024, football players in Georgia became national heroes, making it “unsurprising that the ruling party, Georgian Dream, chose Kavelashvili as their presidential candidate.”
The article further states: “In 2016, Kavelashvili was elected as a member of parliament from Georgian Dream. However, in 2022, he left the party along with several deputies to found the public organization People’s Power, which later transformed into a political party. This shift was not simply about a move to the opposition. While members of the ruling party occasionally refrained from criticizing Western politicians and officials, People’s Power distinguished itself with consistently harsh anti-Western rhetoric.”
RIA Novosti also published an interview with Valery Gazzaev, the former head coach of Vladikavkaz’s Alania and the Russian national team. Gazzaev described Mikheil Kavelashvili as a patriot of Georgia and endorsed him as the country's right choice.
"I know Mikheil Kavelashvili well and can only speak of him positively. He is a top-level professional. During his time at Alania, he made a significant contribution to our team becoming the champion of Russia.
I want to congratulate him on his nomination for the presidency. In my opinion, this is a very good decision. I am confident he will prove himself in politics as a true patriot of Georgia,” said Gazzaev.
Mikheil Kavelashvili, a former football player, a member of the Georgian Parliament from 2016 to 2024, and one of the leaders of the People’s Power party known for its anti-Western messaging, has been nominated as Georgian Dream’s candidate for president. Bidzina Ivanishvili announced this decision on November 27 during a briefing following the ruling political council's meeting. Ivanishvili emphasized Kavelashvili’s honesty, fairness, patriotism, and principled character, stating that “by his nature - by his habitus if you like - he is the best embodiment of a Georgian man.”
The future sixth president of Georgia does not hold a higher education degree. This was why Kavelashvili did not run for the presidency of the Football Federation in 2015. At the time, he explained that during the Soviet Union, “it was unthinkable for a football player to obtain a higher education.”
