From Manchester City Striker to Georgia's Controversial Sixth President: The Rise of Mikheil Kavelashvili

Countries & Cities · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Mikheil Kavelashvili, a former professional footballer who once played for Manchester City, was sworn in as Georgia's sixth president in December 2024. His election, the first conducted via an electoral college, remains deeply contested by the opposition and significant portions of the international community amid ongoing political turmoil.

Born in 1971, Kavelashvili began his professional football career at Dinamo Tbilisi in 1989. His career took him across Europe, including a stint at Spartak Vladikavkaz, where he won the Russian Premier League, and a high-profile move to Manchester City in 1996. Despite scoring on his debut in a Manchester derby, his time in England was limited by work permit issues, leading him to spend the majority of his later career in the Swiss Super League with clubs like Grasshoppers and Basel.

Transitioning into politics, Kavelashvili was elected to the Georgian Parliament in 2016 with the Georgian Dream party. By 2022, he co-founded the People's Power party, a group known for propagating anti-Western narratives. He gained notoriety for promoting the Global War Party conspiracy theory, which alleged that Western actors were attempting to force Georgia into the conflict in Ukraine. His rhetoric often targets the political opposition and Western influence, framing them as threats to national sovereignty.

Kavelashvili's path to the presidency was marked by a unique set of circumstances. Following constitutional changes in 2017, the 2024 election was held via an electoral college rather than a popular vote. Due to an opposition boycott, he stood as the sole candidate, receiving 224 of 225 votes. His legitimacy is currently challenged by outgoing president Salome Zourabichvili and the European Parliament, which formally declared it does not recognize him as the legitimate head of state in February 2025.

Kavelashvili is only the third former professional footballer to ascend to a national presidency, following Algeria's Ahmed Ben Bella and Liberia's George Weah. His administration has already signaled a shift in foreign policy, exemplified by the March 2025 appointment of a pro-China advisor. As the political crisis persists, his presidency remains a focal point of the broader struggle between Georgia's ruling party and its Western-aligned opposition.

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