Ramaz Shengelia

Ramaz Shengelia (; 1 January 1957 – 21 June 2012 ) was a Georgian and Soviet footballer who played as a striker.

Club career Born in Kutaisi, Shengelia started career in his hometown club Torpedo Kutaisi in 1968. He spent four seasons for the club, scoring 29 goals in 75 games in the Soviet First League. Shengelia became the top scorer of the club twice.

The season of 1981 was the most successful for Shengelia. Dinamo won UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, after defeating Carl Zeiss Jena in the final. Shengelia scored 4 goals during the tournament. At the end of the season he finished 7th in Ballon d'Or nominees. Two of his teammates were also the nominees for the title, as Aleksandre Chivadze finished 8th, while David Kipiani was 11th in the final ranking. Shengelia was again named Soviet Footballer of the Year in 1981.

During the following season, Dinamo lost in the semifinal of UEFA Cup Winners' Cup to Standard Liège. However, Shengelia became the topscorer of the tournament with six goals. He also represented his country in five FIFA World Cup qualification matches.

Later years After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Shengelia worked in the Georgia national team as an assistant of Aleksandre Chivadze. Later was invited to Georgian Football Federation by his former coach and then-president of the federation Nodar Akhalkatsi.

The football stadium in his hometown Kutaisi is named after him.

Career statistics

Club

International Scores and results list Soviet Union's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Shengelia goal.

Honours Player Dinamo Tbilisi Soviet Top League: 1978 Soviet Cup: 1979 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1980–81

Soviet Union U21 UEFA European Under-21 Championship: 1980

Individual Soviet Footballer of the Year (2): 1978, 1981 Soviet Top League top scorer: 1981 (23 goals) UEFA Cup Winners' Cup top scorer: 1981–82 (6 goals) UEFA European Under-21 Championship top scorer: 1980 Grigory Fedotov club member Merited Master of Sports (1981) The best 33 football players of the Soviet Union: 1st (1981); 2nd (1978, 1979, 1980); 3rd (1977) 1981 – 7th