Giorgi Loria

Giorgi Loria (გიორგი ლორია, ; born 27 January 1986) is a Georgian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Omonia Aradippou and the Georgia national team.

During his long career Loria has played in five different leagues and become the most capped goalkeeper of the national team.

Club career
Loria joined the Avaza football school at age 8. At 17 he moved to Dinamo Tbilisi academy whence he was initially promoted to its junior team.

In 2005 Loria played for the senior team for the first time. After nine consecutive seasons at Dinamo he left the club in July 2014.

During the 2014–15 season, Loria played for OFI Crete but due to the club's financial problems he left the club at the end of the season. According to a source, Loria had reached a verbal agreement with PAOK in early 2015, however he did not sign for the team.

The keeper was eventually signed by Olympiacos as a back-up of Roberto, since the second-choice goalkeeper Balázs Megyeri had left the Greek giants. Loria signed with Olympiacos for a two-year contract. OFI Crete was rumored to have accepted a bid in the region of €700,000, as Loria was among the top goalkeepers in the 2014–15 season.

Loria quickly left Olympiacos due to personal issues and increased competition with teammates Stefanos Kapino and Andreas Gianniotis for the team's #2, while Roberto is undoubtedly the team's first-choice under their goalposts and one of Thrylos' captains. Olympiacos' latest intention to invest in the two young Greek prospects' development was a contributing factor for Loria's decision to leave the squad. Both the player and the club agreed that it was best to part ways. He signed for the Russian Premier League side Krylia Sovetov Samara shortly after.

On 21 August 2017, following Krylia Sovetov's relegation from the Russian Premier League, he joined Anzhi Makhachkala on loan for 2017–18 season.

On 18 January 2019, Loria signed a six-month deal with 2. Bundesliga side 1. FC Magdeburg.

On 4 July 2019, he signed with Cypriot club Anorthosis Famagusta. On 17 March 2022, the sides renewed the contract until the summer of 2024.

On 27 June 2023, the management of Anorthosis announced that he is a past member of the team. In the four years (2019–2023) that he wore the "blue and white" he was the team's main goalkeeper and a protagonist in the team's successes, winning the 2021 Cup and qualifying for the UEFA Europa Conference League group stage. And with 127 appearances in official matches, he managed to climb to seventh place on the list of foreigners with the most appearances.

After a nine-year pause Loria rejoined his youth club and Erovnuli Liga's defending champions Dinamo Tbilisi in late June 2023. A few days after his return, Dinamo won a four-team Super Cup tournament with Loria playing a crucial role in this success as he saved three after-match penalties in two games. Following this season, Loria was recognized as Goalkeeper of the Year at an annual awards ceremony.

On 15 May 2024, he reached the milestone of 100 clean sheets for Dinamo.

On 3 July 2024, newly promoted Cypriot First Division side Omonia Aradippou announced signing Loria on a year-long deal.

International career
Loria made his debut for Georgia in a friendly match against Estonia on 27 May 2008. In his seventh appearance for Georgia, Loria saved a penalty kick from Slovenia's Milivoje Novaković, helping the team to a 2–1 win in Koper.

For much of his national team career, Loria battled with Nukri Revishvili for the number one jersey, as well as the veteran Giorgi Lomaia, who played in the majority of the team's UEFA Euro 2008 and 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Loria played the first six matches of the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying campaign, before being replaced by Revishvili for the final four matches. He then started the first five 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification matches but was displaced by Giorgi Makaridze for four of the last five fixtures.

Loria played in all six of Georgia's 2018–19 UEFA Nations League fixtures, keeping four clean sheets and conceding only twice as the Crusaders finished top of Group 1 in League D with five wins from six matches to gain promotion to League C. He then played the entire UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying campaign, keeping clean sheets against Gibraltar, Denmark and the Republic of Ireland.

On 8 October 2020, Loria kept a clean sheet in the 1–0 defeat of Belarus in the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying play-off semi-final at the Boris Paichadze National Stadium in Tbilisi. He went on to play in the play-off final against North Macedonia on 12 November, which Georgia lost 1–0 to narrowly miss out on their first qualification to a major international tournament.

Loria continued to keep goal for Georgia during the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign and kept a clean sheet in the final match as the Georgians beat Sweden in Batumi.

The emergence of Giorgi Mamardashvili saw Loria rotate with the U21 goalkeeper during the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League, where Georgia gained promotion to League B, topping their group with 16 points from six matches. Mamardashvili became first choice goalkeeper in the successful UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying campaign.

In May 2024, Loria was named in Georgia's squad for the UEFA Euro 2024 finals in Germany, where he has served as back-up for Giorgi Mamardashvili.

Personal life
His father Nugzar Loria was a film producer. Giorgi himself studied at the Theatre and Film University and once featured in movie What happened in Kyiv as an actor.

Married to Salome Kopaliani, he has one daughter.

Honours
Anorthosis
 * Cypriot Cup: 2020–21
 * Cypriot Super Cup: Runner-Up 2021

Dinamo Tbilisi
 * Georgian League: 2007–08, 2012–13, 2013–14
 * Georgian Cup: 2008–09, 2012–13, 2013–14
 * Georgian Super Cup: 2006, 2008, 2023