Giorgi Mamardashvili

Giorgi Mamardashvili  (გიორგი მამარდაშვილი; born 29 September 2000) is a Georgian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for La Liga club Valencia and the Georgia national team.

Mamardashvili spent much of his youth years at Dinamo Tbilisi. After signing a professional contract with this club, he was loaned to other Erovnuli Liga teams for three seasons before his transfer to Valencia. He has quickly established himself as a first-choice shot-stopper, becoming the first ever Georgian goalkeeper in the Spanish top tier.

Dinamo Tbilisi
Born in Tbilisi, Mamardashvili joined Dinamo Tbilisi's youth setup in 2012, from Gagra. After featuring as an unused substitute in the first team for the most of the 2018 season, he was loaned to Rustavi for the 2019 campaign.

Rustavi
Mamardashvili made his senior debut on 2 March 2019, starting in a 4–1 away loss against Locomotive Tbilisi. After contributing with 28 appearances and helping his side to avoid relegation, he moved to Locomotive also on loan.

Locomotive Tbilisi
The goalkeeper was widely hailed during Locomotive's UEFA Europa League campaign in 2020. According to newspaper Marca, his great performance against Granada drew attention from Spanish scouts.

In late December he received the Goalkeeper of the Year award from the Georgian Football Federation.

His great skills did not go unnoticed at the UEFA, either, when it published a list of 50 young talents expected to shine in 2021.

Valencia
On 7 June 2021, Mamardashvili joined Spanish club Valencia on a one-year loan deal, with a buyout clause, and was initially assigned to the reserves in Tercera División RFEF. He made the pre-season with the main squad, impressing the manager José Bordalás and earning himself the starting spot in the league opener against Getafe on 13 August, which ended 1–0 for Los Che.

On 31 December 2021, Valencia confirmed the permanent signing of Mamardashvili on a contract until 2024, with an option for a further year.

During this season Giorgi Mamardashvili participated in 18 league matches with eight clean sheets. He recorded 560 minutes in a row without conceding a goal. He was twice included in the La Liga's symbolic team of the week (Matchweeks 1 and 35). Additionally, he received the King of the Match award on three occasions. In May 2022, Marca named Mamardashvili in the La Liga's Discovery of the Season team.

The next season Mamardashvili took part in all 38 league games without being substituted. He was three times selected in the La Liga's team of the week. Based on votes from Valencia fans, Mamardashvili was named the best player in 2023, while he had come 2nd behind Gonçalo Guedes the previous year.

On 28 January 2024, Mamardashvili became a part of the club history. He broke the team record with his 60th consecutive appearance in La Liga as a starter. Eventually, he played in 69 league matches in a row. Overall, during his third season at the club Mamardashvili continued to achieve impressive results, namely, improved his clean sheet record (13), saved the most penalties (3) along with Unai Simon and prevented the most goals in La Liga.

International career
After making three appearances for the Georgia U21 team, Mamardashvili made his debut for the senior national team against Bulgaria in a 4–1 friendly defeat on 8 September 2021.

On 9 June 2022, he played his first official match in a 3–0 win over North Macedonia in the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League. For his performance in the return leg (2–0) in September, Mamardashvili was named in Team of the Week after round 5, and whoscored.com included him in monthly and seasonal Best XI of League C.

In the summer of 2023, Mamardashvili took part in three games in European Championship for Georgia U21s, who had a highly successful group stage campaign and reached quarter-finals for the first time in their history.

On 26 March 2024, Georgia beat Greece 4–2 in a penalty shootout to qualify for UEFA Euro 2024, the side's first major tournament. Mamardashvili was a critical factor in this game, saving the first spot kick from Greek forward Anastasios Bakasetas.

Mamardashvili was selected by Georgia for the Euro 2024 finals in Germany. He started in his nation's first match in a major international competition, a 3–1 loss against Turkey on 19 June. After making eleven saves in the next game against Czechia, Mamardashvili received the Player of the Match award. Moreover, some of the analytical sites such as Sofascore, Marca and 90min.com named him in Team of the Round 2 with the former awarding him the second highest aggregate rating point after Spanish midfielder Fabián Ruiz. In the team's third Group F match, Mamardashvili kept a clean sheet against Portugal, as Georgia won 2–0 in Gelsenkirchen to qualify for the knockout stage. He ended the group stage having made 20 saves, seven more than any other goalkeeper at the tournament.

Personal life
Mamardashvili is the son of former WIT Georgia and Torpedo Kutaisi goalkeeper Davit Mamardashvili, who after retirement became a goalkeeping coach at Merani Martvili and later Torpedo Kutaisi.

Mamardashvili started relationship with model Elene Epitashvili in 2021. Their marriage ceremony took place on 18 July 2024.

Honours
Dinamo Tbilisi
 * Erovnuli Liga runner-up: 2018

Valencia
 * Copa del Rey runner-up: 2021–22

Individual
 * Goalkeeper of the Year in Georgia: 2020