Jaba Kankava

Jaba Kankava (ჯაბა კანკავა, ; born 18 March 1986) is a Georgian professional footballer who most recently played as a defensive midfielder for Slovan Bratislava.

Kankava is the three-time winner of Slovakia's Super League. With 101 appearances in official matches for the national team, he is the second most-capped Georgian player after Guram Kashia. He has been twice recognized as Georgian Footballer of the Year.

Club career
Jaba Kankava was born on 18 March 1986 in Tbilisi to Nana and Gia Kankava, and has one older brother, Levan.

He played football from a young age, joining Vake 91 when he was six in 1992. Kankava played eight years there under the management of Guram Chomakhidze before moving to Dinamo Tbilisi at the age of 14.

In 2004, Kankava started his football career with Dinamo Tbilisi, where Gia Geguchadze was just appointed as head coach. Geguchadze started to create a new club with youngsters and Kankava became a main member of them. In his first year, Kankava won the Georgian Cup, and played in the UEFA Europa League scoring the winning goal against Slavia Prague and contributing to the qualification for the group stages.

After one season at Dinamo, Kankava moved to Alania Vladikavkaz, where he played 12 matches, before signing a contract with Arsenal Kyiv in 2005. At Arsenal Kyiv, he played 24 matches and scored 4 goals.

In 2007, Kankava agreed to sign a three-year contract with league rival Dnipro. Newly arrived Kankava was among the starting squad from the first games but received a red card against Dynamo Kyiv because of a tough tackle and missed several games and was among the bench players. He won the silver medals of the Ukrainian league in 2014. The next season Kankava played in a dramatic Europa League final against Sevilla, which was his last appearance for the club. In eight years at Dnipro, he played 91 matches and scored 4 goals.

In 2015, Kankava joined Ligue 1 club Reims in a deal worth €1.5 million. During his second season at this club Kankava was three times named the best player of month by popular vote and eventually recognized Player of the Season. In July 2017, he agreed to the termination of his contract which ran until 2018.

On 22 November 2018, Kankava signed a new two-year contract with FC Tobol.

On 16 January 2021, Valenciennes announced the signing of Kankava on a contract until June 2021. Аt the end of this season he joined Fortuna Liga side Slovan Bratislava. In May 2022, he was selected in Team of the Season. During the next three years Kankava made 116 appearances for Slovan in all competitions and won three league titles. He left the club in June 2024.

International career
On 8 September 2004, Kankava made his debut for Georgia against Albania in the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification. Later on, he managed score a goal against Croatia in UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying, and against Germany in UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying. From August 2012 up to October 2021, he was the captain, leading the team in 62 matches.

On 27 January 2022, Kankava announced his retirement from international football after appearing in 100 matches, captaining Georgia 62 times, however he came out of retirement to feature in Georgia's qualifiers for Euro 2024.

Kavkava received a call-up to the team for the European championship on 22 May 2024. Two days later, he announced that he would refrain himself from taking part in the matches and travel to Germany as a fan only. His decision was widely hailed as unselfish and exemplary. Although not present at Euro 2024, Kankava was awarded the Order of Honour by a presidential decree issued on 2 July 2024.

Club
Data available from 2008

National team

 * Scores and results list Georgia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kankava goal.

Honours
Dinamo Tbilisi
 * Georgian Cup: 2003–04

Dnipro
 * Premier League runner-up: 2013–14


 * UEFA Europa League runner-up: 2014–15

Tobol
 * Kazakhstan Premier League runner-up: 2020

Slovan Bratislava
 * Fortuna Liga: 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24
 * Slovak Cup runner-up: 2021–22

Individual
 * Georgian Footballer of the Year: 2015, 2019
 * Slovak Super Liga Team of the Season: 2021–22

Awards
On 30 March 2014, Kankava saved the life of Dynamo Kyiv captain, Oleh Husyev, after Husyev was briefly knocked unconscious in a collision and swallowed his tongue which blocked his airway. Kankava reacted immediately by sticking his fingers in Husyev's mouth to dislodge his tongue and clear his airway. On 12 April 2014, before Dnipro played Metalurh Zaporizhya at the Dnipro Arena, Kankava was awarded the Order of Merit for his actions in Dnipropetrovsk.