Nika Kacharava

Nikoloz "Nika" Kacharava (ნიკოლოზ "ნიკა" კაჭარავა, ; born 13 January 1994) is a Georgian professional footballer who plays as a forward for A Lyga club Panevėžys. Born in Cyprus, he plays for the Georgia national team.

Club career
Kacharava started his career in the second team of Dinamo Tbilisi. A promising youth, he found it hard finding opportunities to break into the Tbilisi first team and signed a contract with Rubin Kazan. Kacharava played several matches with the Rubin Kazan youth squads, but found it hard to break into the first team squad. Kacharava got his first official contract with Rubin Kazan, but became frustrated with the lack of first team opportunities.

Kacharava moved back to Georgia and signed a contract with FC Tskhinvali. In his first season, Kacharava scored only one goal - however, in the following seasons Kacharava cemented his spot in the first team, becoming a prolific scorer and one of the top forwards in the league. He attracted attention throughout Europe, eventually transferring to Rostov during one of their most successful seasons.

He spent the 2016–17 season on loan in Cyprus at Ethnikos Achna, scoring 16 goals and becoming the third-best scorer of the 2016–17 Cypriot First Division.

On 18 June 2017, he signed another year-long loan deal, joining the Polish club Korona Kielce.

On 6 June 2018, Kacharava signed a two-year contract with the Cypriot club Anorthosis Famagusta. On 24 January 2020, he signed a two-year contract extension, with a buy-out clause of €500,000.

On 8 February 2022, Kacharava joined South Korean K League 2 club Jeonnam Dragons. A year later he returned to Georgia and moved to Torpedo Kutaisi, but left the club by mutual consent after three months.

In August 2023, Kacharava signed a contract with Lithuanian club Panevėžys until the end of the season with an option of its extension.

International career
Kacharava was born in Cyprus to parents of Georgian descent – his father Kakhaber Kacharava was a member of the Georgia national team and his mother Lia Mikadze was a basketball player. Kacharava had successful stints with the Georgian youth national teams, and made his debut for the senior Georgian national team in a friendly 0–0 tie with Kazakhstan.

International goals

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

Honours
Panevėžys
 * A Lyga: 2023