| Clubname: | Iberia 1999 |
| Fullname: | Football Club Iberia 1999 |
| Nickname: | Red Eagles |
| Ground: | David Petriashvili Stadium Tbilisi, Georgia |
| Capacity: | 2,130 |
| Chairman: | Tariel Khechikashvili |
| Manager: | Guga Nergadze |
| League: | Erovnuli Liga |
| Season: | 2025 |
| Position: | Erovnuli Liga, 1st of 10 (champions) |
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FC Iberia 1999, formerly known as FC Saburtalo, is a Georgian football club,[1] based in the Saburtalo District of Tbilisi, the capital of the country.
Тhey have been the most decorated Georgian team since 2017 when the Erovnuli Liga was launched.
Saburtalo was founded on 20 August 1999, in Tbilisi.[2] In 2005, the club was bought by Iberia Business Group and its owner Tariel Khechikashvili, who later became the Minister of Sport & Youth Affairs of Georgia.
Following the 2014–15 season, Saburtalo won their respective Pirveli Liga group with a nineteen-point margin and advanced to the Umaglesi Liga.[3]
In 2018, Saburtalo who had not won any silverware during the previous three seasons in the top-flight, claimed the champion's title for the first time under coach Gia Chiabrishvili.[4]
A year later, they successfully completed their cup campaign after a 3–1 win over Locomotive in the final. In 2020, Saburtalo beat champions Dinamo Tbilisi to lift the Georgian Super Cup.[5]
Next seasons saw the team winning two more cup trophies and another league title with 2022 being the only year when Saburtalo failed to win any domestic tournament.
Team won title for the second time under coach Levan Korgalidze.
| Season | League | Pos. | Pl. | W | D | L | GF | GA | P | Cup | Europe | Manager | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| as Saburalo | ||||||||||||||
| 2013–14 | Erovnuli Liga 2 | 8 | 26 | 9 | 5 | 12 | 38 | 34 | 32 | DNP | Temur Shalamberidze | |||
| 2014–15 | Erovnuli Liga 2 | align=right bgcolor=gold | 1 | 36 | 28 | 3 | 5 | 92 | 25 | 82 | First round | Giorgi Chiabrishvili | ||
| 2015–16 | Erovnuli Liga | 8 | 30 | 11 | 6 | 13 | 47 | 61 | 39 | First round | ||||
| 2016 | Erovnuli Liga | 3 | 12 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 17 | 12 | 19 | First round | Pablo Franco | |||
| 2017 | Erovnuli Liga | 4 | 36 | 18 | 6 | 12 | 61 | 42 | 60 | Fourth round | Giorgi Chiabrishvili | |||
| 2018 | Erovnuli Liga | align=right bgcolor=gold | 1 | 36 | 24 | 7 | 5 | 64 | 29 | 79 | Third round | |||
| 2019 | Erovnuli Liga | 3 | 36 | 21 | 7 | 8 | 67 | 36 | 70 | Winners | Champions League - 2QR Europa League - 3QR | |||
| 2020 | Erovnuli Liga | 5 | 18 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 28 | 21 | 27 | Semi-final | Europa League - 1QR | Temur Shalamberidze Levan Korgalidze | ||
| 2021 | Erovnuli Liga | 4 | 36 | 15 | 8 | 13 | 52 | 40 | 57 | Winners | Khvicha Shubitidze | |||
| 2022 | Erovnuli Liga | 6 | align=right | 36 | align=right | 13 | 8 | 15 | 51 | 49 | 47 | Semi-final | Conference League - 2QR | Lasha Nozadze |
| 2023 | Erovnuli Liga | 6 | 36 | 14 | 9 | 13 | 58 | 49 | 51 | Winners | Omari Tetradze Giorgi Mikadze | |||
| as Iberia 1999 | ||||||||||||||
| 2024 | Erovnuli Liga | align=right bgcolor=gold | 1 | 36 | 23 | 6 | 7 | 74 | 46 | 75 | Round of 16 | Conference League - 3QR | ||
| 2025 | Erovnuli Liga | align=right bgcolor=gold | 1 | 36 | 24 | 8 | 4 | 60 | 24 | 80 | Runners-up | Champions League - 1QR | Levan Korgalidze Gia Geguchadze Guga Nergadze | |
Saburtalo made their debut in a UEFA competition in 2019 after being paired with Moldovan side Sheriff Tiraspol in the Champions League 1st qualifying round. They cruised to an away 3–0 victory,[6] although survived an early scare in the return leg after conceding three goals within the opening ten minutes.[7]
The team has twice reached the 3rd round of UEFA competitions.
| Season | Competition | Round | Club | Home | Away | Agg. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019–20 | UEFA Champions League | 1QR |  Sheriff Tiraspol | 1–3 | 3–0 | 4−3 | |
| 2QR | Dinamo Zagreb | 0−2 | 0−3 | 0−5 | |||
| UEFA Europa League | 3QR |  Ararat-Armenia | 0−2 | 2−1 | 2−3 | ||
| 2020–21 | UEFA Europa League | 1QR |  Apollon Limassol | 1–5 | |||
| 2022–23 | UEFA Europa Conference League | 1QR |  Partizani | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1−1 | |
| 2QR |  FCSB | 1–0 | 2–4 | 3–4 | |||
| 2024–25 | UEFA Europa Conference League | 2QR | Partizani | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | |
| 3QR |  İstanbul Başakşehir | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–3 | |||
| 2025–26 | UEFA Champions League | 1QR |  Malmö FF | 1–3 | 1–3 | 2−6 | |
| UEFA Europa Conference League | 2QR |  FCI Levadia | 2–2 | 0–1 | 2–3 | ||
| 2026–27 | UEFA Champions League | 1QR |
| Competition | Titles | Seasons | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic | scope=col | Erovnuli Liga | 3 | 2018, 2024, 2025 |
| scope=col | Erovnuli Liga 2 | 1 | 2014–15 | |
| scope=col | Georgian Cup | 3 | 2019, 2021, 2023 | |
| scope=col | Georgian Super Cup | 1 | 2020 | |
The reserve team currently competes in the 2nd division after a seven-year continuous tenure in Liga 3.
The U19s won their youth league in 2016 and 2022, while the U17 team secured three titles in the early 2020s.
Saburtalo has one of the top football academies in the country.
The club has a full-size stadium, called Bendela, with the capacity of 1,800 spectators.
Had international caps for their respective countries. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries while playing for Iberia 1999.
Sandro Altunashvili Bachana Arabuli Grigol Chabradze Vladimir Dvalishvili Iva Gelashvili Giorgi Gocholeishvili Tornike Gorgiashvili Levan Kakubava Levan Kenia Giorgi Kharaishvili Giorgi Kochorashvili Lazare Kupatadze Giorgi Makaridze Nikoloz Mali Vladimer Mamuchashvili Zurab Menteshashvili Omar Migineishvili Shota Nonikashvili Lasha Parunashvili Giorgi Rekhviashvili Irakli Sikharulidze Davit Skhirtladze David Targamadze Dimitri Tatanashvili Davit VolkoviSaburtalo is the name of one of Tbilisi's districts where the team academy and Bendela are located, while the term Iberia, a synonym for Kartli, stems from an ancient kingdom which existed until the Early Middle Ages.
On 27 February 2024, the team's name was changed to Iberia 1999.[8] [9]
