Kakha Kaladze - International Career

International Career

Kaladze won his first cap against Cyprus in a friendly match on 27 March 1996, coming on as a 72nd minute substitute for Mikhail Kavelashvili. Later that year, he was sent off for the first time in his international career against Lebanon in a friendly match. He subsequently featured in his country's qualifying campaigns for the 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2010 FIFA World Cups, and the 2000, 2004 and 2008 UEFA European Championships. Georgia, however, have never qualified for the FIFA World Cup or the UEFA European Championship since they split from the Soviet Union. His competitive debut was against Poland on 14 June 1997 in a 1998 World Cup qualifier, Georgia lost the match 4–1. Kaladze was sent off again, along with Georgi Kinkladze, just two matches later against Moldova in another 1998 World Cup qualifier. Georgia finished in fourth place in the group and failed to qualify. In qualifying for Euro 2000, Georgia finished at the bottom of the group (Group 2), in sixth place, with just one win. Kaladze occasionally captained the side during these qualifiers in the absence of Georgi Nemsadze.

The qualifiers for the 2002 World Cup ended with Georgia finishing in third place, ahead of Hungary and Lithuania. Kaladze played in all of the matches and often missed the friendlies in between. Kaladze only played in three matches during the Euro 2004 qualifiers, where Georgia finished in last place in the group. He did, however, feature in a 1–0 victory over neighbouring Russia which is considered to be one of Georgia's greatest successes. Kaladze played in all bar one of the 2006 World Cup qualifying matches, where Georgia finished sixth in the group, with Kazakhstan being the only team to finish below them. He played fewer matches during the qualification for Euro 2008 and once again Georgia failed to qualify as they finished in sixth place despite starting their campaign with a 6–0 win over the Faroe Islands.

He scored his first ever international goal against Latvia on 6 February 2008 in a friendly which Georgia lost 3–1. On 5 September 2009, Kaladze scored two own goals in a 2010 World Cup qualifying match against Italy within the space of 11 minutes. The match ended 2–0 to Italy. Kaladze was the captain of the national team, until 11 December 2011, when he announced his retirement.