Shota Arveladze

Shota Arveladze (შოთა არველაძე; born 22 February 1973) is a Georgian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Süper Lig club Fatih Karagümrük.

Arveladze played at Dinamo Tbilisi, Trabzonspor, Ajax, Rangers, AZ and Levante.

He is Georgia's all-time top scorer with 291 goals in his 410 league games for his clubs and 26 goals in his 61 games for the national team.

His 27 goals scored in the UEFA Cup competition, including qualifiers ranks him third in the tournament's history before it became the Europa League.

He has the best strike record of independent Georgian Football.

He was nominated as the best player of Georgia as well as the best player by the Georgian Professional Football league survey.

Arveladze played at Dinamo Tbilisi, Trabzonspor, and Ajax, and finished at least one season as the top goal scorer at all three.

In 1993, he scored an effective first Euro Tournament goal in the history of independent Georgian Football in the match against Linfield, Northern Ireland.

When he led Trabzonspor in goals in 1995–96, he also led the Süper Lig, making him the second non-Turk to date to lead that league in goals after Tarik Hodžić 1983–84.

He is recorded as "most loved foreign player" for Trabzonspor supporters.

In summer 1997, Arveladze signed for Ajax Amsterdam.

Later, he declared that he was so nervous during his first training session, that he even forgot to take football boots with him.

He became a close friend to Ronald de Boer during his spell in Amsterdam.

His first game at Amsterdam Arena was a special day for the Georgian player.

On 15 August 1997, Ajax Amsterdam faced Brazilian side Grêmio in a friendly game.

Arveladze scored a goal, while his wife Tamuna gave birth to their first child, Giorgi hours before the game.

Arveladze made a debut for Ajax against Vitesse Arnhem, where he replaced Gerald Sibon and scored the fourth goal for the club.

During his first season, he scored three hat-tricks in Eredivisie and total 25 goals in 31 appearances.

The manager of the Amsterdam-based club Morten Olsen was very pleased with the performance of the young striker.

Arveladze was a key figure for the club during 1997–98 UEFA Cup as well.

He scored seven goals in eight games for the club, including hat-trick against NK Maribor.

Ajax were eliminated in quarter-finals, against Spartak Moscow.

Arveladze scored the club's single goal in a tie.

During his first season, he faced twice NAC Breda, where his twin brother Archil played.

This remains as one of the most memorable facts in Shota's career.

In summer 1998, Ajax signed Arveladze's close friend Giorgi Kinkladze from Manchester City for £5 million.

They had been friends since their childhood and that looked like a dream move for both.

However, Kinkladze's spell at Ajax proved unsuccessful.

Arveladze joined Rangers from Ajax for £3 million in 2001.

He agreed a four-year deal with the club.

It was obvious that the Georgian would face a fierce competitions for the starting place in the Rangers' strikeforce from the players like Tore Andre Flo, Claudio Caniggia, Michael Mols, Kenny Miller, Billy Dodds, Ronald de Boer and Russell Latapy.

During the first season with Glasgow-based club, Arveladze scored 17 goals overall, including 11 in Scottish Premier League.

He only managed to take part in 30 games, after being injured in February in the quarterfinal of the Scottish Cup against Forfar Athletic, an injury which meant he missed the 2002 Scottish League Cup Final.

However, he scored six goals for his club, which managed to win the title.

Arveladze played in the final, replacing Claudio Caniggia.

This was his first title with the Scottish club.

The following season was the most successful in the career of the Georgian player.

Rangers won treble.

In March 2003, Rangers defeated their arch-rivals Celtic in the League Cup Final.

Later in the Scottish Cup Final, Rangers won another title, after they managed to defeat Dundee with a goal from Lorenzo Amoruso.