2023 Liga 3 (Georgia)

The 2023 Liga 3 (Georgia) season was the 7th edition under its current title and the 35th edition of third tier football in Georgia. The regular two-round tournament began on 4 April and ended on 1 December^[1] with promotion play-offs completed on 10 December. Each team played thirty matches in as many rounds.

Liga 3

Season	2023
Dates	4 April – 1 December
Champions	Aragvi
Promoted	Aragvi Shturmi Rustavi
Relegated	Merani-2 Chikhura
Matches played	240
Goals scored	761 (3.17 per match)
Biggest home win	Rustavi 7–0 Guria (7 November)
Biggest away win	Chikhura 0–7 Varketili (9 May) Borjomi 0–7 Shturmi (25 October) Merani-2 0–7 Zestaponi (31 October)
Highest scoring	Bakhmaro 8–2 Rustavi (17 October)
Longest winning run	Shturmi (8 matches)
Longest unbeaten run	Shturmi (13)
Longest winless run	Chikhura (14)
Longest losing run	Chikhura (14)
← 2022 2024 → All statistics correct as of 1 December.

Gori had the longest tenure in the league with the 7th consecutive season while Meshakhte and Bakhmaro entered into the sixth year. On the other hand, three of the four new members (Locomotive-2, Rustavi and Shturmi) made their debut in Liga 3.

Team changes

The following teams have changed division since the previous season:

To Liga 3

Promoted from Liga 4

Locomotive-2 • Shturmi • Matchakhela

Relegated from Liga 2

Rustavi

From Liga 3

Relegated to Liga 4

Tbilisi City

Promoted to Liga 2

Dinamo Tbilisi-2 • Kolkheti-1913 • Kolkheti Khobi

Teams

Chikhura

Gori

Matchakhela

Shturmi

Meshakhte

Guria

Rustavi

Aragvi

Borjomi

Bakhmaro

Zestaponi

Tbilisi

Tbilisi teams:
Varketili
Irao
Saburtalo-2
Locomotive-2
Merani-2

Locations of Liga 3 football clubs in 2023

Sixteen teams were competing in Liga 3 for the 2023 season. Five of them previously played in the top division, namely Borjomi (2005–09), Chikhura (2012–20), Guria Lanchkhuti (1990–99, 2001–02, 2013–16), Rustavi (2018–19) and Zestaponi (2004–15) with the latter being the two-times national champions.^[2] There were also three reserve teams of higher league members this season.

The clubs are listed below in alphabetical order:

Clubs	Position last season	Location	Region
Aragvia	3rd	Dusheti	Mtskheta-Mtianeti
Bakhmaro	10th	Chokhatauri	Guria
Borjomi	8th	Borjomi	Samtskhe-Javakheti
Chikhura	16th	Sachkhere	Imereti
Gori	6th	Gori	Shida Kartli
Guria	11th	Lanchkhuti	Guria
Irao b	9th	Tbilisi	Tbilisi
Locomotive-2	1st in Liga 4	Tbilisi	Tbilisi
Matchakhela	3rd in Liga 4	Khelvachauri	Adjara
Merani-2 Tbilisi	13th	Tbilisi	Tbilisi
Meshakhte	14th	Tkibuli	Imereti
Rustavi	7th in Liga 2	Rustavi	Kvemo Kartli
Saburtalo-2	7th	Tbilisi	Tbilisi
Shturmic	2nd in Liga 4	Sartichala	Kvemo Kartli
Varketili	5th	Tbilisi	Tbilisi
Zestaponi	15th	Zestaponi	Imereti

^a Based in Tbilisi, plays at Marakana football ground.

^b Holds home games in Kaspi.

^c Uses the Sagarejo Central stadium as their home ground.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Aragvi (C, P)	30	21	5	4	66	21	+45	68	Promotion to Erovnuli Liga 2
2	Shturmi (P)	30	21	5	4	67	27	+40	68
3	Rustavi	30	19	4	7	63	31	+32	61	Qualification for promotion play-offs
4	Varketili	30	19	3	8	54	35	+19	60
5	Meshakhte	30	15	10	5	49	24	+25	55
6	Irao	30	15	5	10	56	41	+15	50
7	Saburtalo-2	30	12	9	9	45	26	+19	45
8	Gori	30	13	4	13	46	48	−2	43
9	Guria	30	11	6	13	44	55	−11	39
10	Locomotive-2	30	10	5	15	50	42	+8	35
11	Borjomi	30	11	2	17	50	78	−28	35
12	Bakhmaro	30	9	6	15	47	47	0	33
13	Zestaponi	30	6	11	13	33	46	−13	29
14	Matchakhela	30	8	2	20	38	81	−43	26	Relegation to Liga 4
15	Merani-2 (R)	30	4	10	16	30	58	−28	22
16	Chikhura (R)	30	2	1	27	23	101	−78	7

Source: ^[3]
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Head-to-head away goals scored (only if two teams); 6) Goal difference; 7) Goals scored.
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Results

Regular season

Home \ Away	ARA	BOR	BKH	CHI	GOR	GUR	IRA	LC2	MAT	MR2	MES	RST	SB2	STR	VAR	ZES
Aragvi		6–1	1–1	4–0	5–1	4–1	1–0	0–0	3–1	4–1	0–0	1–0	2–0	2–0	5–0	6–0
Borjomi	2–4		2–2	3–2	0–2	1–2	0–5	0–5	3–1	3–1	2–3	1–2	1–0	0–7	2–4	3–0
Bakhmaro	0–2	1–2		3–0	0–1	2–1	1–2	2–0	3–4	2–2	0–0	8–2	1–2	2–3	4–1	1–1
Chikhura	0–2	1–5	0–4		0–2	3–5	0–3	1–3	2–4	0–1	1–5	0–3	1–4	0–1	0–7	0–1
Gori	2–0	1–2	3–0	0–3		2–1	2–0	2–1	3–0	4–0	2–1	1–2	1–0	4–4	0–1	2–2
Guria	0–1	2–3	0–0	3–1	2–2		2–1	4–2	3–0	1–1	1–0	2–0	1–2	1–0	1–1	4–1
Irao	1–1	4–2	4–1	4–2	4–3	1–3		0–1	3–3	1–0	1–0	3–1	1–0	1–2	2–1	2–0
Locomotive-2	0–1	3–2	2–3	5–0	0–1	1–1	4–2		6–1	2–0	0–2	1–3	0–0	1–2	1–2	0–1
Matchakhela	1–2	2–0	0–1	1–3	3–2	3–2	0–4	0–5		2–1	2–3	0–3	1–1	0–4	0–1	3–1
Merani-2	1–5	1–1	0–3	1–1	1–0	4–0	1–1	3–3	3–2		1–2	2–2	0–0	0–1	0–1	0–7
Meshakhte	0–0	3–0	1–0	4–0	3–0	1–1	1–1	2–1	6–1	1–0		1–0	1–1	0–1	4–1	0–0
Rustavi	3–0	1–2	2–0	6–0	2–1	7–0	3–1	1–0	2–0	2–1	4–1		3–1	1–1	1–1	2–1
Saburtalo-2	0–2	4–2	1–0	5–0	4–1	6–0	2–0	1–0	4–0	1–1	0–0	0–1		2–2	0–1	2–0
Shturmi	2–0	6–2	3–1	7–1	3–0	2–0	1–2	3–0	2–0	2–1	1–1	1–0	1–1		1–0	2–1
Varketili	2–0	2–0	4–1	3–0	3–0	1–0	1–0	1–2	4–1	0–0	1–2	0–4	2–1	2–0		3–2
Zestaponi	1–2	1–3	1–0	2–1	1–1	2–0	2–2	1–1	1–2	1–1	1–1	0–0	0–0	1–2	0–0

Source: ^[4]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Promotion play-offs

5 December

18:00 GET

Locomotive	4–0	Rustavi
Makharoblidze 40' 50' Ozbetelashvili 69' 90+3'	Report

Mikheil Meskhi reserve stadium, Tbilisi

Referee: Jenery Khorava

9 December

13:00 GET

Rustavi	4–3	Locomotive
Toroshelidze 48' Japaridze 80' Nakano 84', 86'	Report	Molashvili 26' Basheleishvili 43' Ozbetelashvili 50'

Poladi stadium, Rustavi

Referee: Irakli Kherkhadze

---

6 December

13:00 GET

Varketili	0–0	Kolkheti Khobi
	Report

Marakana, Tbilisi

Referee: Kote Giorgadze

10 December

13:00 GET

Kolkheti Khobi	1–0	Varketili
Tsurtsumia 90+4'	Report

Paata Tatarishvii stadium, Khobi

Referee: Badri Ninua

On 11 January 2024, the Federation announced that following the expulsion of Shukura from the 2nd division to Liga 4, Rustavi would be admitted to replace them next season with Matchakhela also spared from relegation.^[5]

See also

• 2023 Erovnuli Liga

• 2023 Erovnuli Liga 2

• 2023 Liga 4

• 2023 Georgian Cup