| Giorgi Papunashvili | |
| Birth Date: | 1995 9, df=y |
| Birth Place: | Tbilisi, Georgia |
| Height: | 1.77 m |
| Currentclub: | Zira |
| Clubnumber: | 10 |
| Position: | Winger |
| Youthyears1: | 2004–2012 |
| Youthclubs1: | Dinamo Tbilisi |
| Years1: | 2012–2013 |
| Clubs1: | Dinamo-2 Tbilisi |
| Caps1: | 5 |
| Goals1: | 0 |
| Years2: | 2013–2017 |
| Clubs2: | Dinamo Tbilisi |
| Caps2: | 64 |
| Goals2: | 26 |
| Years3: | 2015–2016 |
| Clubs3: | → Werder Bremen II (loan) |
| Caps3: | 20 |
| Goals3: | 2 |
| Years4: | 2017–2020 |
| Clubs4: | Zaragoza |
| Caps4: | 53 |
| Goals4: | 9 |
| Years5: | 2020 |
| Clubs5: | → Racing Santander (loan) |
| Caps5: | 4 |
| Goals5: | 0 |
| Years6: | 2021–2022 |
| Clubs6: | Apollon Limassol |
| Caps6: | 8 |
| Goals6: | 0 |
| Years7: | 2022 |
| Clubs7: | Torpedo Kutaisi |
| Caps7: | 15 |
| Goals7: | 0 |
| Years8: | 2022–2023 |
| Clubs8: | Radnički Niš |
| Caps8: | 3 |
| Goals8: | 0 |
| Years9: | 2023 |
| Clubs9: | Samtredia |
| Caps9: | 15 |
| Goals9: | 0 |
| Years10: | 2023 |
| Clubs10: | Telavi |
| Caps10: | 1 |
| Goals10: | 0 |
| Years11: | 2023–2024 |
| Clubs11: | Kapaz |
| Caps11: | 19 |
| Goals11: | 5 |
| Years12: | 2024– |
| Clubs12: | Zira |
| Caps12: | 6 |
| Goals12: | 2 |
| Nationalyears1: | 2011–2012 |
| Nationalteam1: | Georgia U17 |
| Nationalcaps1: | 10 |
| Nationalgoals1: | 2 |
| Nationalyears2: | 2013–2014 |
| Nationalteam2: | Georgia U19 |
| Nationalcaps2: | 5 |
| Nationalgoals2: | 3 |
| Nationalyears3: | 2014–2016 |
| Nationalteam3: | Georgia U21 |
| Nationalcaps3: | 6 |
| Nationalgoals3: | 2 |
| Nationalyears4: | 2014– |
| Nationalteam4: | Georgia |
| Nationalcaps4: | 17 |
| Nationalgoals4: | 3 |
| Club-Update: | 28 October 2024 |
| Nationalteam-Update: | 1 May 2023 |
Giorgi Papunashvili (Georgian: გიორგი პაპუნაშვილი|tr, in Georgian pronounced as /ɡioɾɡi pʼapʼunaʃʷili/; born 2 September 1995), commonly known as Papu, is a Georgian professional footballer who plays for Azerbaijani club Zira as a winger.
Ha has played for the Georgian national senior and youth teams.
Papunashvili started his career in his hometown club Dinamo Tbilisi. In 2013, after having spent a single season with the reserve side of the Georgian club, Papunashvili was promoted to the first team and in November he made his debut in Erovnuli Liga against Tskhinvali.[1]
During the 2014–15 season, Papunashvili became the key figure at Dinamo, scoring 16 goals in all tournaments with the club, including his first career hat-trick against Tskhinvali in October 2014.[2] Dinamo won Georgian Cup at the end of the season as well, with Papunashvili scoring two goals in the final against Samtredia.[3] In summer 2015, Papunashvili signed a season-long loan deal with Werder Bremen.[4] He joined the reserve side of the club and played in 3. Liga.[5] The loan spell was unsuccessful, as Papunashvili missed 12 games due to injury and was only able to make 20 appearances for the club, scoring two goals.[6]
In June 2017, Papunashvili signed four-year deal with Real Zaragoza.[7] [8] [9] He made his debut for the Spanish club against Granada CF on 28 August, replacing Oliver Buff.[10]
On 12 January 2020, Papunashvili joined fellow second division side Racing de Santander on loan until the end of the season.[11]
On 24 December 2020, Zaragoza announced the transfer of Papunashvili to Cypriot club Apollon Limassol FC.[12]
In January 2022, he returned to Erovnuli Liga to join Torpedo Kutaisi.[13] After six months Papunashvili moved to Serbian side Radnički Niš. In March 2023, he signed with Samtredia,[14] and four months later joined Telavi.[15] Having played one league match for the latter, Papunashvili signed a contract with Azerbaijan Premier League side Kapaz.[16] On 3 August 2024, Papunashvili signed 1+1 year contract with Azerbaijan Premier League side Zira.[17]
Papunashvili made his debut for the national team in a 1–0 friendly loss against the United Arab Emirates on 3 June 2014.[18] [19]
He also represented Georgia national under-17 football team in the 2012 UEFA European Under-17 Championship in Slovenia.[20] Papunashvili scored a memorable last-minute goal in a crucial win over England in the qualifying stage of this championship.[21]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| Dinamo-2 Tbilisi | 2012–13 | Pirveli Liga | 5 | 0 | — | — | 5 | 0 | |||
| Dinamo Tbilisi | 2013–14 | Umaglesi Liga | 15 | 3 | 3 | 0 | — | 18 | 3 | ||
| 2014–15 | 21 | 14 | 5 | 2 | — | 26 | 16 | ||||
| 2015–16 | — | — | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |||||
| 2016 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 19 | 3 | |||
| 2017 | 16 | 6 | 2 | 0 | — | 18 | 6 | ||||
| Total | 64 | 26 | 11 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 83 | 29 | |||
| Werder Bremen II (loan) | 2015–16 | 3. Liga | 20 | 2 | — | — | 20 | 2 | |||
| Real Zaragoza | 2017–18 | Segunda División | 28 | 7 | 3 | 1 | — | 31 | 8 | ||
| 2018–19 | 13 | 2 | 1 | 1 | — | 14 | 3 | ||||
| 2019–20 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 2 | — | 13 | 2 | ||||
| 2020–21 | 3 | 0 | — | — | 3 | 0 | |||||
| Total | 55 | 9 | 6 | 4 | — | 61 | 13 | ||||
| Racing Santander (loan) | 2019–20 | Segunda División | 4 | 0 | — | — | 4 | 0 | |||
| 2020–21 | Cypriot First Division | 8 | 0 | — | — | 8 | 0 | ||||
| 2021–22 | 1 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 9 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 | ||||
| 2022 | Erovnuli Liga | 15 | 0 | — | — | 15 | 0 | ||||
| 2022–23 | Serbian SuperLiga | 3 | 0 | — | — | 3 | 0 | ||||
| Samtredia | 2023 | Erovnuli Liga | 15 | 0 | — | — | 15 | 0 | |||
| Telavi | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 3 | 0 | ||||
| Kapaz | 2023–24 | Azerbaijan Premier League | 19 | 5 | 1 | 0 | — | 20 | 5 | ||
| Zira | 2024–25 | Azerbaijan Premier League | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | — | 6 | 2 | ||
| Career total | 216 | 44 | 20 | 6 | 9 | 1 | 245 | 51 | |||
Scores and results list Georgia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Papunashvili goal.[23]
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 24 March 2018 | Mikheil Meskhi Stadium, Tbilisi, Georgia | 1–0 | 4–0 | Friendly | ||
| 2 | 7 June 2019 | Boris Paichadze National Stadium, Tbilissi, Georgia | 2–0 | 3–0 | UEFA Euro 2020 qualification | ||
| 3 | 19 November 2019 | Stadion Aldo Drosina, Pula, Croatia | 1–0 | 1–2 | Friendly |
Dinamo Tbilisi