The coronavirus has gripped the world and also has a major impact on football. Most competitions are on hold and that also applies to the Abkhazian Premier League. However, there is one big difference: football has not been played in Abkhazia for some time.
The 27th edition of the Abkhazian Premier League was due to start in September 2019 but was postponed until the spring of 2020. The reason is plain and simple: there are not enough teams to compete. Last season, champions Nart, Gagra, Ritsa, Dinamo Sukhumi, Athos and Samurzakan participated, but for the upcoming season the two latter teams dropped out due to financial problems.
The competition has often been on the verge of collapse, but this is the first time the start date has actually been postponed. Moreover, it is highly questionable whether the elite division will resume after the corona crisis since the situation has not improved in recent months in the de facto independent state, which seceded from Georgia in the 1990s.
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Popular Sport in Abkhazia
Football has always been the main sport in Abkhazia, with Dinamo Sukhumi as their most prominent representative. Dinamo participated in the Soviet Second League and renowned players with Abkhazian roots were Ruslan Adzhindzhal, Valter Sanaya, Daur Akhvlediani, Avtandil Gogoberidze, Gennadi Bondaruk, Georgi Grammatikopulo, Temur Ketsbaia, Giorgi Sichinava, Nikita Simonyan and Viktor Getmanov. The latter three went on to represent the Soviet Union in the several World Cup tournaments.
After the Georgian-Abkhaz war, the authorities decided to set up their own league in 1994. 15 teams participated; even villages like Lykhny, Durpish, Escher and Otkhara sent their own teams. To save on travel costs, the competition was divided into two groups: East and West. There was great enthusiasm, partly because the community needed distraction and entertainment after the bloody war with Georgia.
However, every year teams continued to drop out. Clubs struggled with financial problems, players grew older and there was no real throughput of youth players while the facilities left a lot to be desired.
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Sponsorship
In 2020, according to some estimations, a team needs between $37,000 and $43,000 to compete in a season in the Abkhaz league and cup. To get that amount together, all teams depend on administrative units and other sponsors. Without the support of the district administrations, the teams are unable to function.
The Abkhaz State sponsors the league, the cup competition and the national team. That costs the state about $115,000 every year. For this, the referees from Russia are paid, friendly international matches are organized and it is ensured that Abkhazia can participate in tournaments, such as the CONIFA World Cup - which Abkhazia won in 2016 - and the CONIFA European Championship, where Abkhazia took the bronze in Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh last year.
However, the clubs must keep up their own trousers.
Even record champion and current champion Nart is struggling to make ends meet, chairman Gennady Zvinaria told Sputnik Abkhazia in April 2019:
Nart won’t be able to play in the spring if the state doesn’t help us. We can’t get money anymore. If the state helps, yes, then we will participate.
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Youth football
At the moment, there are about 1750 children from 8 to 16 years old who play football in Abkhazia. When these players turn 18, they often choose a future outside sports because there are not many incentives to continue in football.
Parents often provide training since trainers are too expensive, training bases are sub-par, tournaments and matches are postponed. Nart chairman Zvinaria is very concerned: “If there is no adult football, then why do you need children’s football?” Football Association President Juma Kvaratskhelia concludes: “Our football is dying. It’s getting worse and worse every day”.
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World Cup
Current holders of the 2016 ConIFA World Cup, the worsening situation became clear when the organization of the 2020 tournament - a football tournament for states, minorities, stateless peoples and regions - barred Abkhazia from participating in the 2020 World Cup in North Macedonia.
Abkhazia, however, did not play friendly matches in 2019 and therefore did not earn enough ‘points’ to qualify for participation. Despite the tournament being cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak, the exclusion of Abkhazia was and is telling for the deplorable state of Abkhazian football nowadays.
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Emergency Plan
Clubs, trainers, presidents, politicians and football supporters call on the authorities of Abkhazia to take action to save Abkhazian football.
“We must ask the president to invite us. The Football Federation should seriously prepare for this conversation and try to explain why this (financial support, GF.) is needed and how much is needed. Not just for one year, but for at least three to five years”, said Rafael Ampar, the Deputy Chairman of the State Committee for Physical Culture and Sports.
Saving Abkhazian football is not only important from a sporting point of view but as Shamil Adynba, president of football club Abazg, declared, “I believe that sport, and in particular football, is the most important area of the state’s activity. It’s simply impossible to build a state without sport.”
With Abkhazia’s newly elected president, Aslan Bzhania, his willingness to help Abkhazian football remains to be seen. In any case, for many, it is abundantly evident that much more must be done. Or as journalist Badrak Avidzb put it: “Abkhazian football is in a deep coma. First aid no longer enough, a phased resuscitation plan is needed”.
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