Georgia's national football team receives approximately 112 million kronor from oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili after the historic advancement to the round of 16 in the European Championship in Germany.
If they win against Spain on Sunday, the team is promised even more money.
The announcement comes from the ruling party Georgian Dream, which Ivanishvili founded in 2012 but no longer has a formal role in.
"Honorary chairman Bidzina Ivanishvili rewards the Georgian national football team with 30 million lari (approximately 111.8 million kronor) for reaching the round of 16 in the 2024 European Championship", the party writes in a statement, adding:
"The team will receive an additional 30 million lari if they win against Spain."
On Wednesday, Georgia surprisingly defeated Portugal 2–0 in Gelsenkirchen in the final match of Group F. The football team, which is making its first major championship appearance, thereby advanced to the round of 16 as the second-best third-place team after the Netherlands.
On Sunday, they will face Spain, one of the teams that has impressed the most so far in the European Championship, in the round of 16 in Cologne.
The 68-year-old politician and businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili is considered Georgia's richest and most powerful man, with an estimated fortune of approximately 52 billion kronor.
Ivanishvili, who has primarily made his money in the metal and banking industries in the vacuum that arose after the fall of the Soviet Union, has lived in Russia and is considered pro-Russian.
This year's European Championship is the first time Georgia has qualified for an international senior championship as an independent nation.
The country was close to qualifying for the 2021 European Championship, but lost the decisive qualifying match against North Macedonia on penalties. The revenge came in the qualifying round for this year's European Championship, where Georgia won the qualifying final against Greece on penalties.
The team is coached by French football legend Willy Sagnol. The big star is the speedy winger Chvitsa Kvaratskhelia, who normally plays for Napoli.
At club level, the dominant team is Dinamo Tbilisi. No club has won the domestic league more times. In 1980–81, before Georgia's independence, the team won the Cup Winners' Cup.
Former Milan player Kacha Kaladze has chosen a political career after retiring. He has previously been vice prime minister of Georgia and is now the mayor of the capital Tbilisi.
Georgia is located in southern Caucasus, bordering Russia to the north, Azerbaijan to the east, the Black Sea to the west, and Turkey and Armenia to the south. The country is roughly twice the size of Småland and has 3.7 million inhabitants, with over a million in the capital Tbilisi.
The country was incorporated into Russia in 1801 but became independent again after the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991. However, the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia are de facto under Russian control again after breaking away through war in the 1990s.
Georgia has recently become a candidate for EU membership, but the new so-called agent law goes against several fundamental criteria for the country to become a full member.
A few opinion polls conducted in recent years have shown that a large majority of Georgia's population – more than four out of five – wants the country to join the EU.
