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Budu Zivzivadze
Personal information
Date of birth	10 March 1994 (age 30)
Place of birth	Kutaisi, Georgia
Height	1.89 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Team information
Current team	Karlsruher SC
Number	11
Youth career
2009–2011	School No. 35 Tbilisi
2011–2012	Dinamo Tbilisi
Senior career*
Years	Team
2012–2014	Dinamo Tbilisi
2012–2014	→ Dinamo-2 Tbilisi
2015	Torpedo Kutaisi
2015–2016	Samtredia
2017–2019	Esbjerg
2018	→ Dinamo Tbilisi (loan)
2019	Torpedo Kutaisi
2019–2020	Mezőkövesd
2020–2023	Fehérvár
2022	→ Újpest (loan)
2023–	Karlsruher SC
International career‡
2011	Georgia U17
2013	Georgia U19
2014–2016	Georgia U21
2017–	Georgia
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 08:50, 2 November 2024 (UTC); ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 14 October 2024

Budu Zivzivadze (Order of Honor) (Georgian: ბუდუ ზივზივაძე; born 10 March 1994) is a Georgian professional footballer who plays as a striker for 2. Bundesliga club Karlsruher SC and the Georgia national team.

Being the winner of the Umaglesi Liga and the Georgian Super Cup, he was named the Georgian Player of the Year in 2016.^[2]

Early life

Budu Zivzivadze was born on 10 March 1994 in Kutaisi, Imereti, to Kakha Zivzivadze and Rusudan Gegeshidze and has one elder sister. He was named in honour of his grandfather who passed away at early age.^[3]

As a child, Budu attended chess and dancing classes^[4]^[5] before football swept him up.

Club career

At age 8, Budu Zivzivadze entered the Imedi football school in Kutaisi. He was a midfielder during the initial two years.^[6]

In 2011, he joined Dinamo Tbilisi. During the four seasons at this club, he mainly played for its reserve team taking part in Pirveli Liga. With 23 goals netted in 21 matches for Dinamo-2 in 2013–14, Zivzivadze became the topscorer. He made a professional debut with the senior team on 11 September 2014 in an away game against Metalurgi Rustavi as a second-half substitute.^[7]

In 2015, Zivzivadze moved to the top-tier club Samtredia, where he displayed his goalscoring abilities and played a crucial role in winning their first ever champion's title. The striker was named the best player of the 2016 season.^[8]

Budu signed with Danish Superliga club Esbjerg fB in January 2017, but did not play much until he was loaned out to Dinamo Tbilisi for the 2018 season.^[9] He did very well, scoring 28 goals in all competitions. Zivzivadze shared a topscorer's award with Giorgi Gabedava. Also, he was included in symbolic team of the season.^[10] After returning to Esbjerg, the club announced on 29 January 2019, that he had left the club, this time permanently, after his contract was terminated by mutual consent.^[11]

Two days later, it was announced, that he had re-joined Torpedo Kutaisi.^[12] Zivzivadze was named by Erovnuli Liga as the best player of part 2 of the four-phase championship after netting eight goals in nine games.^[13] Due to Torpedo's financial troubles, his second tenure with this team lasted six months.

In July 2019, he signed for Nemzeti Bajnokság I side Mezőkövesd.^[14]

On 11 February 2022, Zivzivadze was loaned by Fehérvár to Újpest until the end of the season.^[15]

On 31 January 2023, the last day of the 2022–23 winter transfer window, Zivzivadze signed with 2. Bundesliga club Karlsruher SC until 2025.^[16] His contract with Fehérvár had been due to run out in the summer.^[16]

During his second season at Karlsruher, Zivzivadze netted twelve goals in 30 league matches and became the team's second topscorer after Igor Matanović.

International career

Zivzivadze made his debut for the Georgia national team in a friendly match against Uzbekistan on 23 January 2017.^[17] He scored his first goal for the senior national team on 25 March 2022, the only goal in a 1–0 friendly win against Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[18]

On 21 March 2024, Zivzivadze bagged a vital brace in a 2–0 win over Luxemburg in UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying play-offs,^[19] which eventually helped the team to reach European Championship for the first time in their history. He received a call-up for Euro 2024^[20] and took part in two matches.^[21]

Personal life

Zivzivadze is married to Nini Kvernadze. Their daughter was born during the COVID-19 period. For this reason, Budu was unable to see her until she turned six months old.^[22]

Career statistics

Club

As of 26 October 2024^[23]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club	Season	League			Cup		Continental		Other		Total
Club	Season	Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Dinamo Tbilisi B	2012–13	Pirveli Liga	19	14	―		—		—		19	14
	2013–14	Pirveli Liga	21	23	―		—		—		21	23
	2014–15	Pirveli Liga	10	10	―		—		—		10	10
	Total		50	47	―		—		—		50	47
Dinamo Tbilisi	2014–15	Umaglesi Liga	1	0	―		—		—		1	0
Torpedo Kutaisi	2014–15	Umaglesi Liga	8	0	2	0	—		—		10	0
Samtredia	2015–16	Umaglesi Liga	29	16	5	2	―		—		34	18
	2016	Umaglesi Liga	14	13	2	1	2	1	—		18	15
	Total		43	29	7	3	2	1	―		52	33
Esbjierg	2016–17	Danish Superliga	7	0	2	1	―		—		9	1
	2017–18	Danish 1st Division	4	0	―		—		—		4	0
	Total		11	0	2	1	―		—		13	1
Dinamo Tbilisi (loan)	2018	Erovnuli Liga	35	22	3	4	2	2	—		40	28
Torpedo Kutaisi	2019	Erovnuli Liga	20	13	1	0	—		1^[a]	0	22	13
Mezőkövesd	2019–20	Nemzeti Bajnokság I	32	8	6	2	—		—		38	10
Fehérvár	2020–21	Nemzeti Bajnokság I	31	9	4	3	3	0	—		38	11
	2021–22	Nemzeti Bajnokság I	12	2	―		2	0	—		14	2
	2022–23	Nemzeti Bajnokság I	10	1	―		6	6	—		16	7
	Total		53	12	4	3	11	6	—		68	21
Újpest (loan)	2021–22	Nemzeti Bajnokság I	12	11	2	0	—		—		14	11
Karlsruher SC	2022–23	2.Bundesliga	10	1	―		―		—		10	1
	2023–24	2.Bundesliga	30	12	1	0	―		—		31	12
	2024–25	2.Bundesliga	10	7	1	1	―		—		11	8
	Total		50	20	2	1	—		—		52	21
Career total			315	162	29	14	15	9	1	0	360	185

^ Appearance in Georgian Super Cup

International

Scores and results list Georgia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Zivzivadze goal.

List of international goals scored by Budu Zivzivadze
No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition	Ref.
1	25 March 2022	Bilino Polje Stadium, Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina	Bosnia and Herzegovina	1–0	1–0	Friendly	^[24]
2	5 June 2022	Huvepharma Arena, Razgrad, Bulgaria	Bulgaria	3–1	5–2	2022–23 UEFA Nations League C	^[25]
3	9 June 2022	Toše Proeski Arena, Skopje, North Macedonia	North Macedonia	1–0	3–0	2022–23 UEFA Nations League C	^[26]
4	25 March 2023	Adjarabet Arena, Batumi, Georgia	Mongolia	6–1	6–1	Friendly	^[27]
5	12 September 2023	Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo, Norway	Norway	1–2	1–2	2024 UEFA Euro qualifiers	^[28]
6	21 March 2024	Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena, Tbilisi, Georgia	Luxembourg	1–0	2–0	UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying play-offs	^[29]
7	21 March 2024	Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena, Tbilisi, Georgia	Luxembourg	2–0	2–0	UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying play-offs	^[29]
8	9 June 2024	Podgorica City Stadium, Podgorica, Montenegro	Montenegro	3–1	3–1	Friendly	^[30]