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Kakhaber "Kakha" Kaladze (კახაბერ "კახა" კალაძე, ; born 27 February 1978) is a Georgian politician and former footballer who has served as the Mayor of Tbilisi since November 2017. A versatile player, he was capable of playing as both a centre-back and left-back, or even as a wide midfielder. He played for the Georgia national team from 1996 to 2011. He was voted Georgian Footballer of the Year in 2001–2003, 2006 and 2011 and was considered one of Georgia's most important players.
Kaladze started his football career in 1993 at Umaglesi Liga club Dinamo Tbilisi and made 82 appearances in a five-year spell. In 1998, he moved to the Ukraine club Dynamo Kyiv and made 71 appearances until 2001, when he was signed by the Italian Serie A club Milan. He has won one Serie A, three Ukrainian Premier League and five Umaglesi Liga titles. With Milan, he won the Champions League on two occasions, the UEFA Super Cup once and the FIFA Club World Cup once. After captaining his country 50 times in 84 appearances, Kaladze announced his retirement from the Georgian national team on 11 December 2011.
Born in Samtredia, a town in the Imereti region, Kaladze comes from a footballing family as his father played for FC Samtredia and was also president of the team for some time. His brother was kidnapped in a high-profile case in 2001 and officially declared dead in 2006, resulting in two men being sentenced to prison for a combined total of 30 years. Outside of football, he owns a company called Kala Capital and an organisation called Kala Foundation, as well as being an ambassador for SOS Children's Villages. He is married to Anouki Areshidze, with whom he has four children.
Kaladze became involved in the politics of Georgia as a member of the opposition Georgian Dream–Democratic Georgia party, founded by Bidzina Ivanishvili in February 2012. He was elected to the Parliament of Georgia on 1 October 2012 and approved as Deputy Prime Minister as well as Minister of Energy in Ivanishvili's cabinet on 25 October 2012. He continued to occupy both of these position under the succeeding cabinet of Giorgi Kvirikashvili until July 2017, when he resigned to run for the Mayor of Tbilisi as a Georgian Dream candidate in the October 2017 election, which he won with 51.13%. In 2021, he was reelected as the Mayor of Tbilisi, gaining 55.61% of the vote in the second round of the election.
A fee equivalent to €280,000 was enough to take him to the Ukrainian Premier League and Dynamo Kyiv in January 1998, where he signed a four-year deal. Here he scored six goals in 71 league games over the two-and-a-half seasons he spent there. The Ukrainian club had been under the ownership of Hryhoriy Surkis and the late Valeriy Lobanovskyi had just been installed as manager; they would go on to win eight consecutive league titles. Kaladze also appeared in Two-legged tie of the semi-final of the 1998–99 Champions League against Bayern Munich, which Dynamo Kyiv lost 4–3 on aggregate. En route to the semi-finals, they beat teams like Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Arsenal. He won eight league titles in a row during his time at both Dinamo Tbilisi and Dynamo Kyiv.
3:52, the goal by Kaladze
In January 2001, Kaladze became the most expensive Georgian footballer in history when Milan paid €16 million to bring him to Italy. His burning desire to join one of the European top teams coincided with witnessing his teammate's near career-ending injury. Upon his arrival, Kaladze became a regular starter almost immediately, and played mostly as a left-sided defensive midfielder in 4–4–2 or 4–2–1–3 formations, particularly under caretaker coach Cesare Maldini. On 11 May 2001, Kaladze played from start to the final whistle in the historic 6–0 Derby della Madonnina
1:09
In the 2002–03 season, he returned to his original role of a defender (left-sided full back and center back), and made 46 appearances in all competitions, including 27 Serie A appearances. That year, Milan won the Champions League, where they beat Juventus FC on penalties in the final (despite Kaladze missing his penalty) and the Coppa Italia, where they beat Roma 6–3 on Two-legged tie in the final. After Kaladze's double success, the Georgian postal service issued a special Postage stamp bearing the player's image. He is the first Georgian player to win a Champions League title.
Kaladze was limited to just six league appearances and 11 total appearances in the 2003–04 season. In the next season, Kaladze played just 19 Serie A matches and five in the Champions League as Milan finished as runners-up in both competitions. He was an unused substitute in that season's Champions League final, where Milan lost on penalties to Liverpool after a 3–3 draw. He was said to be frustrated with his lack of first-team options and a move to Chelsea, in exchange for Hernán Crespo or for £4 million, was widely reported. Kaladze himself said, "I have agreed everything with the Chelsea management. Now it is necessary to wait for them to reach an agreement with Milan and I think I could become a Chelsea player next week." Chelsea opted to sign Asier del Horno instead. On 30 June 2005, Kaladze extended his contract with Milan until 2010 and again on 4 September 2006, this time until 2011. In 2005–06, an injury to Paolo Maldini meant that Kaladze was moved back into the centre of defence, his favoured position. Milan finished third that season, although they would have finished second if there were no 2006 Italian football scandal which resulted in a 30-point deduction. In the 2006–07 Serie A campaign, Kaladze scored a goal against Sampdoria which turned out to be his only goal of the season. Milan finished in fourth place with an eight-point deduction relating to the previous season's scandal. Kaladze won his second Champions League title on 23 May 2007 after Milan beat Liverpool 2–1 in the final; he came on as a 79th-minute substitute in that match. He later picked up the FIFA Club World Cup in December that year where Milan beat Boca Juniors 4–2 in the final, though Kaladze was one of two players to be sent off in that match. He had established himself as a first-team regular in the 2007–08 season, making 32 appearances, but had only featured sparingly in the 2008–09 season due to a knee ligament injury sustained in a UEFA Cup match against Zürich. Kaladze's performance on 15 February 2009 Milan derby was described as a "horror show" on the Channel 4 website which started a dispute over an alleged smear campaign between Kaladze and the Georgian newspaper Lelo, who used the quote, "Milan really does need a new centre-back after Kakha Kaladze’s horror show in the derby." Milan finished third in the league that season, ten points behind Serie A champions Inter Milan; Kaladze believed this was caused by the many injuries suffered by the Milan squad.
The qualifiers for the 2002 World Cup ended with Georgia finishing in third place, ahead of Hungary and Lithuania. Kaladze played in all of the matches and often missed the friendlies in between. Kaladze only played in three matches during the Euro 2004 qualifiers, where Georgia finished in last place in the group. He did, however, feature in a 1–0 victory over neighbouring Russia, a victory considered to be one of Georgia's greatest successes. Kaladze played in all but one of the 2006 World Cup qualifying matches, where Georgia finished sixth in the group, with Kazakhstan being the only team to finish below them. He played fewer matches during the qualification for Euro 2008 and once again Georgia failed to qualify as they finished in sixth place despite starting their campaign with a 6–0 win over the Faroe Islands.
He scored his first ever international goal against Latvia on 6 February 2008 in a friendly which Georgia lost 3–1. On 5 September 2009, Kaladze scored two in a 2010 World Cup qualifying match against Italy within the space of 11 minutes. The match ended 2–0 to Italy. Kaladze was the captain of the national team, until 11 December 2011, when he announced his retirement. The La Gazzetta dello Sport reporter and the president of International Sports Press Association, AIPS Italian, Gianni Merlo said: "Kakha Kaladze is a man of the history of football in Georgia. In AC Milan he was a pillar of the defense and also a nice and polite man."
On 23 May 2001, Kaladze's younger brother Levan, a medical student, was kidnapped in Georgia with a ransom of $600,000 demanded. Then-President Eduard Shevardnadze promised that "everything is being done to locate him". Despite this assurance, the only time that Levan was ever seen was in a video where he was shown and begging for help. Following the kidnapping, Kaladze threatened to take up Ukrainian citizenship, but reverted his decision, stating, "There was a time when I thought about quitting the national side completely, but I couldn't do it out of respect for the Georgian people and the fans who come and give us such support." Roughly four years later, on 6 May 2005, Georgian police officers found eight dead bodies in the Svaneti region and it was speculated that Levan was among them. On 21 February 2006, Levan was officially identified among the deceased, after tests from FBI experts. The local media claimed that the ransom was paid by Kaladze's family, although another source says that Kaladze's father attempted to meet the kidnappers, who fled as they believed he was followed by the police. Two men were sentenced to prison for the murder, David Asatiani for 25 years and Merab Amisulashvili for five. On 14 July 2009, Kaladze's wife Anouki gave birth to their first-born son in Milan. The couple named their son Levan in memory of Kaladze's brother.
Kaladze has also been active in charitable causes and is a FIFA ambassador for the SOS Children's Villages. Through his Kala Foundation, a charitable organisation established in 2008, Kaladze raised €50,000 to benefit refugees during the Russian invasion of Georgia. Kaladze also plans to release an autobiography with the proceeds going to the Kala Foundation.
Kaladze's other businesses include the Buddha Bar in Kyiv that opened in 2008. Kaladze is also the owner of a restaurant called Giannino, founded in 1899 by Giannino Bindi, which is based in Milan. The restaurant has had a Michelin Guide under Davide Oldani and the chef in charge was Roberto Molinari.
Kala Capital owned 45 percent of the Georgia Hydropower Construction Company company SakHidroEnergoMsheni, a joint stock company incorporated in Georgia in 1998. His candidacy as Minister of Energy and Natural Resources in October 2012 was therefore overshadowed by concerns about a serious risk that a conflict of interests might arise. Reports on the same day indicated that Kaladze might refuse the energy portfolio or sell off his shares in Georgia Hydropower Construction Company within 10 days of his appointment.
Kaladze won reelection in 2021 with 55% of the vote. His second term expires after the 2025 election.
On 15 December 2024, Lithuania Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys announced sanctions against 17 Georgian Dream officials, Kaladze among them. On the same day, Estonia imposed a travel ban against 14 officials and judges with Kaladze also being in the list.
Тhe Ukrainian Ministry of Sport announced on 27 February 2025 that Kakha Kaladze had his title Маster of Sports of International Class revoked. This decision stemmed from a relevant presidential decree signed five days earlier which sanctioned 34 individuals in relation to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
On 14 November 2019, while sitting in a car he showed his middle finger to participants of a rally at the Georgian Dream HQ, although in the same day he denied it being directed at protesters.
| + Appearances and goals by club, season and competition | |||
| Dinamo Tbilisi | 1993–94 | Erovnuli Liga | 1 |
| 1994–95 | 0 | ||
| 1995–96 | 0 | ||
| 1996–97 | 0 | ||
| 1997–98 | 0 | ||
| Dynamo Kyiv | 1997–98 | Vyshcha Liha | 2 |
| 1998–99 | 4 | ||
| 1999–00 | 2 | ||
| 2000–01 | 1 | ||
| Milan | 2000–01 | Serie A | 3 |
| 2001–02 | 4 | ||
| 2002–03 | 1 | ||
| 2003–04 | 0 | ||
| 2004–05 | 2 | ||
| 2005–06 | 2 | ||
| 2006–07 | 1 | ||
| 2007–08 | 0 | ||
| 2008–09 | 0 | ||
| 2009–10 | 0 | ||
| Genoa | 2010–11 | Serie A | 1 |
| 2011–12 | 1 | ||
| + Appearances and goals by national team and year | |
| Georgia | 0 |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 1 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| Friendly |
|
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