Torpedo KutaisiFC Torpedo Kutaisi is one of the most important clubs in western Georgia and a football symbol of Kutaisi, the country's third-largest city. The club was founded in 1946 at the Kutaisi automobile factory, and by 1949 it had already won the Georgian SSR Championship. Over the following decades of the Soviet era, Torpedo was one of the leading sides of the republic, competing in the Soviet top division in, among other periods, 1962-1970, 1982-1983 and 1985-1986.
Some of Georgia's most famous footballers of that era were associated with the club, including Murtaz Khurtsilava and Ramaz Shengelia, the forward after whom the club's stadium is now named. When Dinamo Tbilisi won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in the 1980-81 season, as many as five of their players had come through Torpedo Kutaisi.
After Georgia regained independence, the club continued its success, winning the national championship four times - in 2000, 2001 and 2002 in succession, and again in 2017. Its honours also include five Georgian Cup titles and three Georgian Super Cups, making Torpedo the second most successful club in the history of Georgian football.
Torpedo maintains a particularly strong connection with its city, one of Georgia's oldest urban centres. Matches at the Ramaz Shengelia Stadium attract supporters from across the region, while the black-and-white colours have become part of Kutaisi's sporting identity. Torpedo is one of the few Georgian clubs to have maintained a significant role outside the country's capital for such a long period.
