(Tbilisi) Oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, seen as Georgia’s shadow leader, will donate more than 10 million US dollars to the national team that has surprisingly qualified for the round of 16 of Euro 2024, his political party announced on Thursday.
Published yesterday at 4:07 p.m.
The players of this small country in the Caucasus beat Portugal 2-0 on Wednesday, a historic victory in their first international competition.
The team, coached by French coach Willy Sagnol, will face one of the tournament favourites on Sunday, Spain, the three-time European champion.
Regardless of the outcome of the match, the ruling Georgian Dream party has already announced that its honorary chairman, Bidzina Ivanishvili, will award the team a prize of around $10.7 million.
If the footballers win against Spain, this sum will be doubled, the party added in a statement.
Bidzina Ivanishvili, the richest man in this former Soviet republic, has discreetly presided over the destiny of Georgia for a decade, even if he does not hold government positions.
His fortune is estimated at $4.9 billion, almost a quarter of his country’s GDP.
The 68-year-old was prime minister from 2012 to 2013 after founding the Georgian Dream party, which has taken a conservative and anti-Western turn in recent years.
His critics accuse him of wanting to divert Georgia, a candidate for the EU, from its European path to bring it closer to Russia.
