ფეხბურთი და ნაციონალიზმი საქართველოში 1960-1980-იან წლებში

The present thesis sets out the basic factors of football as a catalyst for nationalism in Soviet Georgia throughout 1960s-1980s. The main goal of the research is to reveal how important were the events which took place in Georgian football and how they influenced on intensifying and expressing under the Soviet regime. An attempt of elaborating set of the factors of football affecting on reproducing Georgian nationalism will be presented. According to the hypothesis football became the arena of expressing national self-consciousness under the Soviet governance, resulted in intensifying of Georgian nationalism through supporting the mass mobilization process.
Issue is important to be researched since Georgian football, especially the Football Club Dinamo Tbilisi, had adopted the role of national dignity for the people living within the Soviet borders in 1960s-1980s. This role was illustrated through the various processes which took place in Georgian football. At the same time football’s social dimensions affecting the overall attitudes of the societies is not comprehensively explored.