| has gloss | eng: FC Mretebi Tbilisi was a Georgian football club based in Tbilisi. Mretebi were founded on 3 February 1988 by Vazha Chkaizadze, a football coach and theatre director. At that time, major football clubs in the Soviet Union were professional in practice, but were officially regarded as amateur. For example, Lokomotiv players were officially classed as railway workers. Mretebi were founded as an openly professional club, the first Soviet club to do so. and won the Second Division in 1991. Winning the Second Division meant a playoff for promotion to the Umaglesi Liga, the highest level of Georgian football. Mretebi's opponents in the playoff were Iveria Khashuri, who had finished bottom of the Umaglesi Liga. Mretebi won 3–2 after extra time, and gained promotion. In their first season in the top division, Mretebi finished in mid-table with 48 points. |