Tskhadadze named new head coach of Georgia

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Former Manchester City defender Kakhaber Tskhadadze has signed a two and a half year contract to take over as head coach of Georgia, the country's football federation said on its website (www.gff.ge).

Tskhadadze won 25 caps for Georgia, scoring one goal, and was also part of the CIS team that took part in 1992 European Championships.

Tskhadadze played for Spartak Moscow, Eintracht Frankfurt and Manchester City in the 1990's. Since 2009 he has been in charge of Azerbaijani side Inter Baku and will continue to work with the club until May.  

His first match in charge of Georgia will be against Malta on March 23.

"I believe in our players and I want to say to them immediately that they are strong and have the ability to win and take part in major football tournaments," he told reporters.

Tskhadadze takes over from Temuri Ketsbaia, who was in charge of Georgia for five years. Georgia are currently in fifth place in their qualifying group for Euro 2016, with three points from their first four games. 

(Reporting By Dmitriy Rogovitskiy; Editing by Peter Rutherford)