Zurab Khizanishvili (; born 6 October 1981) is a Georgian football coach, currently the assistant manager of Georgia U-21, and former footballer who played as a defender. Club career Early career Khizanishvili started his career at Dinamo Tbilisi where he remained for just one season, before joining FC Tbilisi to improve his chances of playing regular first team football. In 1999, he was on the move again, joining his previous two clubs' city rivals Lokomotiv Tbilisi. Khizanishvili's form at Lokomotiv piqued the interest of some of Europe's top clubs, though the player's latter days at the club were marred by injury. Khizanishvili was eventually released after his contract with Lokomotiv was terminated. Scotland In March 2001, Khizanishvili joined Dundee, having had unsuccessful trials at Arsenal, Fulham and West Ham United. He quickly made an impact at Dens Park, alerting fellow Scottish Premier League team Rangers, whom Khizanishvili joined on a Bosman transfer in June 2003 as a replacement for Blackburn Rovers-bound defender Lorenzo Amoruso. England Despite making 35 appearances in his first campaign at Ibrox, Khizanishvili gradually fell out of favour and, on 31 August 2005, he was allowed to move on loan for the rest of the season to Blackburn in the English FA Premier League. During his loan spell at Blackburn he scored once in the league, in a 2–0 home win over Manchester City, and once in the League Cup in a 3–1 win over Huddersfield Town. On 10 April 2006, he signed a permanent deal with Blackburn Rovers in a deal rumoured to be worth around about £500,000. He was a key part of Blackburn's team in the 2006-07 season, starting more than half the matches as the club competed domestically and in the UEFA Cup. Khizanishvili struggled to hold down a regular starting position in the rest of Mark Hughes' reign as manager. Under Paul Ince and Sam Allardyce he also failed to break into the first team on a consistent basis. His first appearance of the 2009–10 campaign came on 25 August, when he started the League Cup 2nd Round tie against Gillingham at Priestfield Stadium, playing the full 90 minutes alongside Gael Givet in a 3–1 win. On 17 September 2009 Khizanishvili joined Championship team Newcastle United on loan in a three-month deal and returned on 19 December. On 25 January 2010, he signed for Reading on loan for the remainder of the