The Georgia national football team () represents the country of Georgia in men's international football matches, and it is controlled by the Georgian Football Federation. The Georgian team's first match took place in 1990, while Georgia was still part of the Soviet Union. The team have attempted to qualify for each major tournament from Euro 1996 onwards, but have not achieved qualification yet, although they came very close to Euro 2020. Home games are played at the Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena in Tbilisi. History The history of the Georgia national football team began in 1990, when the team played their first international match against Lithuania, the first country to accept an invitation. The match was held on 27 May 1990 at national stadium. Georgia were coached by Givi Nodia. The friendly match ended in a 2–2 draw. This was the only match prior to the declaration of independence on 9 April 1991. Soon afterwards the team played another friendly match against Moldova. The Georgian Football Federation became a member of both UEFA and FIFA in 1992, enabling Georgia to play competitive matches. The first of these came in September 1994, a 1–0 defeat to Moldova as part of the qualifiers for Euro 1996. Georgia finished third in their group, ahead of Moldova, Wales and Albania, but seven points behind second-placed qualifier Bulgaria. Georgia failed to qualify for 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, obtaining 10 points and finishing in fourth place, level on points with Poland. At this time Georgia reached forty-second place in the FIFA World Ranking. During UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying the Georgia national team won one match, drew two and finished at the bottom of the group with five points. This marked the beginning of a period of decline for Georgian football. The team finished fifth (and last) with seven points in their qualifying group for Euro 2004, although they defeated Russia with a goal scored by Malkhaz Asatiani. In the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifiers Georgia beat Albania 2–0 at home and Kazakhstan away 2–1. They finished sixth (second bottom) with ten points in Group 2. Georgia were sixth out of seven teams in the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying group with ten points. They defeated Scotland 2–0 at home and the Faroe Islands 6–0 away and 3–1 at home. Héctor Cúper became the manager of Georgia in August 2008. During the qualification round for the 2010