Kakhaber "Kakha" Kaladze (Georgian: კახაბერ (კახა) კალაძე ; born 27 February 1978) is a Georgian politician and retired footballer. He played for the Georgia national team from 1996 to 2011. He was voted Georgian Footballer of the Year in 2001–2003, and 2006 and is considered as one of Georgia's most important players.
Kaladze started his football career in 1993 at Umaglesi Liga club Dinamo Tbilisi and made 82 appearances in a five-year spell. In 1998, he moved to the Ukrainian club Dynamo Kyiv and made 71 appearances until 2001, when he was signed by the Italian Serie A club Milan. To the date he has won one Serie A, three Ukrainian Premier League and five Umaglesi Liga titles. With Milan he won the Champions League on two occasions, the UEFA Super Cup once and the FIFA Club World Cup once. After captaining his country 50 times in 84 appearances, Kaladze announced his retirement from the Georgian national team on 11 December 2011.
Born in Samtredia, a town in Imereti Province, Kaladze comes from a footballing family as his father played for Lokomotiv Samtredia and was also president of the team for some time. His brother was kidnapped in a high profile case in 2001 and officially declared dead in 2006 resulting in two men being sentenced to prison for a combined total of 30 years. Outside of football he owns a company called Kala Capital and an organisation called Kala Foundation as well as being an ambassador for SOS Children's Villages. He is married and has one child.
Kaladze became involved in the politics of Georgia as a member of the opposition Georgian Dream–Democratic Georgia party founded by Bidzina Ivanishvili in February 2012. He was elected to the Parliament of Georgia on October 1, 2012, and approved as Minister of Energy in the cabinet of Bidzina Ivanishvili on October 25, 2012.