---
title: "Ukrainian coach shown the door after historic breakthrough: Demchenko leaves Georgian Iberia 1999"
description: "Ukrainian coach Andriy Demchenko left Georgian Iberia 1999 early, right after guiding the club to the main stage of the Conference League. Local specialist Levan Korgalidze has been appointed in his place."
date: 2026-09-24T10:46:00.000Z
lang: en
url: https://xab.info/en/posts/demchenko-leaves-iberia-1999-after-european-breakthrough
tags: [andrei-demchenko, iberia-1999, georgia-football, uefa-conference-league, ukrainian-coaches]
publisher: "XAB.info"
---

# Ukrainian coach shown the door after historic breakthrough: Demchenko leaves Georgian Iberia 1999

![Iberia 1999 coach Demchenko on the bench in the club's yellow and black kit ahead of his departure from the Georgian team](https://xab.info/media/2026/09/24/demchenko-pokinul-iberiu-1999-posle-evrokubkovogo-proryva/demchenko-pokinul-iberiu-1999-posle-evrokubkovogo-proryva-1.webp)

## 🎯 Key Points

- Andriy Demchenko ended his collaboration early with the reigning Georgian champions Iberia 1999 on the eve of the European competition start.
- Under his guidance, the club reached the main stage of a European competition — the Conference League — for the first time in 22 years.
- In 21 matches under Demchenko, the team recorded 9 wins, 3 draws and 9 defeats, sitting second in the championship with a one-point gap behind Dinamo (Tbilisi).
- Local specialist Levan Korgalidze has been appointed in place of the Ukrainian.

Ukrainian coach Andriy Demchenko has unexpectedly ended his collaboration with the reigning Georgian champions — Tbilisi club Iberia 1999. The contract was terminated on the eve of the European competition start, leaving the team without a head coach at the most critical moment of the season, despite the fact that under Demchenko's guidance the squad achieved a historic milestone for Georgian football.

### Historic breakthrough and sudden split

Demchenko took charge of the Tbilisi side in the summer of 2026, signing a deal on a "six months plus one year" basis. It was under him that Iberia 1999 advanced to the main stage of the Conference League, becoming the first Georgian club in 22 years to reach the main stage of a European competition. The paradox of the situation is that the club parted ways with the coach who delivered it a historic result — and did so just weeks before the start of the European campaign.

### The numbers: what remains in the stats

In total, at the helm of Iberia 1999 the Ukrainian coach managed 21 matches: nine wins, three draws and nine defeats. Meanwhile, the team sits second in the domestic league and trails the leader — Tbilisi's Dinamo — by just one point, with a match in hand. In other words, the team was formally in the title race, yet both sides still decided to terminate the collaboration early.

### Who takes over: Levan Korgalidze

For the vacant position, the Tbilisi club appointed local specialist Levan Korgalidze, who previously managed the capital's team. Thus, Iberia 1999 has bet on a coach familiar to the Georgian football landscape, who will have to stabilize the situation ahead of the European start and in the championship.

### Demchenko's career: the path from Zaporizhzhia to Batumi

Andriy Demchenko is 50 years old. He began his coaching career at Zaporizhzhia's Metallurg, where between 2012 and 2015 he managed the youth teams. In the following years he served as head coach at Uzbekistan's Obod, was an assistant and acting head coach at Veres and Lviv, and in the 2019/20 season managed Metalist 1925. A particularly successful stage was his work in Georgia: Demchenko twice won bronze medals in the local championship at the helm of mountainous Dili, and in August 2023 he took over Batumi's Dinamo, with whom he won the Georgian championship title at the end of that same season. In addition, he managed Kazakhstan's Zhenis and Azerbaijan's Araz-Nakhchivan.

### Context: Ukrainian coaches abroad

The story with Demchenko is part of a broader trend in which Ukrainian specialists are in high demand in the football leagues of the CIS and the Caucasus. In the same context, it was previously reported that former Vorskla coach Yuriy Maksymov took over a relegation-zone side in the Azerbaijan championship. Thus, the split with Iberia 1999 opens a window for new offers for the 50-year-old coach, although the very fact of his early departure after a historic European breakthrough remains one of the most discussed episodes in Georgian football of the 2026/27 season.

## 🔍 Fact-Check Verification

- [Ukrainian coach shown the door after historic European breakthrough: what happened in Georgia](https://sport.rbc.ua/ukr/football/ukrayinskomu-treneru-vkazali-dveri-pislya-1790246621.html) - Подтверждает факт досрочного прекращения сотрудничества Демченко с «Иберией 1999» после выведения клуба в основную стадию еврокубков.
- [LE. Iberia: Demchenko secured a European autumn for the club](https://www.ua-football.com/foreign/europa_league/1786470264-le-iberiya-demchenko-obespechila-sebe-evrokubkovuyu-osen.html) - Контекст: подтверждает еврокубковую кампанию «Иберии 1999» под руководством Демченко.
- [Slovan – Iberia 1999. Preview and match prediction for the 2nd qualifying round of the Champions League on 29.07.2026](https://www.ua-football.com/predictions/champions-league/1785244233-slovan-iberiya-1999-anons-i-prognoz-matcha-2-go-kvalifikacionnogo-raunda-ligi-chempionov-na-29-07-2026.html) - Контекст: подтверждает еврокубковую кампанию «Иберии 1999» под руководством Демченко.
- [Iberia-1999 — standings table 2026/2027](https://ua.tribuna.com/football/club/iberia-1999/table/2026-2027/) - Контекст: турнирная таблица сезона 2026/2027, согласуется с позицией клуба в чемпионате.

## ❓ FAQ

### Q: Why did Andriy Demchenko leave Iberia 1999?
**A:** Both sides decided to terminate the collaboration early on the eve of the European competition start, despite the fact that under Demchenko's guidance the club advanced to the main stage of the Conference League and is sitting second in the championship.

### Q: Who became the new head coach of Iberia 1999?
**A:** Local specialist Levan Korgalidze, who previously managed the capital's team, has been appointed to the vacant position.

### Q: What results did the team achieve under Demchenko?
**A:** In 21 matches, the Ukrainian coach recorded nine wins, three draws and nine defeats; the club advanced to the main stage of the Conference League, becoming the first Georgian club in 22 years to reach the main stage of European competitions.