Former Premier League star who scored debut goal against Man Utd now set to become president of Georgia

FEW retired footballers hang up their boots and go on to become the president of their country.

But that is the career path one former Manchester City striker is set to embark on.

Mikheil Kavelashvili looks set to become the new Georgian presidentAlamy

AFP

The ex-Manchester City midfielder, centre left, is the Georgian Dream party’s nominee[/caption]

Mikheil Kavelashvili spent two seasons at Maine Road between 1995 and 1997, scoring three goals in 28 appearances.

He is best-known for netting against Manchester United on his debut in a 3-2 defeat in April 1996.

Just weeks after that loss, Man City were relegated from the Premier League.

Kavelashvili left for Swiss side Grasshoppers 12 months later and spent most of the rest of his career in Switzerland – aside from a brief stint in Russia.

The forward, who scored nine times in 46 caps for his country, retired in 2006.

A decade on from the end of his football career he was elected as a member of the Georgian parliament.

And now he has been nominated by Georgian Dream – the country’s ruling party – to be their candidate in the December 14 elections.

It puts him in pole position to become Georgia‘s next president – which will be confirmed by an internal parliamentary body that contains a controlling majority of Kavelashvili’s party.

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This makes it a near-certainty that the ex-Man City man will be elected.

The role of Georgian president is understood to be largely a ceremonial one.