Getting to know vako

The Georgian talks about his childhood, becoming a father and moving to San Jose

By San Jose Earthquakes

July 27^th, 2018

“Every day I was playing in the neighborhood with my friends. I was only thinking about soccer.

Earthquakes Georgian midfielder is not a man of many words. With his soft, mild manner, he is many times seen in the background of the Quakes locker room, keeping to himself. This stealth-like persona often comes in handy on the pitch, as defenders and midfielders alike are not expecting the moves and agility that he possesses.

His life off the pitch has been characterized by change, moving at a young age to Holland to pursue a soccer career, and experiencing the political changes in his home country as Georgia gained independence and set up its own democracy. Despite all these changes, it is family that has played a constant in his life.

“My daughter, my wife, my parents, my brother and my family are the most important people in my life,” said Vako.

Vako grew up playing soccer with the kids in his neighborhood, the

Saburtalo district in Georgia’s capital city Tbilisi. Vako lived with his mother Lia, a Georgian teacher, his father Gela, an engineer in a local factory, and his brother who is just 18 months younger than him.

“Every day I was playing in the neighborhood with my friends. I was only thinking about soccer. Ever since my first training at seven, all I was thinking about was football and becoming a famous soccer player. My idol was Alessandro Del Piero, he was the Italian football player for Juventus. My dream was to play like him."

It was on the streets of his neighborhood that he first met his wife Gvantsa.

“We knew each other from childhood. We lived in the same neighborhood. For two or three years we didn’t see each other but after four years we met. I sent her some messages and then we start everything. We were both 17 and we got married when we were 18.”

“It was really, really difficult for me because I was young and I didn’t know a lot of things."

Together they have a 3-year-old daughter called Emilia.

“She always wants to play. If you don’t see her in five seconds or 10 seconds, she is somewhere doing something bad. She is trying to play soccer. Sometimes when she sees soccer on the TV she says, ‘Papa Papa Papa.’”

Vako started his family young, he was 22 when Emilia was born, but then again, he became an adult quite young. At just 17 years old, he left his family and home in Georgia and moved to Holland to play for Vitesse.

“It was really, really difficult for me because I was young and I didn’t know a lot of things. It is especially difficult when you go to a new country. I was lucky that we had the Georgian President there and I had two Georgian teammates, Giorgi Chanturia and Guram Kashia, so we were three in total.”

Chanturia and Vako met each other when they were 10 and grew up together. Accompanied by Kashia, they made their own makeshift family as they made their way in Holland, playing PlayStation and tennis together in their spare time. Gvantsa also joined Vako in Holland after a year.

Adapting to change is something that Vako and the people of Georgia have done quite a bit in the last few decades.

Georgia seceded from the Soviet Union in April 1991, just two years before Vako was born. The Rose Revolution in 2003 saw a pro-western peaceful change of power in Georgia, and there was the brief Russo-Georgian War in August 2008.

“I do not know how it was before in the 90s, but we are a free country. We were an old country, and then we were together with Russia in the Soviet Union. Time changes and new people come.

“It did not impact my childhood or change anything. In 2008 it was war against Russia. Before that, everyone used to learn Russian in school and talk with a Russian accent. In the Georgian language there are Russian words. Now, after 2008 when there was a war, everything has changed. Now it is more European style."

After Vitesse, Vako joined the Polish side Legia Warszawa on loan, but the move there proved to be even more challenging than the one to Holland.

“It was really difficult going to Poland from Holland because I had my friends and family in Holland. It was difficult to move alone to a new country. It was also difficult in Poland because I didn’t do my best there on that team. From there I had the experience to go somewhere else, so I came here. I am so happy.”

In his career, Vako has fulfilled some dreams, one of those being his first callup to the senior squad on the Georgia National Team, where they won 2-0 on March 5, 2014 against Lichtenstein, and the other playing against Real Madrid.

“I like to play FIFA on my PlayStation at home, and two years ago when I was playing in Poland, I played against Real Madrid at Santiago Bernabéu in Spain. It was a dream come true for me because it was exactly the same as FIFA. I was star struck.”

Vako will continue to pursue his football dreams with the Quakes in San Jose, with his family cheering him on. Gvantsa and Emilia come to the stadium for all the Quakes games, and his family back in Georgia watch him via the internet.

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