Cyprus national football team

Cyprus

Association	Cyprus Football Association
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Angelos Anastasiadis (2004-)
Captain	Ioannis Okkas
Most caps	Ioannis Okkas (96)
Top scorer	Michalis Konstantinou (29)
Home stadium	Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium, Larnaca
FIFA code	CYP
FIFA ranking	68
Highest FIFA ranking	57 (October 2007)
Lowest FIFA ranking	113 (March 2005)
Elo ranking	78
Highest Elo ranking	68 (March 2000)
Lowest Elo ranking	141 (March 1992)
Home colours Away colours
First international
Unofficial: Israel 3 - 1 Cyprus (Tel-Aviv, Israel; July 30, 1949) Official: Cyprus 1 - 1 Israel (Nicosia, Cyprus; November 13, 1960)
Biggest win
Cyprus 5 - 0 Andorra (Limassol, Cyprus; November 15, 2000)
Biggest defeat
West Germany 12 - 0 Cyprus (Essen, Germany; May 21, 1969)

The Cyprus national football team is the national football team of the island of Cyprus and is controlled by the Cyprus Football Association. They have never reached the finals of either the European Championships or the World Cup.

They are currently managed by Angelos Anastasiadis.

History

Their first match was a friendly on 23 July 1949, against Maccabi Tel-Aviv in Tel Aviv which ended in a 3-3 draw, one year after becoming a member of the world governing body FIFA. Seven days later the team had its first international game, a 3-1 defeat against Israel in the same city. In November 1960, following independence from British rule, Cyprus drew its first post-independence official match 1-1 against Israel, as part of the 1962 FIFA World Cup qualifying tournament.

Cyprus' first international victory was a 3-1 win against Greece on 27 November 1963 in a friendly. On 17 February 1968 Cyprus recorded their first competitive win, beating Switzerland 2-1 in a European Championship qualifying match in Nicosia.

In 1974, the national team enjoyed one of their most famous victories when they beat a Northern Ireland side 1-0 in Nicosia. On 12 February 1983, as part of the Euro 1984 qualifiers, Cyprus held world champions Italy to a 1-1 draw in Nicosia, followed a month later by the same result against Czechoslovakia. In 1989 they drew 1-1 with France in World Cup qualifying match. Despite a number of triumphs on home soil, Cyprus had to wait until 1992 to record their first away win, a 2-0 victory in the Faroe Islands.

Results in qualifying tournaments have also improved considerably in recent times. In the qualifying stages for the 1996 UEFA European Championship, Cyprus drew 1-1 with holders Denmark. Four years later, they missed out on a place in the 2000 European Football Championship by a solitary point, 3-2 victories against Spain and Israel and a 4-0 defeat of San Marino contributing to the team finishing on 12 points, just one point behind Israel who qualified for the Euro 2000 play-offs.

On 15 November 2000 Cyprus scored their biggest win in history by beating Andorra in Limassol 5-0 for the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification.

On 7 October 2006, as part of the Euro 2008 qualifiers, Cyprus caused a major upset by beating Republic of Ireland 5-2 at home with Michalis Konstantinou and Constantinos Charalambides each scoring two goals and Alexandros Garpozis one goal. On 15 November 2006, they caused another surprise by holding the World Cup semi-finalists Germany to a 1-1 draw at home. On 13 October 2007, they won over Wales 3-1 in Nicosia. Also on 17 October 2007 Cyprus came close to a historic away victory in Dublin against Republic of Ireland, but equalised on the last minute of the game, and the match ended 1-1.

Kit

On 7 October 2006 a new kit, made by Diadora and outlining a map of Cyprus in amber from the shoulder to the sleeve with a green line running down the middle indicating the division of the island. This kit was used for the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying, and was replaced by a kit made by Adidas for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign.

Home stadium

Cyprus versus Italy, 6 September 2008.

Cyprus currently plays home matches at the Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium in Larnaca. Home matches had previously been staged at different stadiums all around the country. Until 1974 Cyprus used either the old GSP Stadium in central Nicosia, or the GSE stadium in Famagusta. After the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, some matches were played at Tsirion Stadium in Limassol and the Makario Stadium in Nicosia. In 1999, the building of the New GSP Stadium in Nicosia provided a new home for the national team however in 2008 a change of sponsorship forced home fixtures for FIFA 2010 qualification to be played at the Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium.

Total Results and Records

Last Update: October 11, 2009

FIFA World Cup Record

• 1930 to 1954 - Did not enter
• 1958 - Withdrew
• 1962 to 2010 - Did not qualify

European Championship Record

• 1960 - Did not enter
• 1964 - Did not enter
• 1968 to 2008 - Did not qualify

UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying

Key:

• Teams highlighted in green are certain of qualification.
• Teams highlighted in red are unable to qualify.

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Czech Republic 12 9 2 1 27 5 +22 29  Germany 12 8 3 1 35 7 +28 27  Republic of Ireland 12 4 5 3 17 14 +3 17  Slovakia 12 5 1 6 33 23 +10 16  Wales 12 4 3 5 18 19 −1 15  Cyprus 12 4 2 6 17 24 −7 14  San Marino 12 0 0 12 2 57 −55 0

CYP CZE GER IRL SMR SVK WAL Cyprus — 0–2 1–1 5–2 3–0 1–3 3–1 Czech Republic 1–0 — 1–2 1–0 7–0 3–1 2–1 Germany 4–0 0–3 — 1–0 6–0 2–1 0–0 Republic of Ireland 1–1 1–1 0–0 — 5–0 1–0 1–0 San Marino 0–1 0–3 0–13 1–2 — 0–5 1–2 Slovakia 6–1 0–3 1–4 2–2 7–0 — 2–5 Wales 3–1 0–0 0–2 2–2 3–0 1–5 —

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification

Team v • d • e Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Italy 10 7 3 0 18 7 +11 24  Republic of Ireland 10 4 6 0 12 8 +4 18  Bulgaria 10 3 5 2 17 13 +4 14  Cyprus 10 2 3 5 14 16 −2 9  Montenegro 10 1 6 3 9 14 −5 9  Georgia 10 0 3 7 7 19 −12 3

Bulgaria  – 2 – 0 6 – 2 0 – 0 4 – 1 1 – 1 Cyprus  4 – 1 – 2 – 1 1 – 2 2 – 2 1 – 2 Georgia  0 – 0 1 – 1 – 0 – 2 0 – 0 1 – 2 Italy  2 – 0 3 – 2 2 – 0 – 2 – 1 1 – 1 Montenegro  2 – 2 1 – 1 2 – 1 0 – 2 – 0 – 0 Republic of Ireland  1 – 1 1 – 0 2 – 1 2 – 2 0 – 0 –

World Cup Qualification Matches

All times for FIFA World Cup qualification at CET

2008-09-06 20:45	Cyprus	1 – 2	Italy	Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium, Larnaca Attendance: 8,000 Referee: Pieter Vink
	Aloneftis  29'	Report	Di Natale  8' ,  90+2'

2008-10-11 18:30	Georgia	1 – 1	Cyprus	Boris Paichadze Stadium, Tbilisi Attendance: 40,000 Referee: Radek Matejek
	Kobiashvili  73'	Report	Konstantinou  66'

2008-10-15 20:45	Republic of Ireland	1 – 0	Cyprus	Croke Park, Dublin Attendance: 55,833 Referee: Alexandru Dan Tudor
	Keane  4'	Report

2009-03-28 19:00	Cyprus	2 – 1	Georgia	Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium, Larnaca Attendance: 3,000 Referee: Fredy Fautrel
	Konstantinou  33' Christofi  56'	Report	Kobiashvili  71' (pen.)

2009-04-01 18:00	Bulgaria	2 – 0	Cyprus	Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia Attendance: 16,916 Referee: Martin Ingvarsson
	Popov  8' Makriev  90+4'	Report

2009-06-06 20:30	Cyprus	2 – 2	Montenegro	Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium, Larnaca Attendance: 4,500 Referee: Carlos Velasco Carballo
	Konstantinou  14' Michael  45' (pen.)	Report	Damjanović  65' ,  77'

---

2009-09-05 20:30	Cyprus	1 – 2	Republic of Ireland	GSP Stadium, Nicosia Attendance: 5,191 Referee: Thomas Einwaller
	Elia  30'	Report	Doyle  5', Keane  83'

---

2009-09-09 20:15	Montenegro	1 – 1	Cyprus	Pod Goricom, Podgorica Attendance: 4,000 Referee: Carlo Bertolini
	Vučinić  57' (pen.)	Report	Okkas  64'

---

2009-10-10 19:00	Cyprus	4 – 1	Bulgaria	Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium, Larnaca Attendance: 2,628 Referee: Paul Allaerts
	Charalambides  11', 20' Konstantinou  58' Aloneftis  78'	Report	Berbatov  45'

---

2009-10-14	Italy	3 – 2	Cyprus	Attendance: - Referee: -
	A. Gilardino  77' A. Gilardino  80' A. Gilardino 90'		Y. Okkas  12' C. Michael  48'

Current squad

Caps and goals as of October 11, 2009, included last match against Bulgaria.

No. Pos. Player DoB (Age) Caps Goals Club GK Michalis Morfis January 15, 1979 21 0 APOEL GK Nikolas Asprogenis April 6, 1986 0 0 Omonia GK Sofronis Avgousti March 9, 1977 9 0 Aris DF Marios Elia April 14, 1979 41 2 APOEL DF Paraskevas Christou February 2, 1984 23 0 Omonia DF Elias Charalambous September 25, 1980 45 0 Omonia DF Andreas Constantinou October 12, 1980 7 0 Anorthosis DF Stelios Okkarides November 15, 1977 36 1 Olympiakos DF Alexandros Garpozis September 5, 1980 36 1 Anorthosis MF Siniša Dobrasinović February 17, 1977 2 0 AO Kavala MF Christos Marangos May 9, 1983 17 1 Anorthosis MF Marinos Satsias May 24, 1978 51 0 APOEL MF Giorgos Panagi November 3, 1986 10 0 Omonia MF Chrysis Michael May 26, 1977 60 6 APOEL MF Marios Nicolaou October 4, 1983 21 1 Panionios FW Andreas Avraam June 6, 1989 9 1 Apollon MF Georgios Efrem July 5, 1989 2 0 Omonia MF Constantinos Charalambides July 25, 1981 49 11 APOEL MF Efstathios Aloneftis March 29, 1983 36 8 Omonia MF Constantinos Makrides January 13, 1982 45 2 Omonia MF Nektarios Alexandrou December 19, 1983 9 0 APOEL FW Michalis Konstantinou February 19, 1978 74 29 Omonia FW Ioannis Okkas July 16, 1977 96 23 Anorthosis FW Andreas Papathanasiou October 2, 1983 3 0 APOEL

Recent Call Ups

No. Pos. Player DoB (Age) Caps Goals Club MF Jason Demetriou November 18, 1987 3 0 Leyton Orient FW Yiasoumis Yiasoumi May 31, 1975 63 7 AEK FW Demetris Christofi September 28, 1988 11 2 Omonia

Past Managers

Name	Career
Angelos Anastasiadis	2004 - current
Momčilo Vukotić	2001 - 2004
Stavros Papadopoulos	1999 - 2001
Panikos Georgiou	1997 - 1999
Andreas Michaelides	1991 - 1997
Panikos Iakovou	1984 - 1991
Vassil Spasov	1982 - 1984
Kostas Talianos	1977 - 1982
Panikos Krystallis	1976 - 1977
Pambos Avraamidis	1972 - 1976
Sima Milovanov	1972
Ray Wood	1969 - 1971
Pambos Avraamidis	1968 - 1969
Argyrios Gavalas	1960 - 1967
Gyula Zsengellér	1958 - 1959

Player records

As of October 11, 2009

Most capped Cyprus players

#	Name	Debut	Caps	Goals	Active?
1	Ioannis Okkas	1997	96	23	Yes
2	Pambos Pittas	1987	82	7	No
3	Nicos Panayiotou	1994	75	0	No
4	Michalis Constantinou	1998	74	29	Yes
5	Giorgos Theodotou	1996	70	0	No

Top Cyprus goalscorers

#	Player	Debut	Caps	Goals	Active?
1	Michalis Konstantinou	1998	74	29	Yes
2	Ioannis Okkas	1997	96	23	Yes
3	Constantinos Charalambides	2003	49	11	Yes
4	Marios Agathokleous	1994	38	10	Yes
5	Milenko Spoljaric	1997	21	8	No
6	Siniša Gogić	1994	37	8	No

See here for top goal scorers per country.

References

External links

• RSSSF archive of results 1949-
• RSSSF archive of most capped players and highest goalscorers
• RSSSF archive of coaches 1929-
• Cyprus national football team

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