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Cyprus national football team

Men's association football team From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cyprus national football team
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The Cyprus national football team (Greek: Εθνική ομάδα ποδοσφαίρου της Κύπρου, romanized: Ethnikí omáda podosfaírou tis Kýprou, Turkish: Kıbrıs Millî Futbol Takımı) represents Cyprus in men's international football and is controlled by the Cyprus Football Association. The team's home ground is the AEK Arena in Larnaca.

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History

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Early history

The team's first match took place on 23 July 1949, one year after becoming a member of the world governing body FIFA: a friendly against Maccabi Tel Aviv in Tel Aviv, ending in a 3–3 draw. Seven days later, the team had its first international game: a 3–1 defeat by 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 over 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 Old GSP Stadium in Nicosia.

In 1974, the national team enjoyed one of their most famous victories when they beat Northern Ireland 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 Tsirio Stadium in Limassol, followed a month later by the same result against Czechoslovakia. Four years later, in the Euro 1988 qualification, Cyprus recorded their first ever point achieved in an away match, against Poland. In 1989 they drew 1–1 with France in the 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 against the Faroe Islands.

Results in qualifying tournaments had improved considerably in the following years; 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 UEFA Euro 2000 despite 3–2 victories against both Spain and Israel and a 4–0 win over San Marino.

2000s

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Cyprus national team against Bulgaria in 2012.

On 15 November 2000, Cyprus scored their biggest win in history by beating Andorra in Limassol 5–0 in the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification. On 7 October 2006, as part of the Euro 2008 qualifiers, Cyprus caused a major upset by beating the Republic of Ireland 5–2 at GSP Stadium in Nicosia, with Michalis Konstantinou and Constantinos Charalambidis each scoring two goals and Alexandros Garpozis finishing off the match. Just one month later, on 15 November 2006, they caused another surprise by holding the previous World Cup's hosts Germany to a 1–1 draw at home. On 13 October 2007, they beat Wales 3–1 in Nicosia. On 17 October 2007, Cyprus came close to a historic away victory in Dublin against the Republic of Ireland, but the hosts equalised in the last minute of the game and the match ended 1–1.

2010s

On 3 September 2010, as part of the Euro 2012 qualifiers, Cyprus claimed a historic 4–4 draw against Portugal in Guimarães.

During the Euro 2016 qualification phase, managed by Pambos Christodoulou, Cyprus claimed one of their most historic victories by defeating 2014 World Cup participant Bosnia 2–1 in Zenica. In the last group match, the team faced Bosnia, needing a victory to finish 3rd and rely on Belgium to beat Israel in Brussels. As fate would have it, the Bosnians won the reverse leg 3–2 and qualified to the play-offs at the expense of the home team, who at one point took a 2–1 lead during the first half and for a number of minutes held onto 3rd place and a berth in the play-offs for the first time in history, as Belgium, a soon to be world number 1 side, were comfortably beating Israel at home.[2]

Cyprus would finish behind Estonia and ahead of Gibraltar to place 5th of 6 teams in Group H in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.[3] Their qualification run would include an impressive 3–2 home victory over Bosnia.[4]

2020s

In the Euro 2020 qualifiers, Cyprus beat San Marino 5–0 but lost to Belgium and Scotland. Despite a 2–1 away win against Kazakhstan, they lost their last three games and finished 4th out of 6 teams in the group, just ahead of Kazakhstan and San Marino.

The 2020–21 UEFA Nations League ended a big disappointment for Cyprus. They lost their first three games against Montenegro, Azerbaijan, and Luxembourg, before drawing 0–0 with Azerbaijan in the fourth game. Even though they beat Luxembourg 2–1 at home, they were crushed 4–0 by Montenegro in the last game and finished last in their group. This meant that they had to face Estonia in the relegation play-offs, whom they defeated 2–0 on aggregate, with goals from Marinos Tzionis and Pieros Sotiriou. Results hardly improved in the next edition of the competition, as Cyprus finished last in their group with Greece, Kosovo, and Northern Ireland, earning five points (through a win against Greece and two draws against Northern Ireland).

Cyprus lost all eight of their games in the 2024 Euro qualifiers, finishing last in their group and marking their worst ever Euro qualification campaign in terms of points per game and goal difference.

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Kit

On 7 October 2006, Diadora unveiled Cyprus' new kit. It outlines a map of Cyprus in amber from the shoulder to the sleeve, with a green line running down the middle to indicate the division of the island. This controversial kit was used for the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying phase. Adidas then made Cyprus' kits for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification, the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying, and the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification phases. In 2018, Macron replaced Adidas as part of UEFA's Kit Assistance Scheme.

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Home stadium

Since late 2021, Cyprus have played their home matches at the Georgios Karapatakis AEK Arena 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 the 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 but in 2008, a change of sponsorship forced home fixtures of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification phase to be played at the Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium in Larnaca. However, Cyprus returned to the GSP Stadium for the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying phase however have not played there since September 2021.

Results and fixtures

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The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

  Win   Draw   Loss   Fixture

2024

8 June 2024 (2024-06-08) Friendly Moldova  3–2  Cyprus Chișinău, Moldova
19:00 UTC+3
Report Stadium: Stadionul Zimbru
Attendance: 4,000
Referee: Denys Shurman (Ukraine)
11 June 2024 Friendly San Marino  1–4  Cyprus Serravalle, San Marino
18:00 UTC+2
  • Giocondi 81'
Report
Stadium: San Marino Stadium
Referee: Ishmael Barbara (Malta)
6 September 2024 2024–25 Nations League Lithuania  0–1  Cyprus Kaunas, Lithuania
20:45 Report
Stadium: Darius and Girėnas Stadium
Attendance: 4,905
Referee: Igor Pajac (Croatia)
9 September 2024 2024–25 Nations League Cyprus  0–4  Kosovo Larnaca, Cyprus
21:45 Report
Stadium: AEK Arena - Georgios Karapatakis
Attendance: 2,041
Referee: Sebastian Gishamer (Austria)
12 October 2024 2024–25 Nations League Cyprus  0–3  Romania Larnaca, Cyprus
21:45 Report
Stadium: AEK Arena - Georgios Karapatakis
Attendance: 6,092
Referee: Sascha Stegemann (Germany)
15 October 2024 2024–25 Nations League Kosovo  3–0  Cyprus Pristina, Kosovo
20:45
Report Stadium: Fadil Vokrri Stadium
Attendance: 12,863
Referee: Matej Jug (Slovenia)
15 November 2024 2024–25 Nations League Cyprus  2–1  Lithuania Larnaca, Cyprus
21:45
Report Stadium: AEK Arena - Georgios Karapatakis
Attendance: 1,733
Referee: Nenad Minaković (Serbia)
18 November 2024 2024–25 Nations League Romania  4–1  Cyprus Bucharest, Romania
21:45
Report
Stadium: Arena Națională
Attendance: 45,318
Referee: Luca Pairetto (Italy)

2025

21 March 2025 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification Cyprus  2–0  San Marino Larnaca, Cyprus
19:00 EET
Report Stadium: AEK Arena
Attendance: 2,336
Referee: Andris Treimanis (Latvia)
24 March 2025 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification Bosnia and Herzegovina  2–1  Cyprus Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina
20:45 Report
Stadium: Stadion Bilino Polje
Attendance: 7,464
Referee: Rohit Saggi (Norway)
6 June 2025 Friendly Bulgaria  v  Cyprus Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Stadium: Hristo Botev Stadium
6 September 2025 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification Austria  v  Cyprus Austria
20:45 Report
9 September 2025 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification Cyprus  v  Romania Cyprus
21:45 Report
12 October 2025 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification San Marino  v  Cyprus San Marino
15:00 Report
15 November 2025 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification Cyprus  v  Austria Cyprus
19:00 Report
18 November 2025 Friendly Cyprus  v  Estonia Cyprus
Stadium: TBD
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Coaching staff

Manager Greece Akis Mantzios
Assistant Manager Greece Pavlos Sokratidis
Assistant Manager Cyprus Panayiotis Engomitis
Goalkeeping Coach Cyprus Nicos Constantinidis
Physical Trainer Cyprus Panicos Sakki
Physical Trainer Cyprus Ioakim Ioakim
Match Analyst Cyprus Giorgos Christodoulou

Coaching history

As of 7 Oct 2024.[5][6]
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Players

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Current squad

The following players were called up for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group H matches against  San Marino and  Bosnia and Herzegovina on 21 and 24 March 2025, respectively.[7]

Caps and goals updated as of 18 November 2024, after the match against  Romania.

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Recent call-ups

The following players have also been called up to the Cyprus squad within the last 12 months and are still available for selection.

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Player records

As of 19 November 2023[8]
Players in bold are still active with Cyprus.

Most appearances

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Ioannis Okkas is Cyprus' most capped player with 103 appearances.
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Top goalscorers

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Competitive record

All-time record

As of 18 November 2024
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FIFA World Cup

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UEFA European Championship

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UEFA Nations League

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Head-to-head record

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As of 24 March 2025.

  Positive record   Neutral record   Negative record

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Honours

Friendly

References

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