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Cyprus

Association	Cyprus Football Association (CFA) Κυπριακή Ομοσπονδία Ποδοσφαίρου
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Ran Ben Shimon
Most caps	Ioannis Okkas (106)
Top scorer	Michalis Konstantinou (32)
Home stadium	GSP Stadium, Nicosia
FIFA code	CYP
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	89 2 (4 April 2019)[1]
Highest	43 (September 2010)
Lowest	142 (June 2014)
Elo ranking
Current	102 3 (27 March 2019)[2]
Highest	69 (22 March 2000)
Lowest	141 (March 1992)
First international
Unofficial:  Israel 3–1 Cyprus  (Tel-Aviv, Israel; 30 July 1949) Official:  Cyprus 1–1 Israel  (Nicosia, Cyprus; 13 November 1960)
Biggest win
Cyprus 5–0 Andorra  (Limassol, Cyprus; 15 November 2000)  Cyprus 5–0 Andorra  (Nicosia, Cyprus; 16 November 2014)  Cyprus 5–0 San Marino  (Nicosia, Cyprus; 21 March 2019)
Biggest defeat
West Germany 12–0 Cyprus  (Essen, West Germany; 21 May 1969)

The Cyprus national football team (Greek: Εθνική ομάδα ποδοσφαίρου της Κύπρου) represents Cyprus in association football and is controlled by the Cyprus Football Association, the governing body for football in Cyprus. Cyprus' home ground is the GSP Stadium in Nicosia and the current coach is Ran Ben Shimon.

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 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 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 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 despite 3–2 victories against both Spain and Israel and a 4–0 win over San Marino.

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 in New GSP Stadium in Nicosia, with Michalis Konstantinou and Constantinos Charalambides each scoring two goals and Alexandros Garpozis one goal. Just one month later, 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 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. On 3 September 2010, as part of the Euro 2012 qualifiers, Cyprus claimed a historic result against Portugal after drawing 4–4 in Guimarães.

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

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.^[4] Their qualification run would include an impressive 3-2 home victory over Bosnia.^[5]

Kit

On 7 October 2006, a new kit was made by Diadora. 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 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, the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying, and the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign. For 2018 Macron will replace Adidas as part of the UEFA's Kit Assistance Scheme programme.

Kit provider	Period
Lotto	0000–2000
Errea	2000–2002
Umbro	2002–2006
Diadora	2006–2008
Adidas	2008–2018
Macron	2018–0000

Home stadium

Cyprus currently plays home matches at the GSP Stadium in Nicosia. 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 but in 2008 a change of sponsorship forced home fixtures for 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification to be played at the Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium. However, Cyprus returned to the GSP Stadium for the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying round matches.

Total results and records

As of 9 June 2017.

Competition	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	GF	GA
FIFA World Cup qualification	110	14	13	83	83	290
European Championship qualification	104	16	14	74	83	268
Friendly matches	120	35	31	54	130	174
TOTAL	334	65	58	211	296	732

FIFA World Cup record

FIFA World Cup record										FIFA World Cup Qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930	Did not enter									Declined participation
1934
1938
1950
1954
1958
1962	Did not qualify									2	0	1	1	2	7
1966										4	0	0	4	0	19
1970										6	0	0	6	2	35
1974										6	1	0	5	1	14
1978										6	0	0	6	3	24
1982										8	0	0	8	4	29
1986										6	0	0	6	3	18
1990										8	0	1	7	6	20
1994										10	2	1	7	8	18
1998										8	3	1	4	10	15
2002										10	2	2	6	13	31
2006										10	1	1	8	8	20
2010										10	2	3	5	14	16
2014										10	1	2	7	4	15
2018										10	3	1	6	9	18
2022	To be determined									To be determined
2026
Total		0/21								114	15	13	86	87	299

European Championship record

UEFA European Championship record
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1960	Did not enter
1964
1968	Did not qualify
1972
1976
1980
1984
1988
1992
1996
2000
2004
2008
2012
2016
2020	To be determined
2024
Total		0/15

UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying

Pos	Team [ v t e ]	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Belgium	2	2	0	0	5	1	+4	6	Qualify for final tournament		—	3–1	8 Jun	19 Nov	11 Jun	10 Oct
2	Russia	2	1	0	1	5	3	+2	3[a]			16 Nov	—	9 Sep	11 Jun	10 Oct	8 Jun
3	Kazakhstan	2	1	0	1	3	4	−1	3[a]			13 Oct	0–4	—	10 Oct	3–0	11 Jun
4	Cyprus	2	1	0	1	5	2	+3	3[a]			0–2	13 Oct	6 Sep	—	16 Nov	5–0
5	Scotland (X)	2	1	0	1	2	3	−1	3[a]			9 Sep	6 Sep	19 Nov	8 Jun	—	13 Oct
6	San Marino	2	0	0	2	0	7	−7	0			6 Sep	19 Nov	16 Nov	9 Sep	0–2	—

Matches

The fixtures were released by UEFA the same day as the draw, which was held on 2 December 2018 in Dublin.^[6][7] Times are CET/CEST,^{[note 1]} as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).

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2018 FIFA World Cup qualification

Pos	Team [ v t e ]	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Belgium	10	9	1	0	43	6	+37	28	Qualification to 2018 FIFA World Cup		—	1–1	4–0	8–1	4–0	9–0
2	Greece	10	5	4	1	17	6	+11	19	Advance to second round		1–2	—	1–1	0–0	2–0	4–0
3	Bosnia and Herzegovina	10	5	2	3	24	13	+11	17			3–4	0–0	—	5–0	2–0	5–0
4	Estonia	10	3	2	5	13	19	−6	11			0–2	0–2	1–2	—	1–0	4–0
5	Cyprus	10	3	1	6	9	18	−9	10			0–3	1–2	3–2	0–0	—	3–1
6	Gibraltar	10	0	0	10	3	47	−44	0			0–6	1–4	0–4	0–6	1–2	—

Matches

The match schedule was released by UEFA on 26 July 2015, the day after the draw was held in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Times are CET/CEST,^{[note 2]} as listed by UEFA (local times are in parentheses).^[8]

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Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying matches against San Marino and Belgium on 21 and 24 March 2019 respectively.^[9]

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No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Constantinos Panagi	(1994-10-08) 8 October 1994 (age 24)	18	0	Omonia
12	1GK	Urko Pardo	(1983-01-28) 28 January 1983 (age 36)	5	0	Alki Oroklini
22	1GK	Neofytos Michael	(1993-12-16) 16 December 1993 (age 25)	0	0	PAS Giannina
6	2DF	Jason Demetriou	(1987-11-18) 18 November 1987 (age 31)	50	1	Southend United
4	2DF	Giorgos Merkis	(1984-07-30) 30 July 1984 (age 34)	49	1	APOEL
19	2DF	Konstantinos Laifis	(1993-05-19) 19 May 1993 (age 25)	28	3	Standard Liège
2	2DF	Dossa Júnior	(1986-08-27) 27 August 1986 (age 32)	24	1	AEL Limassol
5	2DF	Giorgos Vasiliou	(1984-06-12) 12 June 1984 (age 34)	11	0	Apollon Limassol
13	2DF	Ioannis Kousoulos	(1996-06-14) 14 June 1996 (age 22)	10	1	Omonia
3	2DF	Nicholas Ioannou	(1995-11-10) 10 November 1995 (age 23)	10	0	APOEL
23	2DF	Christos Wheeler	(1997-06-29) 29 June 1997 (age 21)	0	0	AEL Limassol
7	3MF	Georgios Efrem	(1989-07-05) 5 July 1989 (age 29)	43	4	APOEL
11	3MF	Andreas Avraam	(1987-06-06) 6 June 1987 (age 31)	40	5	AEL Limassol
18	3MF	Kostakis Artymatas	(1993-04-15) 15 April 1993 (age 25)	32	0	APOEL
20	3MF	Grigoris Kastanos	(1998-01-30) 30 January 1998 (age 21)	19	1	Juventus
17	3MF	Renato Margaça	(1985-07-17) 17 July 1985 (age 33)	17	0	Nea Salamina
15	3MF	Fotios Papoulis	(1985-01-22) 22 January 1985 (age 34)	6	1	Apollon Limassol
21	3MF	Anthony Georgiou	(1997-02-24) 24 February 1997 (age 22)	4	0	Levante
16	3MF	Matija Špoljarić	(1997-04-02) 2 April 1997 (age 22)	2	0	Alki Oroklini
10	4FW	Pieros Sotiriou	(1993-01-13) 13 January 1993 (age 26)	33	8	Copenhagen
9	4FW	Nestoras Mitidis	(1991-06-01) 1 June 1991 (age 27)	32	5	AEL Limassol
14	4FW	Andreas Makris	(1995-11-27) 27 November 1995 (age 23)	21	0	AEL Limassol
8	4FW	Minas Antoniou	(1994-02-22) 22 February 1994 (age 25)	2	0	APOEL

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.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Antonis Georgallides	(1982-01-30) 30 January 1982 (age 37)	66	0	Olympiakos Nicosia	v.  Slovenia, 16 October 2018
GK	Andreas Christodoulou	(1997-03-26) 26 March 1997 (age 22)	0	0	AEK Larnaca	v.  Norway, 19 November 2018
DF	Valentinos Sielis	(1990-03-01) 1 March 1990 (age 29)	16	1	Gangwon FC	v.  Norway, 19 November 2018
DF	Marios Antoniades	(1990-05-14) 14 May 1990 (age 28)	15	0	AEK Larnaca	v.  Jordan, 20 May 2018
DF	Fanos Katelaris	(1996-08-26) 26 August 1996 (age 22)	8	1	Omonia	v.  Jordan, 20 May 2018
DF	Charis Kyriakou	(1989-10-15) 15 October 1989 (age 29)	8	0	AEL Limassol	v.  Jordan, 20 May 2018
DF	Stelios Demetriou	(1990-10-04) 4 October 1990 (age 28)	1	0	Macclesfield Town	v.  Jordan, 20 May 2018
DF	Andreas Karo	(1996-09-09) 9 September 1996 (age 22)	0	0	Pafos FC	v.  Norway, 19 November 2018
MF	Vincent Laban	(1984-09-09) 9 September 1984 (age 34)	28	3	Free agent	v.  Norway, 19 November 2018
MF	Chambos Kyriakou INJ	(1995-02-09) 9 February 1995 (age 24)	20	0	Apollon Limassol	v.  Norway, 19 November 2018
MF	Giorgos Economides	(1990-04-10) 10 April 1990 (age 28)	12	0	Anorthosis Famagusta	v.  Norway, 19 November 2018
MF	Gerasimos Fylaktou	(1991-07-24) 24 July 1991 (age 27)	4	0	Ermis Aradippou	v.  Norway, 19 November 2018
MF	Vasilios Papafotis	(1995-08-10) 10 August 1995 (age 23)	2	0	Doxa Katokopias	v.  Norway, 19 November 2018
MF	Dimitris Froxylias	(1993-06-28) 28 June 1993 (age 25)	2	0	Haringey Borough	v.  Jordan, 20 May 2018
FW	Demetris Christofi	(1988-09-28) 28 September 1988 (age 30)	52	8	Omonia	v.  Slovenia, 16 October 2018
FW	Onisiforos Roushias	(1992-07-15) 15 July 1992 (age 26)	8	0	AEK Larnaca	v.  Norway, 19 November 2018
FW	Panagiotis Zachariou	(1996-02-26) 26 February 1996 (age 23)	2	1	Pafos FC	v.  Norway, 19 November 2018
FW	Marios Elia	(1996-05-19) 19 May 1996 (age 22)	1	0	Alki Oroklini	v.  Jordan, 20 May 2018
INJ Player withdrew from the squad due to an injury. PRE Preliminary squad. RET Retired from international football. SUS Suspended

Personnel

Head to head records

As of 24 March 2019.

Opponent	P	W	D	L
Albania	6	2	2	2
Andorra	5	5	0	0
Armenia	6	4	1	1
Austria	7	0	1	6
Belarus	2	1	0	1
Belgium	12	0	1	11
Bosnia and Herzegovina	4	2	0	2
Bulgaria	14	1	1	12
Canada	2	0	1	1
Croatia	1	0	0	1
Czech Republic	3	0	0	3
Czechoslovakia	6	0	2	4
Denmark	6	0	1	5
England	2	0	0	2
Estonia	8	3	3	2
Faroe Islands	4	3	1	0
Finland	4	1	1	2
France	8	0	1	7
Georgia	6	3	1	2
Germany	6	0	1	5
Gibraltar	2	2	0	0
Greece	26	3	6	17
Hungary	7	1	0	6
Iceland	7	1	3	3
Iran	1	0	1	0
Iraq	1	1	0	0
Israel	15	3	3	9
Italy	8	0	1	7
Japan	1	0	0	1
Jordan	5	1	2	2
Kazakhstan	2	2	0	0
Kuwait	1	0	1	0
Latvia	2	2	0	0
Lebanon	2	1	0	1
Lithuania	3	2	0	1
Luxembourg	3	3	0	0
Macedonia	2	0	1	1
Malta	6	3	2	1
Moldova	1	1	0	0
Montenegro	3	0	3	0
Netherlands	8	0	0	8
Northern Ireland	6	1	2	3
Norway	11	0	0	11
Poland	7	0	3	4
Portugal	10	0	1	9
Republic of Ireland	10	1	1	8
Romania	13	1	3	9
Russia	3	0	1	2
San Marino	5	5	0	0
Saudi Arabia	1	0	1	0
Scotland	5	0	0	5
Serbia	4	0	1	3
Slovakia	4	1	0	3
Slovenia	10	2	3	5
Soviet Union	4	0	0	4
Spain	8	1	0	7
Sweden	6	0	1	5
Switzerland	8	1	2	5
Syria	1	1	0	0
Ukraine	3	1	1	1
Wales	7	2	0	5
Yugoslavia	4	0	0	4

Player records

As of 10 October 2017

Notable results

Date			Tournament			Place			Opponent	Score
27 November 1963			Friendly			Nicosia, Cyprus			Greece	3–1
17 February 1968			UEFA Euro 1968 qualifying			Nicosia, Cyprus			Switzerland	2–1
14 February 1973			1974 FIFA World Cup qualification			Nicosia, Cyprus			Northern Ireland	1–0
13 May 1979			UEFA Euro 1980 qualifying			Limassol, Cyprus			Romania	1–1
12 February 1983			UEFA Euro 1984 qualifying			Limassol, Cyprus			Italy	1–1
27 March 1983			UEFA Euro 1984 qualifying			Nicosia, Cyprus			Czechoslovakia	1–1
12 April 1987			UEFA Euro 1988 qualifying			Gdańsk, Poland			Poland	0–0
22 October 1988			1990 FIFA World Cup qualification			Nicosia, Cyprus			France	1–1
24 March 1993			1994 FIFA World Cup qualification			Limassol, Cyprus			Czechoslovakia	1–1
29 March 1995			UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying			Limassol, Cyprus			Denmark	1–1
15 November 1995			UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying			Limassol, Cyprus			Belgium	1–1
10 November 1996			1998 FIFA World Cup qualification			Limassol, Cyprus			Israel	2–0
29 March 1997			1998 FIFA World Cup qualification			Paralimni, Cyprus			Russia	1–1
5 September 1998			UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying			Larnaca, Cyprus			Spain	3–2
5 September 1999			UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying			Limassol, Cyprus			Israel	3–2
6 February 2000			Friendly			Nicosia, Cyprus			Romania	3–2
15 November 2000			2002 FIFA World Cup qualification			Limassol, Cyprus			Andorra	5–0
28 February 2001			Friendly			Larnaca, Cyprus			Ukraine	4–3
14 November 2001			Friendly			Athens, Greece			Greece	2–1
11 October 2003			UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying			Limassol, Cyprus			Slovenia	2–2
18 August 2004			Friendly			Limassol, Cyprus			Albania	2–1
7 October 2006			UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying			Nicosia, Cyprus			Republic of Ireland	5–2
15 November 2006			UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying			Nicosia, Cyprus			Germany	1–1
13 October 2007			UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying			Nicosia, Cyprus			Wales	3–1
17 October 2007			UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying			Dublin, Ireland			Republic of Ireland	1–1
6 February 2008			Friendly			Nicosia, Cyprus			Ukraine	1–1
11 October 2008			2010 FIFA World Cup qualification			Tbilisi, Georgia			Georgia	1–1
11 February 2009			Friendly			Nicosia, Cyprus			Slovakia	3–2
28 March 2009			2010 FIFA World Cup qualification			Larnaca, Cyprus			Georgia	2–1
9 September 2009			2010 FIFA World Cup qualification			Podgorica, Montenegro			Montenegro	1–1
11 October 2009			2010 FIFA World Cup qualification			Larnaca, Cyprus			Bulgaria	4–1
3 September 2010			UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying			Guimarães, Portugal			Portugal	4–4
29 February 2012			Friendly			Larnaca, Cyprus			Serbia	0–0
23 March 2013			2014 FIFA World Cup qualification			Nicosia, Cyprus			Switzerland	0–0
9 September 2014			UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying			Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina			Bosnia and Herzegovina	2–1
16 November 2014			UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying			Nicosia, Cyprus			Andorra	5–0
10 October 2015			UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying			Jerusalem, Israel			Israel	2–1
31 August 2017			2018 FIFA World Cup qualification			Nicosia, Cyprus			Bosnia and Herzegovina	3–2
9 September 2018			2018–19 UEFA Nations League C			Nicosia, Cyprus			Slovenia	2–1
16 October 2018			2018–19 UEFA Nations League C			Ljubljana, Slovenia			Slovenia	1–1
21 March 2019			UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying			Nicosia, Cyprus			San Marino	5–0

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cyprus national football team.

• Official Site


• RSSSF archive of results 1949–


• RSSSF archive of most capped players and highest goalscorers


• RSSSF archive of coaches 1929–