Cyprus national football team
| Shirt badge/Association crest | |||
| Association | Cyprus Football Association | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Confederation | UEFA (Europe) | ||
| Head coach |  Angelos Anastasiadis (2004-) | ||
| Most caps | Pambos Pittas (82) | ||
| Top scorer | Michalis Konstantinou (24) | ||
| Home stadium | Neo GSP Stadium | ||
| FIFA code | CYP | ||
| |||
| FIFA ranking | |||
| Current | 81 | ||
| Highest | 58 (February 1999) | ||
| Lowest | 113 (March 2005) | ||
| First international | |||
 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 Cyprus and is controlled by the Cyprus Football Association. They have previously been regarded as one of the weakest members of UEFA, having never made the finals of any major international tournament.
History
The Cyprus national teams first international was a friendly match on 23 July 1949, against Israel in Tel Aviv which ended in a 3-3 draw, one year after becoming a member of the world governing body FIFA. In November 1960, following independence from British rule, Cyprus took part in their first official match, a 1-1 draw against Israel in the first leg of a qualifying tie for the 1962 FIFA World Cup. The return leg ended in a 6-1 defeat.
UEFA membership followed in 1962, and the next year was even more momentous as Cyprus won their first international - beating Greece 3-1 on 27 November in a friendly. That was followed two years later by another victory when Cyprus beat Lebanon 2-0 in a friendly match.
On 17th February 1968 Cyprus made history when they won their first non-friendly match, a European Championship Qualifier in Nicosia, beating Switzerland 2-1.
In 1974, the national team enjoyed one of their most famous victories when a team of part-timers beat a Northern Ireland side featuring legendary goalkeeper Pat Jennings, 1-0 in Nicosia. In 1989 they drew 1-1 with France in World Cup qualifying match. A result which meant that the French did not qualify for the World Cup final stages. Despite other similar 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, ending the campaign on seven points. 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 contributed to the team finishing on 12 points, just one point behind Israel and Austria, but two consecutive defeats, 8-0 away to Spain and 3-1 in Austria, meant the team finished in fourth place. Cyprus victory over Spain signalled the end of Javier Clemente's time as the Spanish manager.
On 7th October 2006, Cyprus caused a major upset beating a severely weakened Republic of Ireland 5-2 at home with Michalis Konstantinou and Constantinos Charalambides each scoring two goals and Michalis Garpozis one goal. And on 15th November 2006 caused yet another surprise by holding the World Cup semi-finalists Germany to a 1-1 draw at home.
On 7th October 2006 the Cypriot squad had debuted their new Diadora national kit. The new white kit displays part of the map of Cyprus (orange/yellow) from the shoulder to the sleeve with a green line running down the middle which emphasises the continuing division of the island.
Home stadium
Cyprus currently plays home matches at the New GSP Stadium, in Nicosia.
Over the years home matches were staged at different stadiums all around the country. Until 1974 Cyprus used the Old GSP Stadium in central Nicosia, and sometimes stadiums in Famagusta were used. Since then, the team played their home matches at different stadiums. In the 1990s, the Tsirion stadium in Limassol was usually used. In 1999, the building of the New GSP Stadium in Nicosia provided a new home for the national team. Since then all official games are played there, with friendlies played at other stadiums.
World Cup record
European Championship record
Managers
- Argyrios Gavalas 1960-1967
- Pambos Avraamidis 1968-1969
- Ray Wood 1970–1971
- Sima Milovanov 1972
- Pambos Avraamidis 1972-1974
- Panikos Iakovou 1974
- Pambos Avraamidis 1975
- Kostas Talianos 1976
- Panikos Krystalis 1976–1977
- Andreas Lazaridis 1977
- Kostas Talianos 1978–1982
- Bazile Spasov 1982-1984
- Panikos Iakovou 1984-1987
- Takis Charalambous 1987
- Panikos Ioakovou 1988–1991
- Andreas Michailidis 1991-1996
- Stavros Papadopoulos 1997
- Panikos Georgiou 1997-1999
- Stavros Papadopoulos 1999-2001
- Takis Charalambous 2001
- Momčilo Vukotić 2001-2004
- Aggelos Anastasiadis 2004-
Cyprus Squad
The following players named for Euro 2008 qualifying match against Slovakia on March 24, 2007. [1]
Caps and goals as of 15 November2006, included against Germany.
Cyprus national under-21 football team
The Cyprus national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team for Cyprus and like the senior team, is controlled by the Cyprus Football Association.
The team drew their first official match 0-0 in 1978 at home to Spain in a qualifying match for the 1980 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship. They then drew 0-0 with the trophy holders Yugoslavia, also at home. They lost both away games though. And finished last in the group of three teams, with two points from four games, and so did not qualify for the Finals.
In the qualifying stages for the 1982 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, Cyprus made history when they defeated France 2-1 in Cyprus as it was the countries first ever official victory at National or Under-21 football level.
In the qualifying stages for the 1992 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, the team beat Greece 1-0 and drew 1-1 with Sweden who went on to reach the Final. Cyprus finished last in their qualifying group with three points, the same number as Greece.
The Under 21 team made gradual improvements and in September 1999, in a qualifying match for the 2000 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, drew 1-1 in Spain, the eventual winners of the competition. The team finished fourth out of five teams in their qualifying group, ahead of Austria.
The qualifying stages for the 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship provided the greatest achievement for the Cyprus under-21 national team to date, when they finished second in Qualification Group One, with 15 points, winning five of their eight matches. France won the group with 22 points, seven points ahead of Cyprus.
In 2004, Cyprus joined the European Union, and Cypriot teams took advantage of the Bosman rule bringing in foreign players. This has meant that young Cypriot players are now not as common in the Cypriot First Division and is therefore also having an adverse affect on the under-21 national team.
European Championship record
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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