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Cyprus
Nickname	-
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	68
Highest FIFA ranking	58 (February 1999)
Lowest FIFA ranking	113 (March 2005)
Elo ranking	92
Highest Elo ranking	68 (2000)
First kit 　 Second kit
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. However, after a 5-2 away demolishing of Republic of Ireland and an amiable 1-1 draw with one of the best teams in Europe, Germany, they are now looked on with much more respect from their opponents before a match. They are now in the middle ranking of UEFA.

Contents 1 History 2 Home stadium 3 World Cup record 4 European Championship record 5 Managers 6 Cyprus Squad 7 External links

In their first international friendly, the Cyprus national team tied 3-3 with Israel in Tel Aviv on 23 July 1949, a 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 game, 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, and that was followed by another victory against Lebanon 2 years later when Cyprus won that particular encounter 2-0 in a friendly.

On the 17th February 1968, however, Cyprus made history when the Cypriots defeated Switzerland 2-1 in a European Championship Qualifier in Nicosia to mark the island's first ever official victory.

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. Cyprus managed in 1989 to bring a 1-1 draw against France to knock the French out of the World Cup chase. Despite other similar triumphs on home soil, Cyprus had to wait until 1992 to record a first away win - 2-0 in the Faroe Islands.

Results in qualifying tournaments have also improved considerably in recent times. Cyprus drew 1-1 with holders Denmark and claimed seven points in their qualification campaign for 1996 European Football Championship. Four years later, they missed out on a place at 2000 European Football Championship by a solitary point after victories against Spain and Israel, 3-2. The Spain's defeat signalled the end of Javier Clemente's time as Spanish coach and made the world do a double-take.

On 7th October 2006, Cyprus called a major upset when they beat a severely weakened Republic of Ireland 5-2 at home with Michalis Konstantinou and Constantinos Charalambides each scoring two goals and Michalis Garpozis scoring one. They later caused another surprise by holding World Cup semi-finalists Germany to a 1-1 draw at home on the 15th November 2006.

On the 7th October the Cypriot squad had debuted their new Diadora national kit. It is worth noting that 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 following the Turkish invasion of 1974.

Cyprus currently plays home matches at the New GSP Stadium, in Nicosia.

Over the years home matches were staged at different venues all around the country; until 1974, Cyprus used the Old GSP Stadium in central Nicosia, while sometimes stadiums in Famagusta were used. Since then, the team played their home matches on different venues, while in 1990s, Tsirion stadium in Limassol was usually used. In 1999, the erection of the New GSP Stadium in Nicosia provided a new home ground. Since then all official games are played there, whilst friendlies are still played on other grounds.

• 1930 to 1954 - Did not enter
• 1958 - Withdrew
• 1962 to 2006 - Did not qualify

• 1960 - Did not enter
• 1964 - Did not enter
• 1968 to 2004 - Did not qualify

The following players named for Euro 2008 qualifying match against Slovakia on March 24, 2007. [1]

Caps and goals as of 15 November 2006, included against Germany.

No. Pos. Player DoB/Age Caps Goals Club 2 DF Georgos Theodotou 1 January 1974 63 0 Omonia 3 MF Ilias Haralambous 25 September 1980 22 0 PAOK 4 DF Lambros Lambrou 9 September 1977 21 0 Anorthosis Famagusta 5 DF Loukas Louka 17 April 1978 Anorthosis Famagusta 6 DF Stelios Okkarides 15 November 1977 25 0 APOEL 7 MF Efstathios Aloneftis 29 March 1983 Larisa 8 DF Marios Elia 14 April 1979 20 1 APOEL 9 FW Ioannis Okkas 11 February 1977 72 15 Olympiacos 10 MF Constantinos Charalambides 25 July 1981 30 7 Panathinaikos 11 FW Michalis Konstantinou 19 February 1978 53 23 Olympiacos 12 GK Michalis Morfis 15 January 1979 APOEL 13 MF Chrysis Michael 26 May 1977 36 4 APOEL 15 MF Christos Marangos 9 May 1983 Anorthosis Famagusta 16 FW Nektarios Alexandrou 19 December 1983 Larisa 17 DF Marinos Satsias 24 May 1978 34 0 APOEL 18 FW Yiasoumis Yiasoumi 31 May 1975 PAOK 19 DF Alexis Garpozis 5 September 1980 Skoda Xanthi 20 MF Constantinos Makrides 13 January 1982 24 0 APOEL 21 DF Theofilou Kristis 30 April 1980 Apollon 22 GK Antonis Georgallides 30 January 1982 Omonia 23 MF Simos Krassas 10 July 1982 AEL Limassol 29 DF Charis Nikolaou 31 March 1974 AEK Larnaca 31 DF Paraskevas Christou 2 February 1984 AEK Larnaca 32 FW Kyriacos Chails 23 February 1978 Nea Salamis FC 33 DF Sofronis Avgousti 9 March 1978 AEK Larnaca

• RSSSF archive of results 1949-
• RSSSF archive of most capped players and highest goalscorers
• RSSSF archive of coaches 1929-
• (English) (Greek) Cyprus Football E-Group
• (English) (Greek) (Turkish) Cyprus Soccer E-Group

Football in Cyprus
Cyprus Football Association - National team - List of football clubs in Cyprus
Competitions: Cypriot First Division - Cyprus Cup - Cyprus FA Shield

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