Ayia Napa F.C.

Ayia Napa FC
Full name Athlitikos Omilos Ayias Napas
Founded 1990 (1990)
Ground Municipal Stadium (Ayia Napa)
Ground Capacity 2,000
Chairman Cyprus Christos Antoniou
Manager Cyprus Panikos Protopapas (interim)
League Cypriot First Division
2014–15 10th

Athlitikos Omilos Ayia Napa (Greek: Αθλητικός Όμιλος Αγία Νάπα, "Athletic Club Ayia Napa") is a Cypriot football club from the town of Ayia Napa. The club was founded in 1990 after the merger of two clubs: APEAN (Athlitiki Podosfairiki Enosis Ayias Napas; "Athletic Football Union of Ayia Napa") and ENAN (Enosis Neon Ayias Napas; "Youth Union Ayia Napa").

History

The club started in the Third Division (199091). They were promoted to Second Division in season 200001 after finishing 2nd in Third division. The team once played against Omonia Nicosia in Cup tournament. It lost 4-0 in the first match but came 2-2 in the second match.

Promotion to First Division

The biggest achievements of Ayia Napa FC's history was in season 200506 after it finished 3rd in Cyprus Second Division and was promoted to the Cypriot First Division also in the 2014-2015 season it avoided relegation for the first time in its history.

Despite their maiden presence in the First Division, Ayia Napa proved tough rival for every Cypriot team and has good presence in the 200607 season. From their first match they achieved the surprise by an away draw against Anorthosis Famagusta and that followed two more draws, the one of them against Omonia Nicosia. In the first 12 matches they achieved several draws, including another home draw against APOEL. However the first victory came in the 13th matchday, when the team beat Aris Limassol 4-1 and at the end of the first half of the season, the team was defeated only in 5 matches. Their most historical victory came on January 14, 2007, when the team beat one of the greatest clubs of the island Omonia Nicosia 2-1. After that victory, few more successful results came, however the team lost the last seven First Division matches of the season and was relegated again.

Cup qualification to the Quarter-finals

Another big achievement of Ayia Napa FC is the qualification to the cup's quarter-finals group stage in the 200708 season while the team was in the Cypriot Second Division. That season was the only team from Cypriot Second Division that qualified to quarter-finals. The club finished third in the group stages with wins against APOEL and Aris Limassol.

Stadium

The team's stadium is Municipal Stadium of Ayia Napa, which is a multi-use stadium in Ayia Napa. It is currently used mostly for football matches and holds 2,000 people. However the stadium was not suitable for first division matches, so for the season 200607, when Ayia Napa plays in First Division, the team is using for home the Tasos Markou Stadium in Paralimni.

The UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship was hosted in Cyprus in 1998 and the UEFA European Under-16 Football Championship in 1992 and the Ayia Napa Stadium was used for two matches of Republic of Ireland in each competition;[1] on June 19, 1998 their 5-2 victory against Croatia and four days later, their 3-0 Cyprus U-19 national team and qualified to the final where they went on to win the trophy. In 1992, the Irish were beaten by the Netherlands U-16 0-2 and tied by Spain 1-1. ss

Current squad

As of 13 January 2016

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
1 Cyprus GK Andreas Kittos
3 England DF Michael Felgate (Captain)
4 Serbia DF Nebojša Skopljak
5 Greece MF Giorgos Lambropoulos
6 Scotland MF Alastair Reynolds (on loan from Apollon Limassol)
7 Cyprus MF Costas Markou
13 Cyprus MF Symeon Kittos
14 Croatia FW Ivan Antolek
17 Cyprus FW Antonis Moulazimis
18 Argentina DF Emiliano Fusco
19 Cyprus MF Elias Georgiou
20 Cyprus MF Antonis Katsis
21 Ghana DF Daniel Mensah
22 Cyprus MF Nektarios Tziortzis
No. Position Player
24 Cyprus DF Ioannis Antoniou
25 England MF Alistair Slowe
26 Cyprus DF Antonis Machattou
30 Slovenia GK Marko Pridigar
35 Cyprus DF Panayiotis Loizides (on loan from Anorthosis)
37 Cyprus DF Eleftherios Mertakas (Vice-captain)
40 Cyprus MF Nicolas Liotatis
50 Cyprus GK Giorgos Papallis
73 Cyprus GK Constantinos Stefani
77 Cyprus FW Giorgos Katsiati (on loan from Ermis Aradippou)
79 Cyprus FW Odysseas Doulgarides
92 Cyprus DF Elvis Kryukov
99 Cyprus FW Kristis Andreou

For recent transfers, see List of Cypriot football transfers winter 2015–16.

Notable former players

Managers

Honours

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, March 18, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.