Ayia Napa FC

Ayia Napa FC

Full name	Athlitikos Omilos Ayias Napas
Founded	1990 (1990)
Ground	Tasos Markou Municipal Stadium
Ground Capacity	5,800
Chairman	Christos Antoniou
Manager	Panikos Protopapas (interim)
League	Cypriot Second Division
Home colours Away colours

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 (1990–91). They were promoted to Second Division in season 2000–01 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 2005–06 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 2006–07 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 2007–08 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 2006–07, 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 30 June 2016

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

No. Position Player 5 MF Giorgos Lambropoulos 7 MF Costas Markou 13 MF Symeon Kittos 14 FW Ivan Antolek 17 FW Antonis Moulazimis 18 DF Emiliano Fusco 19 MF Elias Georgiou 21 DF Daniel Mensah 22 MF Nektarios Tziortzis 24 DF Ioannis Antoniou 26 DF Antonis Machattou 30 GK Marko Pridigar

No. Position Player 35 DF Panayiotis Loizides (on loan from Anorthosis) 40 MF Nicolas Liotatis 50 GK Giorgos Papallis 73 GK Constantinos Stefani 77 FW Giorgos Katsiati (on loan from Ermis Aradippou) 79 FW Odysseas Doulgarides 92 DF Elvis Kryukov DF Andrés Rouga MF Konstantinos Konstantinou FW Nikos Panayides MF Mohamed Sassi GK George Loizou MF Andreas Alcibiades FW Musa Mguni FW José Embaló DF Bojan Markovski MF Petros Kaminiotis MF Zacharias Theodorou

For recent transfers, see List of Cypriot football transfers summer 2016.

Managers

• Nikos Kolompourdas (Jan 16, 2013 – Feb 25, 2013)
• Costas Loizou (Feb 26, 2013 – April 5, 2013)
• Marios Neophytou (April 5, 2013 – Oct 21, 2013)
• Zouvanis Zouvani (Oct 24, 2013 – Jan 13, 2014)
• Dušan Mitošević (Jan 14, 2014 – Apr 17, 2014)
• Nikos Andronikou (June 6, 2014 – Sept 30, 2014)
• Giorgos Kosma (Oct 23, 2014 – Jan 28, 2016)
• Antonis Mertakkas (Jan 28, 2016 – Feb 14, 2016)

Honours

• Cypriot Second Division (2):
  • 2011–12, 2013–14

References

External links

• Soccerway profile

Cypriot First Division
2016–17 clubs	AEK AEL Anagennisi Anorthosis APOEL Apollon Aris AEZ Doxa Ermis Ethnikos Karmiotissa Nea Salamina Omonia
Stadiums	AEK Arena Ammochostos Antonis Papadopoulos Dasaki GSP GSZ Makario Pafiako Tasos Markou Tsirion
Former clubs	AEK Kouklia AEP Alki APEP APOP APOP Kinyras ASIL Atromitos Ayia Napa AYMA Çetinkaya Chalkanoras Digenis Enosis EPA Ethnikos Assia Evagoras Keravnos Olympiakos Omonia Ar. Onisilos Orfeas Othellos Pafos FC Pezoporikos THOI Trust
Competition	Champions Players (foreign) Managers Derbies
Associated competitions	Second Division Third Division STOK Elite Division Cypriot Cup Super Cup Cup for lower divisions Women's 1st Division Women's Cup Women's Super Cup UEFA Champions League UEFA Europa League
Seasons	1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17