Cyprus national football team

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Cyprus

Shirt badge/Association crest
Association	Cyprus Football Association (CFA) Κυπριακή Ομοσπονδία Ποδοσφαίρου Kıbrıs Futbol Federasyonu
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Akis Mantzios
Captain	Kostakis Artymatas
Most caps	Ioannis Okkas (103)
Top scorer	Michalis Konstantinou (32)
Home stadium	AEK Arena
FIFA code	CYP
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	130 Steady (19 December 2024)[1]
Highest	43 (September 2010)
Lowest	142 (June 2014)
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, romanized: Ethnikí omáda podosfaírou tis Kýprou, Turkish: Kıbrıs Millî Futbol Takımı) represents Cyprus in men's international football and is controlled by the Cyprus Football Association. The team's home ground is the AEK Arena in Larnaca.

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 by 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 over 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 had improved considerably in the following years; 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 UEFA Euro 2000 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 at GSP Stadium in Nicosia, with Michalis Konstantinou and Constantinos Charalambidis each scoring two goals and Alexandros Garpozis finishing off the match. Just one month later, on 15 November 2006, they caused another surprise by holding the previous World Cup's hosts 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 4–4 draw against Portugal in Guimarães.

During the Euro 2016 qualification phase, managed by Pambos Christodoulou, Cyprus claimed one of their most historic victories by defeating 2014 World Cup participant Bosnia 2–1 in Zenica. In the last group match, the team faced Bosnia, needing a victory to finish 3rd and rely on Belgium to beat Israel in Brussels. As fate would have it, the Bosnians won the reverse leg 3–2 and qualified to the play-offs at the expense of the home team, who at one point took a 2–1 lead during the first half and for a number of minutes held onto 3rd place and a berth in the play-offs for the 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]

In the Euro 2020 qualifiers, Cyprus beat San Marino 5–0 but lost to Belgium and Scotland. Despite a 2–1 away win against Kazakhstan, they lost their last three games and finished 4th out of 6 teams in the group, just ahead of Kazakhstan and San Marino.

The 2020–21 UEFA Nations League ended a big disappointment for Cyprus. They lost their first three games against Montenegro, Azerbaijan, and Luxembourg, before drawing 0–0 with Azerbaijan in the fourth game. Even though they beat Luxembourg 2–1 at home, they were crushed 4–0 by Montenegro in the last game and finished last in their group. This meant that they had to face Estonia in the relegation play-offs, whom they defeated 2–0 on aggregate, with goals from Marinos Tzionis and Pieros Sotiriou. Results hardly improved in the next edition of the competition, as Cyprus finished last in their group with Greece, Kosovo, and Northern Ireland, earning five points (through a win against Greece and two draws against Northern Ireland).

Cyprus lost all eight of their games in the 2024 Euro qualifiers, finishing last in their group and marking their worst ever Euro qualification campaign in terms of points per game and goal difference.

On 7 October 2006, Diadora unveiled Cyprus' new kit. 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 controversial kit was used for the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying phase. Adidas then made Cyprus' kits for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification, the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying, and the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification phases. In 2018, Macron replaced Adidas as part of UEFA's Kit Assistance Scheme.

Kit provider	Period
Italy Lotto	0000–2000
Italy Errea	2000–2002
England Umbro	2002–2006
Italy Diadora	2006–2008
Germany Adidas	2008–2018
Italy Macron	2018–2022
Italy Errea	2022–present

Since late 2021, Cyprus have played their home matches at the Georgios Karapatakis AEK Arena in Larnaca.

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 the 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 of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification phase to be played at the Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium in Larnaca. However, Cyprus returned to the GSP Stadium for the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying phase however have not played there since September 2021.

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

  Win   Draw   Loss   Fixture

As of 7 Oct 2024.^{[6] [7]}

The following players were called up for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group H matches against  San Marino and  Bosnia and Herzegovina on 21 and 24 March 2025, respectively.^[8]

Caps and goals updated as of 18 November 2024, after the match against  Romania .

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1GK	Neofytos Michail	(1993年12月16日) 16 December 1993 (age 31)	15	0	Cyprus Pafos
1	1GK	Joël Mall	(1991年04月05日) 5 April 1991 (age 33)	14	0	Switzerland Servette
1GK	Demetris Demetriou	(1999年01月15日) 15 January 1999 (age 26)	12	0	Cyprus Apollon Limassol
2DF	Konstantinos Laifis	(1993年05月19日) 19 May 1993 (age 31)	63	3	Cyprus APOEL
2DF	Stelios Andreou	(2002年07月24日) 24 July 2002 (age 22)	24	0	Belgium Charleroi
3	2DF	Nikolas Panayiotou	(2000年05月12日) 12 May 2000 (age 24)	16	0	Cyprus Omonia
7	2DF	Anderson Correia	(1991年05月06日) 6 May 1991 (age 33)	12	0	Cyprus Aris Limassol FC
2DF	Kostas Pileas	(1998年12月11日) 11 December 1998 (age 26)	10	1	Cyprus Pafos
2DF	Giorgos Malekkidis	(1997年07月14日) 14 July 1997 (age 27)	5	0	Cyprus Apollon Limassol
2DF	Christos Sielis	(2000年02月02日) 2 February 2000 (age 25)	4	0	Greece Panetolikos
2DF	Andreas Shikkis	(2002年01月13日) 13 January 2002 (age 23)	0	0	Cyprus Omonia Aradippou
3MF	Kostakis Artymatas	(1993年04月15日) 15 April 1993 (age 31)	75	1	Cyprus Anorthosis Famagusta
3MF	Grigoris Kastanos	(1998年01月30日) 30 January 1998 (age 27)	67	7	Italy Hellas Verona
3MF	Charalampos Kyriakou	(1995年02月20日) 20 February 1995 (age 30)	65	0	Cyprus Apollon Limassol
3MF	Ioannis Kousoulos	(1996年06月14日) 14 June 1996 (age 28)	43	4	Cyprus Omonia
3MF	Charalampos Charalampous	(2002年04月04日) 4 April 2002 (age 22)	19	1	Cyprus Omonia
3MF	Hector Kyprianou	(2001年05月27日) 27 May 2001 (age 23)	10	0	England Peterborough United
3MF	Giannis Satsias	(2002年12月28日) 28 December 2002 (age 22)	5	1	Cyprus APOEL
4FW	Pieros Sotiriou	(1993年01月13日) 13 January 1993 (age 32)	63	12	Cyprus APOEL
4FW	Ioannis Pittas	(1996年07月10日) 10 July 1996 (age 28)	47	8	Bulgaria CSKA Sofia
4FW	Loizos Loizou	(2003年07月18日) 18 July 2003 (age 21)	36	1	Cyprus Omonia
4FW	Marinos Tzionis	(2001年07月16日) 16 July 2001 (age 23)	31	3	Romania UTA Arad
4FW	Andronikos Kakoullis	(2001年05月03日) 3 May 2001 (age 23)	24	4	Cyprus Omonia
4FW	Stavros Gavriel	(2002年01月29日) 29 January 2002 (age 23)	3	0	Belgium Zulte Waregem
4FW	Ruel Sotiriou	(2000年08月24日) 24 August 2000 (age 24)	1	0	England Bristol Rovers

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	Konstantinos Panagi	(1994年10月08日) 8 October 1994 (age 30)	28	0	Cyprus AC Omonia	v.  San Marino , 11 June 2024
DF	Andreas Karo	(1996年09月09日) 9 September 1996 (age 28)	25	1	Israel Maccabi Petah Tikva	v.  Kosovo , 15 October 2024
DF	Nicholas Ioannou	(1995年11月10日) 10 November 1995 (age 29)	48	2	Italy Como	v.  Kosovo , 15 October 2024
DF	Minas Antoniou	(1994年02月22日) 22 February 1994 (age 31)	20	0	Cyprus Karmiotissa FC	v.  Kosovo , 15 October 2024
DF	Marios Stylianou	(1993年09月23日) 23 September 1993 (age 31)	6	0	Cyprus Ethnikos Achna FC	v.  Kosovo , 15 October 2024
DF	Andreas Panayiotou Filiotis	(1995年05月31日) 31 May 1995 (age 29)	7	0	Cyprus Apollon Limassol	v.  Moldova , 8 June 2024
DF	Marios Antoniades	(1990年05月14日) 14 May 1990 (age 34)	25	0	Cyprus Doxa Katokopias	v.  Serbia , 25 March 2024
DF	Pavlos Korrea	(1998年07月14日) 14 July 1998 (age 26)	4	0	Greece Volos	v.  San Marino , 11 June 2024
MF	Alex Gogić	(1994年04月13日) 13 April 1994 (age 30)	33	0	Scotland St Mirren	v.  Kosovo , 15 October 2024
MF	Rafail Mamas	(2001年03月04日) 4 March 2001 (age 24)	2	0	Cyprus AEL Limassol	v.  Kosovo , 15 October 2024
MF	Andreas Chrysostomou	(2001年01月14日) 14 January 2001 (age 24)	4	0	Cyprus Anorthosis Famagusta FC	v.  Kosovo , 15 October 2024
MF	Danilo Špoljarić	(1999年07月14日) 14 July 1999 (age 25)	16	1	Cyprus Apollon Limassol FC	v.  Kosovo , 9 September 2024
FW	Marios Ilia	(1996年05月19日) 19 May 1996 (age 28)	14	1	Cyprus Pafos FC	v.  Kosovo , 15 October 2024
FW	Andreas Katsantonis	(2000年02月16日) 16 February 2000 (age 25)	1	0	Poland Piast Gliwice	v.  Kosovo , 9 September 2024
INJ Player withdrew from the squad due to an injury. PRE Preliminary squad. RET Retired from international football. SUS Suspended

As of 19 November 2023^[9]

Players in bold are still active with Cyprus.

Rank	Name	Caps	Goals	Career
1	Ioannis Okkas	103	27	1997–2011
2	Constantinos Charalambidis	93	12	2003–2017
3	Michalis Konstantinou	84	32	1997–2012
4	Pambos Pittas	82	7	1987–1999
5	Constantinos Makrides	77	5	2004–2016
6	Nicos Panayiotou	74	0	1994–2006
7	Demetris Christofi	72	9	2008–present
8	Elias Charalambous	69	0	2002–2017
	Chrysis Michael	69	7	2000–2017
	Giorgos Theodotou	69	0	1996–2008

Rank	Name	Goals	Caps	Ratio	Career
1	Michalis Konstantinou	32	86	0.37	1997–2012
2	Ioannis Okkas	27	103	0.26	1997–2011
3	Pieros Sotiriou	12	60	0.2	2012–present
	Constantinos Charalambidis	12	93	0.13	2003–2017
5	Efstathios Aloneftis	10	62	0.11	2005–2017
6	Marios Agathokleous	9	38	0.24	1994–2003
	Demetris Christofi	9	72	0.13	2008–present
8	Fivos Vrahimis	8	18	0.44	1977–1982
	Milenko Špoljarić	8	21	0.38	1997–2001
	Siniša Gogić	8	37	0.22	1994–1999
	Andreas Sotiriou	8	39	0.21	1991–1999

As of 18 November 2024

Competition	Played	Won	Draw	Lost	GF	GA
FIFA World Cup qualification	124	16	15	93	91	320
European Championship qualification	122	19	15	88	101	316
Friendly matches	137	38	34	65	147	206
UEFA Nations League	26	6	6	14	17	46
Total	409	79	70	261	356	888

FIFA World Cup record									Qualification record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
Uruguay 1930	Not a FIFA member								Not a FIFA member
Italy 1934
France 1938
Brazil 1950	Did not enter								Did not enter
Switzerland 1954
Sweden 1958	Withdrew								Withdrew
Chile 1962	Did not qualify								2	0	1	1	2	7
England 1966									4	0	0	4	0	19
Mexico 1970									6	0	0	6	2	35
West Germany 1974									6	1	0	5	1	14
Argentina 1978									6	0	0	6	3	24
Spain 1982									8	0	0	8	4	29
Mexico 1986									6	0	0	6	3	18
Italy 1990									8	0	1	7	6	20
United States 1994									10	2	1	7	8	18
France 1998									8	3	1	4	10	15
South Korea Japan 2002									10	2	2	6	13	31
Germany 2006									10	1	1	8	8	20
South Africa 2010									10	2	3	5	14	16
Brazil 2014									10	1	2	7	4	15
Russia 2018									10	3	1	6	9	18
Qatar 2022									10	1	2	7	4	21
Canada Mexico United States 2026	To be determined								1	1	0	0	2	0
Morocco Portugal Spain 2030									To be determined
Saudi Arabia 2034
Total	0/19	125	17	15	93	93	320

UEFA European Championship record									Qualifying record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
France 1960	Not a UEFA member								Not a UEFA member
Spain 1964	Did not enter								Did not enter
Italy 1968	Did not qualify								6	1	0	5	3	25
Belgium 1972									6	0	0	6	2	26
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 1976									6	0	0	6	0	16
Italy 1980									6	0	1	5	2	19
France 1984									8	0	2	6	4	21
West Germany 1988									8	0	1	7	3	16
Sweden 1992									8	0	0	8	2	25
England 1996									10	1	4	5	6	20
Belgium Netherlands 2000									8	4	0	4	12	21
Portugal 2004									8	2	2	4	9	18
Austria Switzerland 2008									12	4	2	6	17	24
Poland Ukraine 2012									8	0	2	6	7	20
France 2016									10	4	0	6	16	17
Europe 2020									10	3	1	6	15	20
Germany 2024									8	0	0	8	3	28
United Kingdom Republic of Ireland 2028	To be determined								To be determined
Italy Turkey 2032
Total	0/16	122	19	15	88	101	316

UEFA Nations League record
Season	Division	Group	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	P/R	Rank
2018–19	C	3	6	1	2	3	5	9	Same position	36th
2020–21	C	1	8	2	2	4	4	10	Same position	46th
2022–23	C	2	6	1	2	3	4	12	Same position	45th
2024–25	C	2	To be determined
Total			20	4	6	10	13	31	36th

As of 21 March 2025.

  Positive record   Neutral record   Negative record

Opponent	P	W	D	L
Albania	6	2	2	2
Andorra	5	5	0	0
Armenia	7	4	2	1
Austria	7	0	1	6
Azerbaijan	2	0	1	1
Belarus	2	1	0	1
Belgium	13	0	1	12
Bosnia and Herzegovina	4	2	0	2
Bulgaria	16	1	1	14
Canada	2	0	1	1
Croatia	3	0	0	3
Czech Republic	4	0	0	4
Czechoslovakia	6	0	2	4
Denmark	6	0	1	5
England	2	0	0	2
Estonia	10	4	4	2
Faroe Islands	4	3	1	0
Finland	4	1	1	2
France	8	0	1	7
Georgia	8	3	1	4
Germany	6	0	1	5
Gibraltar	2	2	0	0
Greece	29	4	6	19
Hungary	8	1	0	7
Iceland	7	1	3	3
Iran	1	0	1	0
Iraq	1	1	0	0
Israel	16	4	3	9
Italy	8	0	1	7
Japan	1	0	0	1
Jordan	5	1	2	2
Kazakhstan	4	3	1	0
Kosovo	4	0	0	4
Kuwait	1	0	1	0
Latvia	3	2	1	0
Lebanon	2	1	0	1
Lithuania	6	5	0	1
Luxembourg	5	4	0	1
North Macedonia	2	0	1	1
Malta	8	3	3	2
Moldova	2	1	0	1
Montenegro	5	0	3	2
Netherlands	8	0	0	8
Northern Ireland	8	1	4	3
Norway	13	0	0	13
Poland	7	0	3	4
Portugal	11	0	1	10
Republic of Ireland	10	1	1	8
Romania	15	1	3	11
Russia	7	0	1	6
San Marino	8	8	0	0
Saudi Arabia	1	0	1	0
Scotland	9	0	0	9
Serbia	5	0	1	4
Slovakia	6	1	1	4
Slovenia	12	3	3	6
Soviet Union	4	0	0	4
Spain	10	1	0	9
Sweden	6	0	1	5
Switzerland	8	1	2	5
Syria	1	1	0	0
Ukraine	4	1	1	2
Wales	7	2	0	5
Yugoslavia	4	0	0	4
Zambia	3	0	0	3

• Cyprus International Football Tournament
  • Champions (2): 1998, 2000

Notes

Citation

• Official website
• Cyprus at UEFA
• Cyprus at FIFA
• RSSSF archive of results 1949–
• RSSSF archive of most capped players and highest goalscorers
• RSSSF archive of coaches 1929–

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