Ayia Napa FC

AO Ayia Napa
Full name	Athlitikos Omilos Ayias Napas
Founded	14 July 1990; 31 years ago
Ground	Paralimni Stadium, Paralimni
Capacity	5,800
Chairman	Demetris Masias
Manager	Manuele Blasi
League	Second Division
2019–20	Second Division, 4th
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 achievement of AO Ayia Napa's history was in the 2005–06 season after the team finished 3rd in Cypriot Second Division and was promoted to the Cypriot First Division. Despite it being their maiden appearance in the First Division, Ayia Napa proved a formidable force for other First Division sides in the 2006–07 season. In their first match in the division, they achieved a surprise away draw against Anorthosis Famagusta, which were followed by two more draws, including one against First Division Heavyweights Omonia Nicosia. In their first 12 matches overall they achieved several draws, including another home draw against APOEL. However, they had to wait until the 13th matchday for their first victory, when the team beat Aris Limassol 4–1. By the midway point of the season, the team had lost just 5 times. On January 14, 2007, in the reverse fixture of their earlier draw, Ayia Napa beat Omonia Nicosia 2–1, arguably the most impressive result in the clubs' history. After that victory there were a few more successful results and the club looked like they may avoid relegation. However, the team lost their last seven First Division matches of the season and ended up relegated.

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.

Players[]

As of 16 September 2021

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


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	GER	Radomir Novaković
2	DF	CYP	Petros Ioannou (on loan from Ethnikos Achna)
3	MF	CYP	(Captain)
4	DF	CYP
5	DF	POR
6	MF	USA	Athanasios Scheidt
8	MF	CYP
9	FW	POR	Al Hassan
10	MF	ARG	Yamil Romero
11	MF	ARG	Mauro García
13	GK	CYP
15	MF	ARG
16	MF	GRE


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
18	MF	GRE	Antonis Tsiaras
19	FW	CYP	Georgios Kolokoudias (Vice captain)
20	MF	CYP	Marios Nicolaou
22	FW	ARG
23	DF	URU
24	DF	CYP	(#rd captain)
26	DF	CYP
29	MF	CYP
30	MF	CYP
28	FW	POR
96	FW	NED	Mark Sifneos
97	GK	GNB	Maurice Gomis
99	FW	CYP

Managers[]

(Jan 16, 2013 – Feb 25, 2013)
(Feb 26, 2013 – April 5, 2013)
Marios Neophytou (April 5, 2013 – Oct 21, 2013)
(Oct 24, 2013 – Jan 13, 2014)
Dušan Mitošević (Jan 14, 2014 – Apr 17, 2014)
(June 6, 2014 – Sept 30, 2014)
(Oct 23, 2014 – Jan 28, 2016)
(Jan 28, 2016 – Feb 14, 2016)

Honours[]

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

References[]

^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-09-30. Retrieved 2012-07-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

External links[]

Soccerway profile

[1] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-09-30. Retrieved 2012-07-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[1]

v t Cypriot Second Division
	Achyronas AEZ Akritas Alki Anagennisi Ayia Napa Aris ASIL Digenis Morphou Kouris Omonia Ar. Omonia Ps. Onisilos Othellos PAEEK THOI P.O. Xylotymbou Ypsonas
Associated competitions	First Division Third Division STOK Elite Division Women's 1st Division Cypriot Women's Cup Cypriot Women's Super Cup Cypriot Cup Cypriot Super Cup
Seasons	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 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20

v t Cypriot First Division
2021–22 clubs	AEK Larnaca AEL Limassol Anorthosis APOEL Apollon Aris Doxa Ethnikos Olympiakos Omonia PAEEK Pafos
Stadiums	AEK Arena Antonis Papadopoulos Aradippou GSP GSZ Makario Tsirio
Former clubs	AEK Kouklia AEP AEZ Alki Larnaca Alki Oroklini Anagennisi APEP APOP APOP Kinyras ASIL Atromitos Ayia Napa AYMA Çetinkaya Chalkanoras Digenis EPA ENP Ethnikos Assia Ermis Evagoras Karmiotissa Keravnos Nea Salamina Omonia Ar. Onisilos Orfeas Othellos Pezoporikos THOI Trust
Competition	List of foreign players
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 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22