“This season has been unique,” says Neofitides, who is a former goalkeeper. Tzionis, Neofitides has also been fined €5,000 by the CFA for speaking out. PASP president Spyros Neofitides is an outspoken figure in Cypriot football and has consistently tried to tackle the corruption.
The Pancyprian footballers’ union (PASP) puts the figure higher, at 86 per cent, and says every year two thirds of the players in Cyprus leave the island. Meanwhile, the number of overseas players continues to grow.ĬIES research in 2016 showed 65.4 per cent of players in Cyprus were foreign. “We get fined most weeks,” says Karapatakis, who ignores the rule due to the cost of wages for Cypriot players. But this makes no impact on chairmen like Andreas Karapatakis of AEK Larnaca. Like the Portuguese and Spaniards who make up most of the overseas influx, Derbyshire’s move was very straightforward as Cyprus joined the European Union in 2004, thus ensuring freedom of movement.Ĭlubs are expected to include at least two Cypriot players in their starting XI and are fined €1,500 for each missing player, so fielding 11 foreigners costs clubs €3,000 a game. An immediate hit, he is the Cypriot game’s biggest star and was the First Division’s top scorer at the halfway stage. “Twenty years ago, they would have had to drop into the third division, now they can come here and succeed.”įormer England under-21 international Matt Derbyshire joined Omonia from Rotherham United at the start of this season. “Cyprus is a land of opportunity for players like me who did not get in the first team at home,” says the 33-year-old goalkeeper. The island’s biggest club, APOEL, have qualified for the Europa League or Champions League group stage five times in the last eight seasons, and in 2011-12 they went on a stunning run to the Champions League quarter-finals, beating Zenit, Porto and Lyon before losing to Real Madrid.įormer Barcelona junior Urko Pardo joined APOEL at the start of that season and has been there ever since.
Since Anorthosis Famagusta became the first Cypriot side to qualify for the group stage of the Champions League, in 2008-09, AEK, AEL and Apollon have all reached the Europa League group phase. In response, he was fined €5,000 by the Cyprus Football Association (CFA) for bringing the game into disrepute.įor a game that, in recent years, has – on the pitch, at least – punched above its weight for an island of just 1.1million people, those are startling claims. The game, said Tzionis, was controlled by betting activity and corruption, and there is no freedom of speech. In December he made the claim that Cypriot football was “dishonest” and dogged by “filth, stench, nepotism, cronyism and corruption”. Although not naturally a quiet man, he knows that a word out of place could cost him another €5,000. The 37-year-old has had to get used to life on the sidelines under Ten Hag.Omonia president Antonis Tzionis sits quietly in his chair in the offices of the Cypriot club. Martial only lasted 30 minutes after pulling up with a hip injury in the warm-up and his departure paved the way for Ronaldo to make his entrance. On his first Premier League start since arriving for £60 million ($67 million) from Real Madrid, Casemiro was culpable for the opening goal as he was robbed in possession by Amadou Onana and the ball eventually broke for Iwobi to curl into the top corner from outside the box.Įverton came into the game with the best defensive record in the league, but were quickly undone as United levelled within 10 minutes.Īntony became the first United player to score in his first three Premier League games with a cool finish from Martial's pass. The Red Devils were seeking a response to being thrashed 6-3 by Manchester City last weekend but got off to the worst possible start.
Victory takes Ten Hag's men up to fifth and within nine points of leaders Arsenal with a game in hand. Ronaldo took his chance just before half-time to give United a deserved three points from an error-strewn game by both sides. The five-time Ballon d'Or winner was again left on the bench by Erik ten Hag but was handed an early introduction by an injury to Anthony Martial.īy that stage it was already 1-1 as Antony cancelled out Alex Iwobi's opener for Everton. Cristiano Ronaldo struck the 700th club goal of his career as Manchester United came from behind to beat Everton 2-1 at Goodison Park on Sunday.
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