Cyprus national under-21 football team

Cyprus U21
Nickname(s) Εθνική Ελπίδων
("National team of Hopes")
Association Cyprus Football Association
Head coach Costas Malekkos
Most caps Marios Christodoulou (27)
Top scorer Christos Poyiatzis & Giorgos Nicolaou (5)
Home stadium various
First colours
Second colours
First international
Cyprus Cyprus 0 - 0 Spain Spain
(Nicosia, Cyprus; 1978)
Biggest win
Cyprus Cyprus 6 - 0 San Marino San Marino
(Nicosia, Cyprus; 2011)
Biggest defeat
Portugal Portugal 7 - 0 Cyprus Cyprus
(Abrantes, Portugal; 2001)
UEFA U-21 Championship
Appearances None

The Cyprus national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team for Cyprus and like the senior team, is controlled by the Cyprus Football Association.

The team drew their first official match 0-0 in 1978 at home to Spain in a qualifying match for the 1980 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship. They then drew 0-0 with the trophy holders Yugoslavia, also at home. They lost both away games though. And finished last in the group of three teams, with two points from four games, and so did not qualify for the Finals.

In the qualifying stages for the 1982 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, Cyprus made history when they defeated France 2-1 in Cyprus as it was the countries first ever official victory at National or Under-21 football level. The scorer of the Cypriot goals was Islington born Kikis Kyriacou of Olympiakos Nicosia whose promising career was brought to a premature end following a horrific leg injury.

In the qualifying stages for the 1992 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, the team beat Greece 1-0 and drew 1-1 with Sweden who went on to reach the Final. Cyprus finished last in their qualifying group with three points, the same number as Greece.

The Under 21 team made gradual improvements and in September 1999, in a qualifying match for the 2000 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, drew 1-1 in Spain, the eventual winners of the competition. The team finished fourth out of five teams in their qualifying group, ahead of Austria.

The qualifying stages for the 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship provided the greatest achievement for the Cyprus under-21 national team to date, when they finished second in Qualification Group One, with 15 points, winning five of their eight matches. France won the group with 22 points, seven points ahead of Cyprus.

In 2004, Cyprus joined the European Union, and Cypriot teams took advantage of the Bosman rule bringing in foreign players. This has meant that young Cypriot players are now not as common in the Cypriot First Division and is therefore also having an adverse effect on the under-21 national team.


European Championship record Under-21

UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship record UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship Qualification record
Year Round Pld W D L GF GA GD Pld W D L GF GA GD
1978 Did not enter -
1980[1] Did not qualify 4 0 2 2 1 5 −4
1982[2] 4 1 0 3 4 7 −3
1984[3] 6 0 0 6 4 14 −10
1986[4] 6 0 2 4 3 13 -10
1988[5] 6 1 0 5 4 18 −14
1990[6] 4 0 1 3 0 3 −3
1992[7] 6 1 1 4 3 15 −12
France 1994[8] 8 0 0 8 4 21 −17
Spain 1996[9] 10 3 1 6 10 25 −15
Romania 1998[10] 8 3 1 4 16 15 +1
Slovakia 2000[11] 8 1 3 4 7 18 −11
Switzerland 2002[12] 8 3 0 5 9 17 −8
Germany 2004[13] 8 5 0 3 12 5 +7
Portugal 2006[14] 8 0 1 7 2 17 -15
Netherlands 2007[15] 2 0 0 2 0 3 −3
Sweden 2009[16] 8 2 0 6 9 15 −6
Denmark 2011[17] 8 2 0 6 8 13 −5
Israel 2013[18] 10 4 0 6 16 20 −4
Czech Republic 2015[19] 8 2 0 6 7 21 −14
Poland 2017 5 0 1 4 2 12 −10
Total 0/20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 131 30 13 93 125 268 −143

UEFA U-21 Euro 2017 qualification

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Slovakia 8 6 1 1 21 6 +15 19 Final tournament 4–2 5–0 3–1 2–0
2  Netherlands 8 4 2 2 15 10 +5 14 1–3 0–0 1–0 4–0
3  Turkey 8 3 2 3 7 8 1 11 1–1 0–1 1–0 0–1
4  Belarus 8 2 2 4 7 11 4 8 1–0 2–2 0–2 2–2
5  Cyprus 8 1 1 6 4 19 15 4 0–3 1–4 0–3 0–1
Source: UEFA

Friendly matches

Current squad

The following players were called up for 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification matches against Turkey U21 and Belarus U21 on 12 and 17 November 2015.

Caps and goals are correct as of 12 November 2015, after match against Belarus U21. [20]

0#0 Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1GK Demetris Tziakouris (1994-05-28) May 28, 1994 8 0 Cyprus Othellos Athienou
1GK Constantinos Panagi (1994-10-08) October 8, 1994 7 0 Cyprus AC Omonia
2DF Andreas Frangeskou (1996-07-26) July 26, 1996 2 0 Cyprus Olympiakos Nicosia
2DF Stefanos Mouktaris (1994-07-10) July 10, 1994 11 0 Greece Kallithea
2DF Andreas Kyriakou (1994-02-05) February 5, 1994 14 2 Cyprus AEL Limassol
2DF Pantelis Konomis (1997-11-15) November 15, 1997 5 1 Cyprus Omonia Aradippou
2DF Ioannis Kousoulos (1996-06-14) June 14, 1996 12 0 Cyprus Nea Salamina
2DF Thomas Ioannou (1995-07-19) July 19, 1995 9 0 Cyprus Pafos FC
2DF Andreas Karo (1996-09-09) September 9, 1996 4 0 England Nottingham Forest U21
3MF Christos Djamas (1995-09-06) September 6, 1995 8 0 Cyprus APOEL
3MF Georgios Aresti (1994-09-02) September 2, 1994 5 0 Cyprus Doxa Katokopias
3MF Kyriacos Panagi (1996-04-22) April 22, 1996 5 0 Cyprus Aris Limassol
3MF Vasilios Papafotis (1995-08-10) August 10, 1995 4 0 Cyprus APOEL
3MF Yiannis Pachipis (1994-04-11) April 11, 1994 9 2 Cyprus Olympiakos Nicosia
3MF Andreas Sofokleous (1997-04-04) April 4, 1997 0 0 Cyprus AC Omonia
4FW Ioannis Pittas (1996-07-10) July 10, 1996 1 0 Cyprus Apollon Limassol
4FW Andreas Panayiotou (1995-05-31) May 31, 1995 10 0 Cyprus AC Omonia
4FW Fanos Katelaris (1996-08-26) August 26, 1996 1 0 Cyprus AC Omonia
4FW Grigoris Kastanos (1998-01-30) January 30, 1998 2 0 Italy Juventus Primavera
4FW Minas Antoniou (1994-02-22) February 22, 1994 13 2 Cyprus Aris Limassol
4FW Marios Elia (1996-05-19) May 19, 1996 3 0 Cyprus Ethnikos Achna
4FW Andreas Makris (1995-09-27) September 27, 1995 2 1 Cyprus Anorthosis Famagusta

Recent Callups

Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up
GK Giorgos Tasouris (1994-01-16) January 16, 1994 3 0 Cyprus APOEL v.  Netherlands, 4 September 2015
GK Ellinas Sofroniou (1995-01-29) January 29, 1995 0 0 Cyprus Nikos & Sokratis Erimis v. England England C, 17 February 2015
DF Nicholas Ioannou (1995-11-10) November 10, 1995 9 0 Cyprus APOEL v.  Belarus, 13 October 2015
DF Christos Wheeler (1997-06-29) June 29, 1997 2 0 Cyprus Apollon Limassol v. England England C, 17 February 2015
DF Andreas Themistokleous (1994-03-01) March 1, 1994 2 0 Latvia FK Jelgava v.  Bulgaria, 9 June 2015
MF Neofytos Kyriakou (1997-10-29) October 29, 1997 7 2 Cyprus Anorthosis Famagusta v.  Belarus, 13 October 2015
MF Loizos Kosma (1995-01-25) January 25, 1995 12 0 Cyprus Enosis Neon Paralimni v.  Belarus, 13 October 2015
MF Antonis Koumis (1997-02-11) February 11, 1997 5 0 Cyprus Enosis Neon Paralimni v.  Belarus, 13 October 2015
MF Marios Pechlivanis (1995-05-23) May 23, 1995 2 0 Austria Austria Wien II v.  Slovakia, 8 October 2015
MF Adamos Andreou (1994-12-18) December 18, 1994 10 1 Cyprus Omonia Aradippou v.  Netherlands, 4 September 2015
MF Panos Theodorou (1994-09-03) September 3, 1994 11 0 Cyprus AEL Limassol v.  Netherlands, 4 September 2015
MF Panayiotis Constantinou (1996-08-06) August 6, 1996 1 0 Cyprus Anorthosis Famagusta v.  Netherlands, 4 September 2015
MF Charalambos Kyriacou (1995-02-09) February 9, 1995 7 0 Cyprus Apollon Limassol v.  Northern Ireland, 26 March 2015
MF Jack Sammoutis (1994-01-15) January 15, 1994 5 0 free agent v. England England C, 17 February 2015
MF Georgios Christodoulou (1997-08-17) August 17, 1997 1 0 Cyprus APOEL v.  Bulgaria, 9 June 2015
FW Yiannis Mavrou (1994-07-19) July 19, 1994 9 2 Cyprus AEL Limassol v.  Belarus, 13 October 2015
FW Kristis Andreou (1994-08-12) August 12, 1994 12 2 Lithuania Žalgiris Vilnius v.  Netherlands, 4 September 2015
FW Constantinos Nicolaides (1994-02-12) February 12, 1994 1 0 Cyprus Digenis Oroklinis v.  Bulgaria, 9 June 2015
FW Michalis Charalambous (1999-01-29) January 29, 1999 2 0 Cyprus APOEL v.  Bulgaria, 9 June 2015

See also

References

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