The is the national
Football team of
Cyprus and is controlled by the
Cyprus Football Association . It is one of the weakest members of
UEFA , having never made the finals of any major international tournament.
In their first international friendly, the Cyprus national team tied 3-3 with
Israel in
Tel Aviv on
23 July 1949 , a year after becoming a member of the world governing body
FIFA . In November
1960 , following independence from
British Rule , Cyprus took part in their first official game, a 1-1 draw against Israel in the first leg of a qualifying tie for the
1962 FIFA World Cup . The return leg ended in a 6-1 defeat.
UEFA membership followed in
1962 , and the next year was even more momentous as Cyprus won their first international - beating
Greece 3-1 on
27 November in a friendly, and that was followed by another victory against
Lebanon 2 years later when Cyprus won that particular encounter 2-0 in a friendly.
On the
17th February 1968 , however, Cyprus made history when the Cypriots defeated
Switzerland 2-1 in a European Championship Qualifier in Nicosia to mark the island s first ever official victory.
In
1974 , the national team enjoyed one of their most famous victories when a team of part-timers beat a
Northern Ireland side featuring legendary goalkeeper
Pat Jennings , 1-0 in Nicosia. Cyprus managed in 1989 to bring a 1-1 draw against
France to knock the French out of the World Cup chase. Despite other similar triumphs on home soil, Cyprus had to wait until
1992 to record a first away win - 2-0 in the
Faroe Islands .
Results in qualifying tournaments have also improved considerably in recent times. Cyprus drew 1-1 with holders
Denmark and claimed seven points in their
Qualification Campaign For 1996 European Football Championship . Four years later, they missed out on a place at
2000 European Football Championship by a solitary point after victories against
Spain and Israel, 3-2.
The Spain's defeat signalled the end of
Javier Clemente 's time as Spanish coach and made the world do a double-take.
Cyprus plays their home matches at
New GSP Stadium , in Nicosia.
The Cyprus team played its home matches at different venues all around the country; Until 1974, Cyprus used for home venue, the Old GSP Stadium in Nicosia, while sometimes the stadiums in
Famagusta were used rarely. Since then played their home matches on different venues, while in
1990s , more usually was used the stadium in
Limassol . That changed in
1999 , with the creation of the New GSP Stadium in Nicosia. For
World Cup 2006 Qualifications , Cyprus used only the GSP Stadium, because it is the only stadium in Cyprus which satisfies the UEFA criteria. Sometimes plays in other towns of Cyprus but only for friendlies.
- 1960 - ''Did not enter''
- 1964 - ''Did not enter''
- 1968 to 2004 - ''Did not qualify''
- Argyrios Gavalas 1960- 1967
- Pambos Avraamidis 1968- 1969
- Rey Wood 1970 - 1971
- Sima Milovanov 1972
- Pambos Avraamidis 1972-1974
- Panikos Iakovou 1974
- Pambos Avraamidis 1975
- Kostas Talianos 1976
- Panikos Krystalis 1976 - 1977
- Andreas Lazaridis 1977
- Kostas Talianos 1978 - 1982
- Bazile Spasov 1982- 1984
- Panikos Iakovou 1984- 1987
- Takis Charalambous 1987
- Panikos Ioakovou 1988 - 1991
- Andreas Michailidis 1991- 1996
- Stavros Papadopoulos 1997
- Panikos Georgiou 1997 -1999
- Stavros Papadopoulos 1999- 2001
- Takis Charalambous 2001
- Moca Vukotic 2001-2004
- Aggelos Anastasiadis 2004-
