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 Czech Republic U21 on 01 June 2017.

Caps and goals are correct as of 1 June 2017, after match against Czech Republic U21. [20]

0#0 Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1GK Giorgos Tasouris (1996-01-16) January 16, 1996 7 0 Cyprus Ethnikos Assia
1GK Andreas Christodoulou (1997-03-26) March 26, 1997 4 0 Cyprus Omonia Nicosia
2DF Rafael Anastasiou (1997-06-09) June 9, 1997 7 0 Cyprus AEK Larnaca
2DF Thanasis Liasides (1997-01-14) January 14, 1997 5 0 Cyprus THOI Lakatamia
2DF Paris Psaltis (1996-11-12) November 12, 1996 5 0 Cyprus Ermis Aradippou
2DF Christos Wheeler (1997-01-29) January 29, 1997 8 0 Cyprus AEL Limassol
2DF Konstantinos Sotiriou (1996-06-21) June 21, 1996 2 0 Cyprus Olympiakos Nicosia
2DF Andys Nikolaou (1996-03-10) March 10, 1996 1 0 Cyprus Doxa Katokopias
2DF Kostas Pilea (1998-12-11) December 11, 1998 1 0 Cyprus Anorthosis Famagusta
2DF Panayiotis Artymatas (1998-11-12) November 12, 1998 1 0 Cyprus Anorthosis Famagusta
3MF Georgios Christodoulou (1997-08-17) August 17, 1997 3 1 Cyprus Aris Limassol
3MF Sean Ioannou (1998-01-18) January 18, 1998 1 0 Cyprus Anagennisi Deryneia
3MF Andreas Frangos (1997-01-19) January 19, 1997 7 1 Cyprus AEL Limassol
3MF Giorgos Papageorgiou (1997-06-07) June 7, 1997 1 0 Cyprus Ethnikos Achna
3MF Dimitris Charalampous (1997-04-09) April 9, 1997 2 0 Cyprus Omonia Aradippou
3MF Antonis Koumis (1999-02-11) February 11, 1999 11 0 Cyprus ENP Paralimni
3MF Neofytos Kyriakou (1997-10-29) October 29, 1997 7 2 Cyprus Anorthosis Famagusta
4FW Nikolas Mattheou (1998-05-07) May 7, 1998 1 0 Cyprus Anorthosis Famagusta
4FW Theodoros Iosifidis (1997-01-17) January 17, 1997 7 1 Cyprus ENP Paralimni
4FW Marios Elia (1996-05-19) May 19, 1996 9 0 Cyprus AEL Limassol


Recent Callups

Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up
DF Andreas Frangeskou (1996-07-26) July 26, 1996 2 0 Cyprus Olympiakos Nicosia {{{latest}}}
DF Pantelis Konomis (1997-11-15) November 15, 1997 5 1 Cyprus Omonia Aradippou {{{latest}}}
DF Ioannis Kousoulos (1996-06-14) June 14, 1996 12 0 Cyprus Nea Salamina {{{latest}}}
DF Andreas Karo (1996-09-09) September 9, 1996 4 0 England Nottingham Forest U21 {{{latest}}}
MF Kyriacos Panagi (1996-04-22) April 22, 1996 5 0 Cyprus Aris Limassol {{{latest}}}
MF Andreas Sofokleous (1997-04-04) April 4, 1997 0 0 Cyprus AC Omonia {{{latest}}}
FW Ioannis Pittas (1996-07-10) July 10, 1996 1 0 Cyprus Apollon Limassol {{{latest}}}
FW Fanos Katelaris (1996-08-26) August 26, 1996 7 1 Cyprus AC Omonia v.  Turkey, 11 December 2015
MF Antonis Koumis (1997-02-11) February 11, 1997 5 0 Cyprus Enosis Neon Paralimni v.  Belarus, 13 October 2015
MF Panayiotis Constantinou (1996-08-06) August 6, 1996 1 0 Cyprus ENP Paralimni v.  Netherlands, 4 September 2015
MF Georgios Christodoulou (1997-08-17) August 17, 1997 1 0 Cyprus Aris Limassol v.  Bulgaria, 9 June 2015
FW Grigoris Kastanos (1998-01-30) January 30, 1998 2 0 Italy Juventus Primavera v.  Turkey, 11 December 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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