Cyprus national under-21 football team
| Nickname(s) | Εθνική Ελπίδων ("National team of Hopes") | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Association | Cyprus Football Association | ||
| Head coach | Vacant | ||
| Captain | Andreas Frangos | ||
| Most caps | Marios Christodoulou (27) | ||
| Top scorer | Christos Poyiatzis & Giorgos Nicolaou (5) | ||
| Home stadium | AEK Arena - Georgios Karapatakis | ||
| |||
| First international | |||
| Cyprus 0 - 0 Spain (Nicosia, Cyprus; 1978) | |||
| Biggest win | |||
| Cyprus 6 - 0 San Marino (Nicosia, Cyprus; 2011) | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
| France 9 - 0 Cyprus (Grenoble, France; 2023) | |||
| UEFA U-21 Championship | |||
| Appearances | None | ||
The Cyprus national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team for Cyprus. It 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 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 | |||||||||
| 1994[8] | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 21 | −17 | |||||||||
| 1996[9] | 10 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 25 | −15 | |||||||||
| 1998[10] | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 16 | 15 | +1 | |||||||||
| 2000[11] | 8 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 18 | −11 | |||||||||
| 2002[12] | 8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 17 | −8 | |||||||||
| 2004[13] | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 5 | +7 | |||||||||
| 2006[14] | 8 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 17 | -15 | |||||||||
| 2007[15] | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | −3 | |||||||||
| 2009[16] | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 9 | 15 | −6 | |||||||||
| 2011[17] | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 13 | −5 | |||||||||
| 2013[18] | 10 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 16 | 20 | −4 | |||||||||
| 2015[19] | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 7 | 21 | −14 | |||||||||
| 2017 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 12 | −10 | |||||||||
| 2019 | Qualification in progress | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 7 | 18 | -11 | ||||||||
| Total | 0/21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 139 | 32 | 19 | 99 | 132 | 286 | −154 | |
UEFA U-21 Euro 2019 qualification
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Belgium | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 23 | 5 | +18 | 26 | Final tournament | — | 1–1 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 3–2 | 2–1 | |
| 2 | Sweden | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 19 | 8 | +11 | 20 | 0–3 | — | 0–1 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 3–0 | ||
| 3 | Turkey | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 14 | 10 | +4 | 17 | 1–2 | 0–3 | — | 0–0 | 4–0 | 4–2 | ||
| 4 | Hungary | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 12 | 14 | −2 | 11 | 0–3 | 2–2 | 1–2 | — | 4–0 | 2–1 | ||
| 5 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 23 | −15 | 7 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–2 | — | 2–1 | |||
| 6 | Malta | 10 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 8 | 24 | −16 | 4 | 0–4 | 0–4 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | — |
| 1 September 2017 | 2–1 | Malta | AEK Arena, Larnaca | |
| 18:00 |
|
Report |
|
Referee: Stefan Apostolov (Bulgaria) |
| 5 September 2017 | Sweden | 4–1 | Falkenbergs IP, Falkenberg | |
| 18:45 |
|
Report |
|
Referee: Omar Pashayev (Azerbaijan) |
| 5 October 2017 | 2–1 | Turkey | AEK Arena, Larnaca | |
| 16:00 |
|
Report |
|
Referee: Daniel Siebert (Germany) |
| 9 November 2017 | Belgium | 3–2 | Den Dreef, Leuven | |
| 20:00 |
|
Report |
|
Referee: Enea Jorgji (Albania) |
| 22 March 2018 | Hungary | 4–0 | Hidegkuti Nándor Stadion, Budapest | |
| 20:00 | Report | Referee: Rob Harvey (Republic of Ireland) |
| 27 March 2018 | 0–1 | Sweden | AEK Arena, Larnaca | |
| 14:00 | Report |
|
Referee: Fabio Verissimo (Portugal) |
| 7 September 2018 | Turkey | 4–0 | Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Istanbul | |
| 18:00 (19:00 TRT) |
|
Report | Referee: Danilo Grujić (Serbia) |
| 16 October 2018 | Malta | 1–1 | Centenary Stadium, Ta' Qali | |
| 17:00 |
|
Report |
|
Referee: Admir Šehović (Bosnia and Herzegovina) |
Friendly matches
| 20 May 2018 | Russia | 3–0 | Eduard Streltsov Stadium, Moscow, Russia | |
| 14:00 UTC+2 | Oblyakov 72' Melkadze 82' Makarov 84' |
Report | Referee: Vitali Meshkov (Russia) |
Coaching staff
| Position[20] | Name |
|---|---|
| Coach | Nikos Andronikou |
| Assistant coach | Venizelos Tziambazis |
| Goalkeeper coach | Christoforos Loizou |
| Fitness coach | Constantinos Rostantis |
Players
Current squad
The following players were called up for the friendly matches against Bulgaria and Israel on 20 and 24 March 2025 respectively.[21]
Caps and goals correct as of 14 November 2024, after the match against Hungary.
| No. | Pos. | Player | Date of birth (age) | Caps | Goals | Club |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GK | Panagiotis Kyriakou | 5 May 2004 | 5 | 0 | AEL Limassol | |
| GK | Gabriel Ortelli | 19 June 2006 | 0 | 0 | Watford | |
| GK | Konstantinos Stylianou | 5 December 2004 | 0 | 0 | APEA Akrotiri | |
| DF | Konstantinos Venizelou | 5 July 2004 | 6 | 0 | Zhenis | |
| DF | Nearchos Zinonos | 29 January 2004 | 4 | 1 | Doxa Katokopias | |
| DF | David Djamas | 21 April 2004 | 4 | 0 | Achyronas-Onisilos | |
| DF | Konstantinos Giannakou | 25 April 2005 | 1 | 0 | Doxa Katokopias | |
| DF | Konstantinos Panteli | 12 February 2005 | 1 | 0 | AEZ Zakakiou | |
| DF | Alexandros Kaiafas | 9 February 2004 | 0 | 0 | MEAP Nisou | |
| DF | Andreas Nikolaou | 31 March 2006 | 0 | 0 | Omonia Nicosia | |
| MF | Georgios Nikolas Angelopoulos | 5 May 2004 | 7 | 0 | Ethnikos Achna | |
| MF | Panagiotis Kattirtzis | 12 April 2006 | 2 | 0 | APOEL | |
| MF | Konstantinos Evripidou | 26 April 2005 | 1 | 0 | AEK Larnaca | |
| MF | Symeon Solomou | 8 March 2005 | 1 | 0 | Agia Napa | |
| MF | Konstantinos Pattichis | 5 August 2004 | 1 | 0 | PAC Omonia 29M | |
| MF | Andreas Christou | 5 August 2005 | 0 | 0 | Olympiakos Nicosia | |
| FW | Themistoklis Themistokleous | 2 January 2004 | 7 | 0 | AEL Limassol | |
| FW | Dimitrios Spyridakis | 16 September 2004 | 4 | 0 | Nea Salamis Famagusta | |
| FW | Stavros Georgiou | 19 October 2004 | 4 | 0 | Doxa Katokopias | |
| FW | Titos Prokopiou | 31 July 2004 | 3 | 0 | Nea Salamis Famagusta | |
| FW | Evagoras Charalampous | 27 June 2005 | 1 | 0 | Anorthosis Famagusta | |
| FW | Savvas Christodoulou | 2 January 2005 | 1 | 0 | AEL Limassol | |
| FW | Angelos Neofytou | 23 May 2005 | 0 | 0 | Omonia Nicosia | |
Recent call-ups
The following players have also been called up for Cyprus under-21's within the last twelve months and remain eligible for selection.
| Pos. | Player | Date of birth (age) | Caps | Goals | Club | Latest call-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
See also
- Cyprus national football team
- Cyprus national under-19 football team
- Cyprus national under-17 football team
- UEFA European Under-21 Championship
References
- ^ Europe U-21 Championship 1980
- ^ Europe U-21 Championship 1982
- ^ Europe U-21 Championship 1984
- ^ Europe U-21 Championship 1986
- ^ Europe U-21 Championship 1988
- ^ Europe U-21 Championship 1990
- ^ Europe U-21 Championship 1992
- ^ Europe U-21 Championship 1994
- ^ Europe U-21 Championship 1996
- ^ Europe U-21 Championship 1998
- ^ Europe U-21 Championship 2000
- ^ Europe U-21 Championship 2002
- ^ Europe U-21 Championship 2004
- ^ Europe U-21 Championship 2006
- ^ Europe U-21 Championship 2007
- ^ Europe U-21 Championship 2009
- ^ Europe U-21 Championship 2011
- ^ Europe U-21 Championship 2013
- ^ Europe U-21 Championship 2015
- ^ "Cyprus U21 staff". Cyprus FA. Archived from the original on 2017-06-06. Retrieved 2018-06-17.
- ^ "Η κλήση για τους φιλικούς αγώνες με Βουλγαρία και Ισραήλ στην Κύπρο" (in Greek). Κυπριακή Ομοσπονδία Ποδοσφαίρου. 14 March 2025. Retrieved 19 March 2025.