Cyprus national under-21 football team

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.

Cyprus U21

Nickname(s)	Εθνική Ελπίδων ("National team of Hopes")
Association	Cyprus Football Association
Head coach	Nikos Andronikou
Captain	Andreas Frangos
Most caps	Marios Christodoulou (27)
Top scorer	Christos Poyiatzis & Giorgos Nicolaou (5)
Home stadium	AEK Arena - Georgios Karapatakis
First colours Second colours
First international
Cyprus 0 - 0 Spain (Nicosia, Cyprus; 1978)
Biggest win
Cyprus 6 - 0 San Marino (Nicosia, Cyprus; 2011)
Biggest defeat
Portugal 7 - 0 Cyprus (Abrantes, Portugal; 2001) Cyprus 0 - 7 Netherlands (Larnaca, Cyprus; 2020)
UEFA U-21 Championship
Appearances	None

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
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	Cyprus	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	—

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: UEFA

1 September 2017	Cyprus	2–1	Malta	AEK Arena, Larnaca
18:00	Anastasiou  41' Iosifidis  90+3'	Report	Borg  34'	Referee: Stefan Apostolov (Bulgaria)

5 September 2017	Sweden	4–1	Cyprus	Falkenbergs IP, Falkenberg
18:45	Strandberg  3', 5', 38' Rakip  90+1'	Report	Elia  90+3'	Referee: Omar Pashayev (Azerbaijan)

5 October 2017	Cyprus	2–1	Turkey	AEK Arena, Larnaca
16:00	Karo  53' Soteriou  58'	Report	Çınar  41'	Referee: Daniel Siebert (Germany)

10 October 2017	Cyprus	0–2	Belgium	AEK Arena, Larnaca
16:00		Report	Lukebakio  51' Bastien  90+3'	Referee: Kirill Levnikov (Russia)

9 November 2017	Belgium	3–2	Cyprus	Den Dreef, Leuven
20:00	Mbenza  15' Dimata  45+2' Leya Iseka  90+2'	Report	Papageorgiou  49' Frangos  75'	Referee: Enea Jorgji (Albania)

14 November 2017	Cyprus	0–2	Hungary	AEK Arena, Larnaca
15:00		Report	Sallói  50' Haris  80'	Referee: Horatiu Fesnic (Romania)

22 March 2018	Hungary	4–0	Cyprus	Hidegkuti Nándor Stadion, Budapest
20:00	Bíró  8' Szalai  23' Kyriakou  49' (o.g.) Zsótér  75'	Report		Referee: Rob Harvey (Republic of Ireland)

27 March 2018	Cyprus	0–1	Sweden	AEK Arena, Larnaca
14:00		Report	Brorsson  90+7'	Referee: Fabio Verissimo (Portugal)

7 September 2018	Turkey	4–0	Cyprus	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Istanbul
18:00 (19:00 TRT)	Demirbağ  3' Çınar  76', 81' (pen.) Hadjipaschalis  88' (o.g.)	Report		Referee: Danilo Grujić (Serbia)

16 October 2018	Malta	1–1	Cyprus	Centenary Stadium, Ta' Qali
17:00	Nwoko  90+2'	Report	Wheeler  35'	Referee: Admir Šehović (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Friendly matches

20 May 2018	Russia	3–0	Cyprus	Eduard Streltsov Stadium, Moscow, Russia
14:00 UTC+2	Oblyakov  72' Melkadze  82' Makarov  84'	Report		Referee: Vitali Meshkov (Russia)

Coaching staff[20]

Position	Name
Coach	Nikos Andronikou
Assistant Coach	Venizelos Tziambazis
Goalkeeper Coach	Christoforos Loizou
Fitness Coach	Constantinos Rostantis

Current squad

The following players have been called up to participate in the friendly game against Russia U21 on 20 May 2018.

Caps and goals are correct as of 20 May 2018, after match against Russia U21. [21]

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	GK	Andreas Paraskevas	September 15, 1998	2	0	APOEL
12	GK	Demetris Demetriou	January 15, 1999	1	0	Anorthosis Famagusta
2	DF	Harry Kyprianou	March 16, 1997	3	0	Southend United
13	DF	Panayiotis Artymatas	November 12, 1998	9	0	Anorthosis Famagusta
14	DF	Leonidas Kyriakou	February 24, 1998	7	0	THOI Lakatamia
15	DF	Paris Psaltis	November 12, 1996	10	0	Ermis Aradippou
18	DF	Zacharias Adoni	July 13, 1999	3	0	Doxa Katokopias
19	DF	Constantinos Sotiriou	June 21, 1996	10	1	Olympiakos Nicosia
20	DF	Kostas Pilea	December 11, 1998	5	0	Anorthosis Famagusta
3	MF	Sean Ioannou	January 18, 1998	1	0	Anagennisi Deryneia
4	MF	Giorgos Papageorgiou	June 7, 1997	5	1	Ethnikos Achna
5	MF	Matija Špoljarić	April 2, 1997	7	0	Alki Oroklini
6	MF	Giannis Panayides	October 6, 1999	2	0	AEK Larnaca
7	MF	Kyriacos Panagi	April 22, 1996	15	0	Aris Limassol
10	MF	Andreas Frangos (captain)	January 19, 1997	14	2	Enosis Neon Paralimni FC
16	MF	Jack Roles	February 26, 1999	1	0	Tottenham U23
17	MF	Christos Hadjipaschalis	August 1, 1999	3	0	Anorthosis Famagusta
8	FW	Michalis Charalambous	January 29, 1999	1	0	Varzim
9	FW	Nikolas Mattheou	May 7, 1998	5	0	A.E. Karaiskakis F.C.
11	FW	Ioannis Pittas	July 10, 1996	18	2	Apollon Limassol

Recent Callups

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Giorgos Tasouris	January 16, 1996	7	0	Ethnikos Assia	v.  Israel, 23 March 2017
GK	Andreas Christodoulou^A	March 26, 1997	10	0	Omonia Nicosia	v.  Sweden, 27 March 2018
DF	Rafael Anastasiou	June 9, 1997	8	1	Anagennisi Deryneia	v.  Hungary, 14 November 2017
DF	Thanasis Liasides	January 14, 1997	4	0	THOI Lakatamia	v.  Czech Republic, 1 June 2017
DF	Christos Wheeler	January 29, 1997	15	0	AEL Limassol	v.  Sweden, 27 March 2018
DF	Andys Nikolaou	March 10, 1996	1	0	PAEEK	v.  Sweden, 5 September 2017
DF	Ioannis Kousoulos^A	June 14, 1996	15	0	Nea Salamina	v.  Hungary, 14 November 2017
DF	Andreas Karo^A	September 9, 1996	16	2	Nea Salamina	v.  Sweden, 27 March 2018
MF	Georgios Christodoulou	August 17, 1997	5	1	Pafos FC	v.  Belgium, 10 October 2017
MF	Antonis Koumis	February 11, 1999	12	0	ENP Paralimni	v.  Hungary, 14 November 2017
FW	Theodoros Iosifidis	January 17, 1997	10	1	CF Fuenlabrada B	v.  Hungary, 14 November 2017
^A Called up by the Cyprus A National Team ^INJ Player withdrew from the squad due to an injury. ^PRE Preliminary squad. ^RET Retired from international football. ^SUS Suspended

See also

• Cyprus national football team
• Cyprus national under-19 football team
• Cyprus national under-17 football team
• European Under-21 Football Championship

References

1. Europe U-21 Championship 1980
2. Europe U-21 Championship 1982
3. Europe U-21 Championship 1984
4. Europe U-21 Championship 1986
5. Europe U-21 Championship 1988
6. Europe U-21 Championship 1990
7. Europe U-21 Championship 1992
8. Europe U-21 Championship 1994
9. Europe U-21 Championship 1996
10. Europe U-21 Championship 1998
11. Europe U-21 Championship 2000
12. Europe U-21 Championship 2002
13. Europe U-21 Championship 2004
14. Europe U-21 Championship 2006
15. Europe U-21 Championship 2007
16. Europe U-21 Championship 2009
17. Europe U-21 Championship 2011
18. Europe U-21 Championship 2013
19. Europe U-21 Championship 2015
20. "Cyprus U21 staff". Cyprus FA. Archived from the original on 2017-06-06. Retrieved 2018-06-17.
21. "Cyprus U21 squad". Cyprus FA. Retrieved 2018-05-18.

External links

• CFA.COM.CY U21 - Cyprus Football Association Official Page
• UEFA.COM - Cyprus U21 National Team