AC Omonia

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AC Omonia Nicosia

Full name

Άθλητικός Σύλλογος Ομόνοια Λευκωσία
Athletic Club Omonia Nicosia

Nickname(s)

Τρυφύλλι (Shamrock)
Βασίλισσα (Queen)

Founded

1948

Ground

Neo GSP Stadium,
Nicosia, Cyprus

Capacity

23,400

Chairman

Doros Seraphim

Manager

Ioannis Matzourakis

League

Cypriot First Division

2005-06

Cypriot First Division, 2nd





Home colours





Away colours

Athletic Club Omonia Nicosia ( Greek: Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Ομόνοια Λευκωσίας) is a Cypriot football club, which plays in the capital, Nicosia. With 19 league championships and 12 Cypriot Cups and 14 Super Cups they are the country's most-titled club in football. In addition, Omonia have claimed a record five domestic doubles - in 1972, 1974, 1981, 1982 and 1983 and Cyprus Football Association declared them as the Team of the 20th century. Also remains the only side to have won the Cyprus Cup 4 times in a row during the years between 1980 and 1984.

The club was established in 1948 and became member of Cyprus Football Association in 1953. As an athletic club, Omonia has basketball, volleyball, futsal and cycling sections.

1 History
2 Colours and badge
3 Stadium
4 The Fans
5 Current Squad
6 Noted players
7 Players by appearances
8 Noted Managers
9 Trophies
- 9.1 Football
- 9.2 Volleyball
10 Records
11 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Cyprus Amateur Football Association

AC Omonia was founded in 1948, just after the Second World War. The establishment of the Club (along with that of a few others), was evoked from the political turbulence of that period and the conflict between left-wings and right-wings due to the Greek Civil War. In May 1948, APOEL Nicosia sent a letter based on political content to SEGAS (Greek Gymnastic-Athletic Clubs Association), violating the club's statute to not be involved in politics. After that letter, several footballers of the club criticized the their club but that followed the expulsion of those players from the team. Those players with some other people established the new club of Nicosia, with the name Athletic Club Omonia Nicosia.

The Greek Civil War affected Cyprus in the political fanaticism and patience and affected the political life of the island, as well as the sports. For that reason several clubs were established and together with Omonia they established the Cyprus Amateur Football Association, since those teams were not accepted as members of the Cyprus Football Association. The new association formed its own competitions, a championship and a cup and lasted until 1953. Omonia won the double of those competitions until 1952 (four consecutive doubles) and won the cup in 1953.

[edit] Trophy Haul

In 1953, the Cyprus Amateur Football Association teams were accepted to become members of the Cyprus Football Association, including AC Omonia, who joined as a First Division team. The Club announced its arrival on the Cypriot football scene by winning their first league title in 1960/61. Omonia finished seven points above second-placed Anorthosis Famagusta FC that season - and they have subsequently stayed ahead of their rivals in the first division with an impressive haul of trophies.

[edit] The golden decades of 1970s-1980s

Omonia Nicosia's dominance in Cypriot football, however, didn't come until 1974. They were most dominant in the 1970s, winning the league for six consecutive seasons from 1974 to 1979, a record that until today remains unbeaten. It was then that Omonia produced one of Cyprus's greatest footballers in striker Sotiris Kaiafas, as well as the impressive Gregory Savvas. Kaiafas would win the European Golden Boot after finishing as Europe's top domestic scorer in 1976 with 39 goals - an accolade still considered the greatest achievement by any Greek Cypriot player. Allegations of fixing the results were largely circulated. After Kaiafas, the next great striker of the team was Spas Tsevizof.

Despite the gap in quality between Omonia and other European champions, Omonia proved to be worthy opponents in UEFA club competition. In the European Champion Clubs' Cup in 1979/80, they recovered from a 10-0 defeat at AFC Ajax to win the return leg 4-0 with a dazzling display in Nicosia.

After the departure of Kaiafas, Omonia continued to produce talented players to keep up their winning ways. They were champions from 1981 to 1985 and again in 1987 and 1989. Stars of the 1980s golden decade were Georgios Savvidis and Spas Dzhevizov.

[edit] 1990s

But despite claiming the title in 1992/93, Omonia were forced to live in the shadow of Anorthosis in the 1990s. Even so, the fans were able to enjoy the goalscoring exploits of Hungarian Joseph Juriac during the first part of the decade, and later those of Rainer Rauffmann.

A native German, Rauffmann arrived at the club in 1998. He was the island's leading marksman for four years and also played for Cyprus national football team after gaining Cypriot citizenship. He recently retired through injury at the age of 37. Another star of the 1990s was midfield player Kostakis Malekkos, who played after for APOEL Nicosia FC.

[edit] Trophies again

However, it was not until the 1999/00 campaign that Omonia ended a six-year wait for silverware by lifting the Cypriot Cup. As well as rewarding the patience of supporters, this success maintained the club's strong cup tradition. The Nicosia side remains the only side to have won the Cyprus Cup 4 times in a row during the years between 1980 and 1984.

The next term, the championship flag was restored to Omonia. Following Henk Houwaart's arrival as coach midway through the season, the team climbed the table to claim the title after beating defending champions Anorthosis 3-1 in what was effectively a championship decider. Further glory followed in 2002/03 when coach Toni Savevski led the club to their 19th league triumph. Omonia won the Cyprus Cup in 2004/05.

Omonia Nicosia's success in Cypriot football also brought the German Sports Magazine Kickers to vote Omonia Nicosia as one of the top 100 clubs in the World.

[edit] Colours and badge

The badge of the club is the shamrock. The shamrock represents the strength, της struggle, the insistence of the Omonia founders who were in difficult situation and it is also green which is the colour of the hope. Thus, the colours of the club are the green and the white. The Omonia founders chose the green colour, the "hope's colour", because despite that they were in difficult situation after the political events that took place in Cyprus in 1948 with their expulsion from APOEL, they hoped that better days were coming for the football in Cyprus, and also the new club, Omonia, would have leaded, become poineer and triumph in Cypriot football and also would have been in the conscience of the Cypriot people.

[edit] Stadium

Main article(s): GSP Stadium, Eleftheria Indoor Hall

This article or section is about a planned or proposed stadium.
It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change dramatically as the construction and/or completion of the stadium approaches.

The team's current stadium is the 23,400 seater Neo GSP Stadium, also known as the Pancypria Stadium and it is the biggest stadium in Cyprus. The stadium is shared with APOEL FC, the other major football club in Nicosia, and Olympiakos Nicosia and they have used it since 1999. The team's previous stadium was Makario Stadium, since 1978 and before that it was the Palaio (Old) GSP Stadium since the 1953, when the team joined the Cyprus Football Association. Both stadiums, like the New GSP Stadium, were shared as well by the other Nicosian teams, APOEL and Olympiakos. In the first years of its establishment, as a team of Cyprus Amature Football Association, Omonia was using the "Goal" Stadium. Plans have been drawn for Omonoia to construct its own privately owned stadium near Tseri, a village just outside Nicosia [1]. The stadium is currently under construction and the new arena will constitute (in terms of spectator capacity) the largest football stadium on the island, with capacity of 32,000 people.

The basketball team uses for home the biggest indoor sport venue in the island, the Eleftheria Indoor Hall with capacity of 6,000 seats and the volleyball team the Lefkotheo Indoor Hall. Lefkotheo is shared with APOEL Nicosia.

[edit] The Fans

Omonoia's fans are consider to be left-wings in their majority. There are 2 major clubs supporting the team. PA.SY.FI. and Gate 9 which is the most active fan club.

Gate 9 is the biggest club of AC Omonoia Fans. The club took it's name from Kaiafas father, Sotiris Kaiafas a who won the European Golden Boot in 80's and was first organised in 1992. Since then is following the team everywhere in the world. The Main Fan Club Address is on 10, Arxermou Str., Nicosia.

[edit] Current Squad

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Dimitris Leoni
2	DF	Giorgos Theodotou
3	DF	Ioakim Ioakim
4	DF	Nélson Veiga
5	MF	Moedin Ze Elias
7	MF	Vlatko Grozdanovski
8	FW	Guilherme Weisheimer
9	FW	Riste Naumov
10	FW	Giorgos Vakouftsis
11	MF	Sinisa Dobrasinovic
14	GK	Adam Vezer
16	MF	Alexandros Kanaris
17	MF	Loizos Louvaris
19	FW	Eduard Makinua
20	MF	Kostas Kaiafas (captain)

No.	Position	Player
21	DF	Nicolas Georgiou
22	MF	Pedro Miguel Torrão
23	MF	Giorgos Kamarlingos
24	DF	Marios Nicolaou
25	MF	Edgar Marcelinho
27	DF	Paul Ritchie
28	DF	Giorgos Tsikkos
30	MF	Magno Mocelin
33	GK	Antonis Giorgalidis
55	MF	Giorgos Konstanti
70	FW	Mussa Mguni
77	FW	Ismael Ba
81	DF	Loizos Kakoyiannis
99	DF	Petros Konnafis (Vice captain)

[edit] Noted players

Listed according to when they debuted for AC Omonia (year in parentheses):

Sotiris Kaiafas (1967)
Mihai Mocanu (1972)
Gregory Savva (1973)
Giorgos Savvidis (1981)
Rainer Rauffmann (1997)
Efstathios Aloneftis (2001)
Marco Haber (2002)
\ Paulo Rink (2006)
Daniel Bălan (2006)

[edit] Players by appearances

List of players who have more than 100 appearances for AC Omonia (order by appearances):

Player	Position	AC Omonia career	Appearances	Goals
Andreas Kanaris	FW	1968-85	503	190
Andreas Kantilos	FW	1980-1997	489	152
Sotiris Kaiafas	FW	1967-1984	476	321
Evagoras Christophi	DM	1979-1996	463	108
Sotiris Tsikkos	MF	1976-1990	427	50
Christakis Omirou Mauris	MF	1974-1988	417	86
Andreas Charitou	GK	1981-1999	367	0
Klitos Erotokritou	DF	1975-1986	331	25
Kostakis Petsas	MF	1978-1994	315	9
Nikos Charalambous	MF	1969-78	289	56
Giorgos Savvidis	MF	1981-1987, 1992-1996	283	120
Kostas Malekkos	MF/FW	1989-2000	278	79
Gregory Savva	MF	1973-1985	266	86
Kostas Panagiotou	DF	1959-1970	244	15
Loizos Protopapas	MF	1984-1990	225	20
Rainer Rauffmann	FW	1997-2004	209	236
Nikos Eleftheriadis	GK	1956-1968	207	0
Giorgos Antoniou	MF	1966-1978	178	11
Giorgos Christophorou	FW	1958-1967	143	84
Giorgos Antoniou	MF	1966-1978	178	11
Takis Antoniou	MF	1954-1964	142	3
Giorgos Giorkatzis	MF	1949-1958	134	21
Spas Dzhevizov	FW	1984-1988	129	82
Giorgos Antoniou	MF	1966-1978	178	11
Stauros Psillos	DF	1949-1959	128	0
Andreas Christodoulou (Pakkos)	MF	1956-1964	108	45
Constantinos Skannavias	FW	1956-1964	100	34

[edit] Noted Managers

Igor Netto (1967)
Helmut Senekowitsch (1991)
Dušan Galis (1999)
Asparuh Nikodimov (2000)
Arie Haan (2000)
Henk Houwaart (2000)
Toni Savevski (2002)
Ioan Andone (2006)

[edit] Trophies

[edit] Football

Cyprus Football Association

Cypriot Championship:
- Winner (19): 1961, 1966, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1993, 2001, 2003

Cyprus Cup:
- Winner (12): 1965, 1972, 1974, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1988, 1991, 1994, 2000, 2005.

Cyprus FA Shield:
- Winner (14): 1966, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1994, 2001, 2003, 2005

Cyprus Amature Football Federation

Championship:
- Winner (4): 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952

Cup:
- Winner(5): 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953

[edit] Volleyball

Cup:
- Winner (2): 1999, 2006

[edit] Records

Biggest Victory: 11-0 v Doxa Katokopia, Championship, January 17, 2004
Biggest European Victory: 6-1 v FA Red Boys Differdange, Champions Cup, Round 1,October 3, 1979
Worst Defeat: 0-10 v Ajax Amsterdam, Champions Cup, Round 1, October 24, 1979
Worst League Defeat: 1-7 v AEL FC, 1953-54
Most League Points (2 for a win): 54, 1976-77
Most League Points (3 for a win): 67, 1998-99
Most League Goals: 91, 1960-61
Most consecutive league matches unbeaten: 46, January 29, 1984 - December 14, 1985
Most Appearances : 503 Andreas Kanaris
Most Goals scored : 321 Sotiris Kaiafas
Most Goals scored in a Match: 8 Rainer Rauffmann v Anagennisis Deryneia, 1998
Most Goals scored in League season:: 44 Sotiris Kaiafas, 1976-77

[edit] External links

Cypriot First Division, 2006-2007
AEK Larnaca \| AEL FC \| AEP Paphos \| Anorthosis Famagusta \| APOEL \| Apollon Limassol \| Aris Limassol \| Ayia Napa \| Digenis Morphou \| EN Paralimni \| Ethnikos Achna \| Nea Salamis Famagusta \| Olympiakos Nicosia \| AC Omonia
Football in Cyprus
Cyprus Football Association - National team - List of football clubs in Cyprus
Competitions: Cypriot First Division - Cyprus Cup - Cyprus FA Shield

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