CyprusVista

It’s not often that football teams from small nations such as Cyprus get a crack at the big time. Yet UEFA seems to be embracing the idea with confidence as from next season, the UEFA Champions League has guaranteed five slots in the group phase of the competition to any champions in leagues rated between 16 and 53.

However, Anorthosis Famagusta won their place in the Champions League by a 3-1 aggregate victory over their Greek rivals Olympiacos CFP. Anorthosis Famagusta’s team moved south in 1974, and are now based in Larnaca. They may draw small crowds compared with their Champion League opponents, but they do have a few aces up their jersey.

Their top scorer is a Polish player, Lukasz Sosin, their manager is the former Newcastle United striker Temuri Ketsbaia (Georgian by birth), plus they can call on the skill and experience of former Brazilian star Savio.

Coach Ketsbaia was under no illusion, however, about the task ahead of them. Speaking to reporter John Leonidou on the UEFA website, he said; “In football, you don’t achieve your dreams by going to bed at night and waking up in the morning to discover that you are in the Champions League. You need to work and that’s what we will continue to do now that we are in the group stage.”

Defender Andreas Konstantinou was equally pragmatic; “For a lot of us, this could be our one and only chance of playing in the Champions League so we need to savour this moment. I think celebrations are in order but we will then need to get our feet back on the ground and concentrate on our upcoming league game.”

And chairman Andreas Pantelis would go to any lengths to support his new heroes; “Some people have told me that they were surprised that the chairman of a club would travel in the coach with the players. Never mind the coach; I will go by bicycle if need be.”

Anorthosis are in group B, playing against Werder Bremen, Panathinaikos (in a Greek speaking derby) and  the legend that is FC Internazionale Milano (Inter Milan). Their fixtures are as follows:

16.09.2008    v    Bremen                (A)    20:45
01.10.2008     v    Panathinaikos    (H)    20:45
22.10.2008     v    Internazionale    (A)    20:45
04.11.2008     v    Internazionale    (H)    20:45
26.11.2008     v    Bremen                (H)    20:45
09.12.2008     v    Panathinaikos    (A)    20:45

Photo by hasan_e_beton at flickr.com

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Cyprus basketball players are not usually known for their militancy, but you can only push these guys so far.

The Cypriot players are threatening to strike over the quota of foreign players allowed in the Cyprus league. Two years ago, it was agreed that two American and four Bosman players were the maximum quota allowed, but some teams have been asking for an unlimited number of Bosman players. The national squad members (understandably) want to keep Cyprus basketball Cypriot, and have threatened industrial action against changes to the quota for the league.. The Cyprus basketball team bosses must decide on the quota by 24th July if the strike is to be avoided.

Basketball is very popular in Cyprus, with nine teams in Division A and a strong women’s league. In addition, and perhaps ironically, Cypriot players also play for foreign teams in Australia, the UK, the USA and Greece. Basketball coaches also work abroad; the coach of the UK basketball team the Bristol Academy Flyers is Cypriot!

In the UK, followers of UK Premier league football teams have long welcomed foreign players to help boost their team’s chances of success. Whilst there are strict rules on the number of foreign players allowed to play in a national squad, the current first team at Manchester United, for example, includes players from Holland, France, Portugal, Brazil, Korea, Serbia, Poland, China, Ireland, and Argentina…

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