Cyprus Under-21

Nickname(s)	Εθνική Ελπίδων ("National team of Hopes")
Association	Cyprus Football Association
Head coach	Savvas Paraskevas
Captain	Georgios Efrem
Most caps	—
Top scorer	—
Home colours Away colours

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 affect on the under-21 national team.

[edit] Cyprus National Team Competition Record

[edit] European Championship record Under-21

• 1978 - Did not enter
• 1980 to 2007 - Did not qualify

[edit] Current squad

The squad for the game against Slovakia.

No. Pos. Player DoB (Age) Caps Goals Club GK Gavriel Constantinou July 5, 1989 Anorthosis Famagusta GK Tasos Kissas January 18, 1988 APOEL DF Kyriacos Pelendritis December 14, 1988 Alki Larnaca DF Charis Drakos May 12, 1989 Digenis Morfou DF Pierakis Kastanas August 12, 1989 AEK Larnaca DF Yiannis Theophanous September 6, 1988 APEP Pitsillias DF Panayiotis Panayiotou September 27, 1988 Digenis Morphou DF Christos Efthymiou June 3, 1990 Olympiakos Nicosia DF Michalis Paschali August 17, 1988 Apollon Limassol DF Constantinos Zarnas November 17, 1989 Aris Limassol DF Costas Markou March 27, 1988 Aris Limassol MF Antonis Katsis September 6, 1989 AC Omonoia MF Charis Kyriacou March 15, 1989 AC Omonia MF Angelos Tsiaklis October 2, 1989 Manchester City B MF Prodromos Therapontos March 25, 1989 Nea Salamina MF Giannis Demetriou December 23, 1989 Chalkanoras MF Georgios Efrem July 5, 1989 10 AC Omonoia MF Feidias Panayiotou February 22, 1989 Alki Larnaca FW Georgios Kolokoudias May 3, 1989 Olympiakos Nicosia FW Andreas Stavrou October 27, 1988 PAEEK FW Constantinos Mintikkis July 14, 1989 AEK Larnaca FW Christos Nicolaou August 22, 1989 Chalkanoras FW Giorgos Tofas June 17, 1989 Anorthosis Famagusta FW Christos Xenofontos January 6, 1989 5 2 AEK Larnaca

[edit] See also

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

[edit] External links

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