- Cypriot First Division
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Cypriot First Division 
Countries Cyprus Confederation UEFA Founded 1934 Number of teams 14 Levels on pyramid 1 Relegation to Cypriot Second Division Domestic cup(s) Cypriot Cup
LTV Super CupInternational cup(s) Champions League
UEFA Europa LeagueCurrent champions APOEL
(2010-11)Most championships APOEL (21 titles) TV partners Lumiere TV
CytaVision
PrimeTel
2011–12 Cypriot First DivisionThe Cypriot Championship First Division (Greek: Πρωτάθλημα Α' Κατηγορίας) (Turkish: Kıbrıs Birinci Ligi) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus. As of 2007 it is sponsored by Marfin Popular Bank and is hence officially known as Marfin Laiki League (Greek: Πρωτάθλημα Marfin Laiki).
Contents
Format
At present, 14 clubs compete in the league. Each club plays the others twice, once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents, which makes a total of 26 games for each club. Since 2007-08 the league has a second round. In the second round the first 12 teams are separated into groups of 4 teams according to their position at the end of the first round. The last two teams are relegated to the second division. The points from the first round are carried to the second round and the teams play the other teams twice.
Teams receive three points for a win and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss. The rule for three points for a win has been applied since 1992, before then two points were awarded for a win. Teams are ranked by total points, the matches between the teams, then goal difference and then goals scored. If teams are still equal they are deemed to occupy the same position. If the champions, teams for relegation or qualification for other competitions thus cannot be decided, a series of play-off match(es) are played between the affected teams, although this has yet to occur. Since the establishment of the league and until 2005-06, goal difference had the biggest ranking after total points. At the end of each season, the club with the most points is crowned as champions. The three lowest placed teams are relegated into the Cypriot Second Division and the top three teams from the 2nd Division promoted in their place.
The league champions are entitled to entrance in the UEFA Champions League in the second qualifying round. The winner of the Cypriot Cup automatically enters the UEFA Europa League third qualifying round. The runner-up and third placed team in the league enters the UEFA Europa League on the second qualifying round. If the cup winners are also league champions, then the losing cup finalists are granted a UEFA Europa League berth. If the cup winners qualify for Europe by their league position, then the fourth-placed team in the league qualifies for the UEFA Europa League second qualifying round.
The First Division has had 14 teams since the 1989-90 season, apart from the 1994-95 season when the league was reduced temporarily to 13 teams. For some years there has been discussion about reducing the number of teams in the first division. This is partly driven by some of the mid-table clubs not being involved for much of the season in either the Championship or qualification for Europe, or relegation.
History
Football was introduced to Cyprus early in the 20th century by the British. Initially played in the island's schools, it proved hugely popular and a number of clubs were duly formed.
Since 1911, when Anorthosis Famagusta FC was founded, many clubs were established and in 1932 the Cypriot Championship began annually at first unofficially. Every season, the championship was organized by a different football club which caused some conflicts between some of the teams.
As football became more established, the clubs were united in agreeing that an official body was needed to regulate the sport. And in September 1934, the Cyprus Football Association (CFA) was formed and the Cypriot Championship and Cup began to take place annually. The first Champions of Cyprus were Trast AC in 1935 but the club folded three years later. The 1930s were dominated by APOEL, who won five championship in a row until 1940. Like other Championships in the World, the Cypriot Championship was interrupted, due to World War II from 1941 until 1945.
World War II was followed by the Greek Civil War, which caused a lot of fanaticism between Greeks. Since the majority of the island are Greek Cypriots, it had a lot of influence in their society too, including sport. In 1948, some clubs were involved in politics and criticized the left-wing as responsible for the War. Several footballers from those clubs criticized their club but that followed the expulsion of those players from their teams. Those players then went on to help establish new clubs with their own Association and their own football competitions. Until 1953 there were two separate football Championships in Cyprus and two different Associations. However, in 1953, the two Associations unified Cypriot football, and the teams which were established in 1948 under the separate association, were allowed to become members of the CFA. Only AC Omonia was accepted into the First Division. And due to the addition of more clubs that season, relegation and promotion begun in Cypriot football.
The Cypriot Championship unification, lasted for only two seasons. In 1955, Çetinkaya Türk S.K., who had been the only Turkish Cypriot team playing in the Cypriot First Division since 1934-35, withdrew from the Championship and with other Turkish Cypriot teams, established the Cyprus Turkish Football Federation, with its own competitions. The reason behind this was political, as the Turkish Cypriot leadership were supporting the partition of the island. However, this Federation was never recognized and no team of that federation could play in international competitions.
The independence of Cyprus in 1960, was followed by full membership for the Cyprus Football Association to UEFA in 1962. From 1963, the champions of the Cyprus, could compete in the European Champions Cup and the Cup winners in the European Cup Winners Cup. Since 1971, the runners up in the Greek Cypriot First Division can compete in the UEFA Cup. From 1967 until 1974, the Greek Cypriot Champions were promoted to the Greek First National Division. Greek Cypriot teams were relegated every season from the Alpha Ethniki, apart from 1974, when APOEL managed to remain in the Greek Championship which meant that Cyprus would have two teams in Alpha Ethniki. However, due to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus that year, APOEL and AC Omonoia (the champion of Cyprus for 1974) withdrew from the League.
The Greek Cypriot championship was abandoned in the 1963-64 season due to the bicommunal conflicts between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.
AC Omonia dominated the Greek Cypriot Championship in the 1970s and 1980s, winning 12 championship in 13 seasons. In 1976, Omonia player Sotiris Kaiafas was the top scorer not only in Cyprus but also in Europe with 39 goals winning the European Golden Boot. Anorthosis Famagusta dominated Cyprus football between 1995 and 2000, losing the championship during those years only once in 1996.
The last 10 years from 2001 until 2011 APOEL had been the most successful club by winning almost one championship every two years, counting 5 championship titles in total.
2011–12
2011-12 Clubs
Club Location 2010-11 season AEK Larnaca Larnaca 4th AEL Limassol 8th Alki Larnaca 11th Anagennisi Dherynia Dherynia 2D 3rd Anorthosis Larnaca 3rd APOEL Nicosia 1st Apollon Limassol Limassol 5th Aris Limassol 2D 1st Enosis Neon Paralimni Paralimni 7th Ermis Aradippou Aradippou 10th Ethnikos Achnas Achna 9th Nea Salamis Larnaca 2D 2nd Olympiakos Nicosia 6th Omonia Nicosia 2nd Champions
- 1934/35-2006/07 Pancypriot Championship
- 2007/08-present Marfin Laiki League
Performance by club
Club Winners Winning seasons APOEL 21 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1952, 1965, 1973, 1980, 1986, 1990, 1992, 1996, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2011 Omonia 20 1961, 1966, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1993, 2001, 2003, 2010 Anorthosis 13 1950, 1957, 1958, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2005, 2008 AEL Limassol 5 1941, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1968 Olympiakos 3 1967, 1969, 1971 Apollon Limassol 3 1991, 1994, 2006 EPA Larnaca 3 1945, 1946, 1970 Pezoporikos Larnaca 2 1954, 1988 Trast AC 1 1935 Çetinkaya Türk S.K. 1 1951 Top goalscorers
This is a list of the top goalscorers of Cyprus by season since 1960. [1]
Season Top scorer Club Goals 1960/61 
Panikos KrystallisApollon Limassol 26 1961/62 Michalis ShialisAnorthosis 22 1962/63 Panikos PapadopoulosAEL Limassol 24 1963/64 Championship abandoned 1964/65 Kostakis PieridisOlympiakos Nicosia 21 1965/66 Panikos EfthymiadesOlympiakos Nicosia 20 1966/67 Andreas StylianouAPOEL 29 1967/68 Charalambos PapadopoulosAEL Limassol 31 1968/69 Panikos EfthymiadesOlympiakos Nicosia 17 1969/70 Tasos ConstantinouEPA Larnaca 24 1970/71 Andreas Stylianou
Kostas Vasiliades
Panikos EfthymiadesAPOEL
Apollon Limassol
Olympiakos Nicosia11
11
111971/72 Sotiris KaiafasOmonia 24 1972/73 Lakis TheodorouEPA Larnaca 17 1973/74 Sotiris KaiafasOmonia 20 1974/75 Andros SavvaOmonia 21 1975/76 Sotiris KaiafasOmonia 39 1976/77 Sotiris KaiafasOmonia 44 1977/78 Andreas KanarisOmonia 20 1978/79 Sotiris KaiafasOmonia 28 1979/80 Sotiris KaiafasOmonia 23 1980/81 Sotiris KaiafasOmonia 14 1981/82 Sotiris KaiafasOmonia 19 1982/83 Panikos HatziloizouAris Limassol 17 1983/84 Sylvester Vernon
Lenos KittosPezoporikos
Ermis Aradippou14 1984/85 Giorgos SavvidisOmonia 24 1985/86 Yiannos IoannouAPOEL 22 1986/87 
Spas DzhevizovOmonia 32 1987/88 Tasos ZouvanisE.N. Paralimni 23 1988/89 
Nigel McNealNea Salamis Famagusta 19 1989/90 
Siniša GogićAPOEL 19 1990/91 
Suad Beširević
Panikos XiourouppasApollon Limassol
Omonia19 1991/92 
József DzurjákOmonia 21 1992/93 Slađan ŠćepovićApollon Limassol 25 1993/94 Siniša GogićAnorthosis 26 1994/95 Pambis AndreouNea Salamis Famagusta 25 1995/96 József KiprichAPOEL 25 1996/97 Michalis KonstantinouE.N. Paralimni 17 1997/98 
Rainer RauffmannOmonia 42 1998/99 Rainer RauffmannOmonia 35 1999/00 Rainer RauffmannOmonia 34 2000/01 Rainer RauffmannOmonia 30 2001/02 
Wojciech KowalczykAnorthosis 22 2002/03 Marios NeophytouAnorthosis 33 2003/04 Łukasz Sosin
Jozef KožlejApollon Limassol
Omonia21 2004/05 Łukasz SosinApollon Limassol 21 2005/06 Łukasz SosinApollon Limassol 28 2006/07 
Esteban SolariAPOEL 20 2007/08 
David
Łukasz SosinDoxa Katokopia
Anorthosis16 2008/09 SerjãoDoxa Katokopia 24 2009/10 Joeano
José SemedoErmis Aradippou
APOP Kinyras22 2010/11 Miljan MrdakovićApollon Limassol 21 Notable foreign players
Notable former foreign managers
References
- ^ "Cyprus - List of Topscorers". rssf.com. 2008-05-09. http://www.rsssf.com/tablesc/cyptops.html. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
External links
See also
Football in Cyprus League competitions Cup competitions National teams Lists and categories Cypriot First Division · 2011–12 AEK · AEL · Alki · Anagennisi · Anorthosis · APOEL · Apollon · Aris · Enosis · Ermis · Ethnikos · Nea Salamis · Olympiakos · OmoniaCypriot First Division seasons 1934–35 · 1935–36 · 1936–37 · 1937–38 · 1938–39 · 1939–40 · 1940–41 · 1941–42 · 1942–43 · 1943–44 · 1944–45 · 1945–46 · 1946–47 · 1947–48 · 1948–49 · 1949–50 · 1950–51 · 1951–52 · 1952–53 · 1953–54 · 1954–55 · 1955–56 · 1956–57 · 1957–58 · 1958–59 · 1959–60 · 1960–61 · 1961–62 · 1962–63 · 1963–64 · 1964–65 · 1965–66 · 1966–67 · 1967–68 · 1968–69 · 1969–70 · 1970–71 · 1971–72 · 1972–73 · 1973–74 · 1974–75 · 1975–76 · 1976–77 · 1977–78 · 1978–79 · 1979–80 · 1980–81 · 1981–82 · 1982–83 · 1983–84 · 1984–85 · 1985–86 · 1986–87 · 1987–88 · 1988–89 · 1989–90 · 1990–91 · 1991–92 · 1992–93 · 1993–94 · 1994–95 · 1995–96 · 1996–97 · 1997–98 · 1998–99 · 1999–00 · 2000–01 · 2001–02 · 2002–03 · 2003–04 · 2004–05 · 2005–06 · 2006–07 · 2007–08 · 2008–09 · 2009–10 · 2010–11 · 2011–12Top level football leagues of Europe (UEFA) Albania · Andorra · Armenia · Austria · Azerbaijan · Belarus · Belgium · Bosnia and Herzegovina · Bulgaria · Croatia · Cyprus · Czech Republic · Denmark · England · Estonia · Faroe Islands · Finland · France · Georgia · Germany · Greece · Hungary · Iceland · Israel · Italy · Kazakhstan · Latvia · Lithuania · Luxembourg · Macedonia · Malta · Moldova · Montenegro · Netherlands · Northern Ireland · Norway · Poland · Portugal · Republic of Ireland · Romania · Russia · San Marino · Scotland · Serbia · Slovakia · Slovenia · Spain · Sweden · Switzerland · Turkey · Ukraine · WalesCategories:- 1934 establishments
- National association football premier leagues
- Football competitions in Cyprus
- Cypriot First Division seasons
- Cypriot First Division
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