Ayia Napa FC

Football club infobox
clubname = Ayia Napa


fullname = Athlitikos Omilos Ayias Napas
nickname =
founded = 1990
ground = Municipal Stadium (Ayia Napa)
capacity = 2,000
chairman = flagicon|Cyprus Christakis Antoniou
manager = flagicon|Cyprus Apostolos Makridis
league = Cypriot Second Division
season = 2007-08
position = 7th
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Ayia Napa FC ( _el. Αγία Νάπα) is a Cypriot football club from the town of Ayia Napa. Club's official name is Athlitikos Omilos Ayias Napas (Athletic Club of Ayia Napa). The club was founded in 1990 after the merger of two clubs: APEAN (Athlitiki Podosfairiki Enosis Ayias Napas; Athletic Football Union of Ayia Napa) and ENAN (Enosis Neon Ayias Napas;Youth Union Ayia Napa).

History

The club started in the 3rd Division (1990/91). They were promoted to 2nd Division in season 2000/01 after finishing 2nd in 3rd division. The team once played against Omonia Nicosia in Cup tournament. It lost 4-0 in the first match but came 2-2 in the 2nd match.

Promotion to First Division

The biggest achievement of Ayia Napa FC's history was in season 2005/06 after it finished 3rd in Cyprus 2nd division and was promoted to the Cypriot First Division.

Despite their virgin presence in the First Division, Ayia Napa proved tough rival for every Cypriot team and has good presence in the 2006-07 season. From their first match they achieved the surprise by an away draw against Anorthosis Famagusta and that followed two more draws, the one of them against Omonia Nicosia. In the first 12 matches they achieved several draws, including another home draw against APOEL. However the first victory came in the 13th matchday, when the team beat Aris Limassol 4-1 and at the end of the first half of the season, the team was defeated only in 5 matches. Their most historical victory came on January 14, 2007, when the team beat one of the greatest clubs of the island Omonia Nicosia 2-1. After that victory, few more successful results came but however, the team lost the last seven First Division matches of the and relegated again.

Cup qualification to the Quarter-finals

Another big achievement of Ayia Napa FC is the qualification to the cup's quarter-finals group stage in the 2007-08 season while the team was in the Cypriot Second Division. That season was the only team from Cypriot Second Division that qualified to quarter-finals. The club finished third in the group stages with wins against APOEL and Aris Limassol.

Stadium

The team's stadium is Municipal Stadium of Ayia Napa, which is a multi-use stadium in Ayia Napa. It is currently used mostly for football matches and holds 2,000 people. However the stadium was not suitable for first division matches, so for the season 2006-07, when Ayia Napa plays in First Division, the team is using for home the Tasos Markou Stadium in Paralimni.

The UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship was hosted in Cyprus in 1998 and the UEFA European Under-16 Football Championship in 1992 and the Ayia Napa Stadium was used for two matches of Republic of Ireland in each competition; [http://www.rsssf.com/tablese/ec-u18-98.html ] on June 19, 1998 their 5-2 victory against Croatia and four days later, their 3-0 Cyprus U-19 national team and qualified to the final where they went on to win the trophy. In 1992, the Irish were beaten by the Netherlands U-16 0-2 and tied by Spain 1-1.

Current squad

Transfers 2008/09

In

Out

Notable Former Players

*flagicon|Cyprus Nikos Panayiotou
*flagicon|Morocco Hamid Rhanem
*flagicon|Albania Arjan Sheta