It is proving very difficult finding information regarding Manchester City’s UEFA Cup opponents, AC Omonia.
Their official website was due an upgrade years ago, however it has been off-line for sometime. Life in Cyprus is to say the least chilled at the best of times, so perhaps they might get round to sorting it out sometime this millennium!
The following article has been taken from the only AC Omonia site available in the English language. To find out more please visit the Omonia Nicosia Fan Club website.
AC Omonia
Omonia Nicosia (1948), a team that was founded just after the Second World War, is known to be one of the best teams the islands ever had.
The club still holds several records including the record for the most trophies ever won by a Cypriot club. Omonia Nicosia first won the Championship in 1961 when they finished the league first with seven-points above Anorthosis Famagusta.
Omonia Nicosia’s dominance in Cypriot football, however, didn’t come until 1974 when after they won the double they went on to win the championship six consecutive times, a record that until today remains unbeaten.
During those years, Omonia Nicosia had produced arguably the greatest Cypriot footballer ever in Sotiris Kaiafas. Kaiafas went on to win the golden boot in Europe after he finished top scorer in Europe in 1976 with 39 goals.
Omonia Nicosia have also proven to be worthy adversaries in Europe and still hold the record for the biggest ever win over Ajax Amsterdam in a European game when they defeated the Dutch Dynamo’s 4-0 in 1979. After Kaiafas, the next great striker of the team was Spas Tsevizof.
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. After the departure of Kaiafas, Omonia continued to produce excellent players like, Kanaris, Mavris, Petsas, Charitou and Evagoras Christophi who went on to captain Omonia Nicosia to success during the 80’s.
In 1992, Omonia Nicosia signed another great top scorer for the club when the Hungarian Joseph Juriac joined the club. Juriac went on to be the Cyprus top scorer and his departure in 1994 from the club lead to the arrival of another striking sensation only four years later called Rainer Rauffmann. The German has been the top scorer in Cyprus for four years.
Some of the most popular Cypriot players were Georgos Savides and Kostas Malekos. The latest Cypriot stars of Omonia Nicosia are Stathis Aloneftis.
The Nicosia club also holds a magnificent record which boasts five doubles achieved in 1972, 1974, 1981, 1982 and 1983, a record never beaten by any other football club in Cyprus. In 2000, Omonia Nicosia won the Cup after a six-year wait for a trophy triumph and has put at ease the fans who began to grow impatient with their club.
The Nicosia side to this day remains as one for the strongest sides on the island and remains the only side to have won the Cyprus Cup four times in a row during the years between 1980 and 1984.
Article courtesy of Omonia Fan Club.
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