2017–18 Cypriot First Division Explained

Competition:	Cyta Championship
Season:	2017–18
Winners:	APOEL 27th title
Relegated:	Olympiakos Aris Ethnikos
Continentalcup1:	Champions League
Continentalcup1 Qualifiers:	APOEL
Continentalcup2:	Europa League
Continentalcup2 Qualifiers:	Apollon Anorthosis AEK Larnaca
League Topscorer:	Matt Derbyshire (23 goals)
Biggest Home Win:	(2 December 2017) APOEL 7–1 Ethnikos (6 February 2018)
Biggest Away Win:	(14 January 2018)
Highest Scoring:	(14 January 2018) APOEL 7–1 Ethnikos (6 February 2018) Doxa 2–6 Nea Salamina (10 March 2018)
Matches:	242
Total Goals:	720
Longest Wins:	7 matches APOEL Apollon
Longest Unbeaten:	21 matches Apollon
Longest Winless:	24 matches Ethnikos
Longest Losses:	11 matches Omonia
Prevseason:	2016–17
Nextseason:	2018–19
Updated:	13 May 2018

The 2017–18 Cypriot First Division was the 79th season of the Cypriot top-level football league. The season began on 19 August 2017 and is ended on 13 May 2018.^[1]

Teams

Promotion and relegation (pre-season)

Anagennisi Deryneia and AEZ Zakakiou were relegated at the end of the first-phase of the 2016–17 season after finishing in the bottom two places of the table. They were joined by Karmiotissa, who finished at the bottom of the second-phase relegation group.

The relegated teams were replaced by 2016–17 Second Division champions Alki Oroklini, runners-up Pafos FC and third-placed team Olympiakos Nicosia.

Stadiums and locations

Note: Table lists clubs in alphabetical order.

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
AEK	Larnaca	AEK Arena	7,400
AEL	Limassol	Tsirio Stadium	13,331
Alki	Oroklini, Larnaca	Ammochostos Stadium	5,500
Anorthosis	Famagusta	Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium	10,230
APOEL	Nicosia	GSP Stadium	22,859
Apollon	Limassol	Tsirio Stadium	13,331
Aris	Limassol	Tsirio Stadium	13,331
Doxa	Katokopia, Nicosia	Makario Stadium	16,000
Ermis	Aradippou, Larnaca	GSZ Stadium	13,032
Ethnikos	Achna, Famagusta	Dasaki Stadium	7,000
Nea Salamina	Famagusta	Ammochostos Stadium	5,500
Olympiakos	Nicosia	Makario Stadium	16,000
Omonia	Nicosia	GSP Stadium	22,859
Pafos	Paphos	Stelios Kyriakides Stadium	9,394

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players and Managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team	Head coach	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
AEK Larnaca	Imanol Idiakez	David Català	Puma	A.J.K. Wealth Management Limited	A.J.K.
AEL	Dušan Kerkez	Marios Nicolaou	Nike	Kepaky
Alki	Savvas Damianou	Nicolas Manoli	Joma	Alexander College
Anorthosis	Ronny Levy	João Victor	Nike	–
APOEL	Bruno Baltazar	Nektarios Alexandrou	Nike	Pari-Match
Apollon	Sofronis Avgousti	Giorgos Vasiliou	Puma	Carabao
Aris	Nicos Panayiotou	Markos Maragoudakis	Nike	Europcar
Doxa	Loukas Hadjiloukas	Manuel Redondo	Nike	Victory Ammunition
Ermis Aradippou	Kostas Kaiafas	Yaroslav Martynyuk	Nike	Cablenet
Ethnikos	Panayiotis Engomitis	Christos Poyiatzis	Legea	OPAP Cyprus
Nea Salamina	Savvas Poursaitidis	Dimitar Makriev	GEMS	Vitex
Olympiakos Nicosia	Vesko Mihajlović	Kyriacos Polykarpou	Nike	Moon Cocktail Bar
Omonia	Jesper Fredberg	Demetris Christofi	Puma	DIMCO
Pafos FC	Steven Pressley	Charalambos Demosthenous	Jako	Korantina Homes

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Ethnikos	Valdas Ivanauskas	Sacked	18 May 2017^[2]	Pre-season	Panayiotis Engomitis	4 July 2017^[3]
APOEL	Mario Been	Sacked	27 July 2017^[4]	Pre-season	Giorgos Donis	28 July 2017^[5]
Aris Limassol	Nikolas Martides	Sacked	3 October 2017^[6]	13th	Giannis Christopoulos	3 October 2017^[7]
Nea Salamina	Liasos Louka	Sacked	18 October 2017^[8]	12th	Savvas Poursaitidis	18 October 2017^[9]
Ermis Aradippou	Nicos Panayiotou	Sacked	7 November 2017^[10]	10th	Goran Milojević	7 November 2017^[11]
Ethnikos	Panayiotis Engomitis	Sacked	12 November 2017^[12]	14th	Giorgi Chikhradze	13 November 2017^[13]
Omonia	Pambos Christodoulou	Sacked	5 December 2017^[14]	7th	Ivaylo Petev	14 December 2017^[15]
Ermis Aradippou	Goran Milojević	Sacked	22 December 2017^[16]	10th	Kostas Kaiafas	23 December 2017^[17]
Aris Limassol	Giannis Christopoulos	Sacked	22 January 2018^[18]	13th	Nicos Panayiotou	22 January 2018^[19]
Pafos	Luka Elsner	Sacked	21 January 2018^[20]	10th	Steven Pressley	31 January 2018^[21]
Ethnikos	Giorgi Chikhradze	Sacked	19 January 2018^[22]	14th	Panayiotis Engomitis	1 February 2018^[23]
AEL Limassol	Bruno Baltazar	Resigned	5 March 2018^[24]	5th	Dušan Kerkez	7 March 2018
Olympiakos Nicosia	Chrysis Michael	Sacked	19 March 2018	12th	Vesko Mihajlović	24 March 2018
Omonia	Ivaylo Petev	Sacked	21 March 2018	6th	Jesper Fredberg	22 March 2018
APOEL	Giorgos Donis	Sacked	22 March 2018	2nd	Bruno Baltazar	22 March 2018
Olympiakos Nicosia	Vesko Mihajlović	Resigned	24 April 2018	12th	Kyriacos Polykarpou	29 April 2018

Regular season

Positions by Round

The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. In order to preserve chronological progress, any postponed matches are not included in the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards. For example, if a match is scheduled for matchday 13, but then postponed and played between days 16 and 17, it will be added to the standings for day 16.

	Qualification to Championship round
	Qualification to Relegation round
	Relegation to 2018–19 Cypriot Second Division

Team \ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26
	8	10	6	9	11	8	4	7	8	8	8	6	3	3	4	4	4	3	4	1	2	1	1	1	1	1
Apollon	9	11	11	7	8	5	7	5	7	5	4	4	5	5	3	3	3	4	3	2	1	2	2	2	2	2
Anorthosis	3	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	2	2	2	1	2	2	1	4	3	3	4	3	3	3
	7	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	2	2	1	1	1	2	1	1	2	3	4	4	3	4	4	4
AEL	1	5	3	4	5	4	5	8	5	4	3	3	4	4	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5
Omonia	11	12	8	11	3	7	9	6	4	6	5	7	7	7	8	8	7	7	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6
	5	2	5	3	4	3	6	4	6	7	6	8	8	8	6	6	6	6	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7
	10	13	14	14	14	14	11	11	10	11	10	10	9	10	10	10	11	11	10	10	9	8	8	8	8	8
Pafos	12	14	13	8	9	6	3	3	3	3	7	5	6	6	7	7	8	8	8	8	10	10	9	9	9	9
	4	7	10	13	10	11	12	12	12	12	12	13	13	13	12	12	12	12	13	12	11	11	11	11	11	10
	2	6	4	5	6	10	8	10	11	10	11	12	10	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	8	9	10	10	10	11
	6	9	9	6	7	9	10	9	9	9	9	9	11	11	11	11	10	10	11	11	12	12	12	12	12	12
	13	8	12	12	13	12	14	14	13	13	13	11	12	12	13	13	13	13	12	13	13	13	13	13	13	13
	14	3	7	10	12	13	13	13	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14

Championship round

Positions by Round

The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches.

	Qualification to Champions League first qualifying round
	Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round

Team \ Round	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36
	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1
Apollon	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2
	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5
	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6

Relegation round

Positions by Round

The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches.

Relegation to 2018–19 Cypriot Second Division

Team \ Round	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36
	11	11	10	9	10	9	9	9	8	7
	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	7	9	8
	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	8	7	9
Pafos	9	10	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	10
	10	9	9	10	9	10	10	10	10	11
	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12

Season statistics

Top scorers

^[25]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Matt Derbyshire	Omonia	23
2	Florian Taulemesse	AEK Larnaca	22
3	Fabrício	Alki	20
4	Berat Sadik	Doxa	18
5	Emilio Zelaya	Apollon	17
6	Anton Maglica	Apollon	16
7	Igor de Camargo	APOEL	15
	Fotios Papoulis	Apollon
9	Ivan Tričkovski	AEK Larnaca	11
	Acorán	AEK Larnaca
	Mickaël Poté	APOEL
	Michal Ďuriš	Anorthosis

Hat-tricks

	Player	For	Against	Result	Date
1.				5–0
2.				5–1
3.				6–0
4.				4–1
5.				8–0
6.				3–4
7.				5–1
8.				6–0
9.				6–0
10.				5–0
11.				3–0

Scoring

• First goal of the season: 73 minutes and 36 seconds – Chafik Tigroudja (Alki) against Ethnikos (19 August 2017)
• Fastest goal of the season: 0 minutes and 13 seconds – Mickaël Poté (APOEL) against Anorthosis (20 December 2017)
• Latest goal of the season: 97 minutes and 20 seconds – Emilio Zelaya (Apollon) against Ermis (18 September 2017)
• First scored penalty kick of the season: 81 minutes and 27 seconds – Tiago Gomes (Doxa) against Ermis (27 August 2017)
• First own goal of the season: 86 minutes and 25 seconds – Kiriakos Stratilatis (Alki) for Anorthosis (27 August 2017)
• Most goals scored in a match by one player: 3 goals
  • 9 players
• Most scored goals in a single fixture – 28 goals (Fixture 22)
  • Fixture 22 results: Olympiakos 1–2 AEL, Alki 3–4 Ermis, Omonia 5–1 Nea Salamina, Apollon 1–2 APOEL, Ethnikos 0–4 Aris, Pafos 0–1 Anorthosis, AEK 4–0 Doxa.
• Highest scoring game: 8 goals
  • Doxa 0–8 APOEL (14 January 2018)
  • APOEL 7–1 Ethnikos(6 February 2018)
• Largest winning margin: 8 goals
  • Doxa 0–8 APOEL (14 January 2018)
• Most goals scored in a match by a single team: 8 goals
  • Doxa 0–8 APOEL (14 January 2018)
• Most goals scored by a losing team: 3 goals
  • Alki 3–4 Ermis (30 January 2018)

Discipline

• First yellow card of the season: 26 minutes – Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi for Alki against Ethnikos (19 August 2017)
• First red card of the season: 81 minutes – Evariste Ngolok for Aris against Anorthosis (10 September 2017)
• Most yellow cards in a single match: 10
  • APOEL 2–1 AEL – 3 for APOEL (Lorenzo Ebecilio, Agustín Farías, Mickaël Poté) and 7 for AEL (Fidelis Irhene, Vozinha, Marco Soares, Dani Benítez, Andreas Avraam, Marco Airosa, Mesca) (17 January 2018)
  • Alki 3–3 Aris – 6 for Alki (Abdelaye Diakité, Yoann Tribeau, Willy Semedo, Jean-Baptiste Pierazzi, Fabrício Simões, Panagiotis Frageskou) and 4 for Aris (Edin Nuredinoski, Markos Maragoudakis, Vlatko Drobarov, Kyriakos Panagi) (17 September 2017)
  • AEK 1–1 Apollon – 5 for AEK (Tete, Florian Taulemesse, Marios Antoniades, David Català, Daniel Mojsov) and 5 for Apollon (Héctor Yuste, Valentin Roberge, Esteban Sachetti, Allan, Emilio Zelaya) (5 November 2017)
  • Omonia 5–1 Nea Salamina – 3 for Omonia (Hedwiges Maduro, Nicandro Breeveld, Demetris Christofi) and 7 for Nea Salamina (Andreas Karo, Anderson Correia, Carlão, Robert Veselovsky (2), David Poljanec, Taron Voskanyan) (30 January 2018)
  • APOEL FC 2–1 Omonia – 3 for APOEL (Roland Sallai, Emilio Nsue, Lorenzo Ebecilio) and 7 for Omonia (Jaílson, Matt Derbyshire, Mamadu Candé, William Soares, Loukas Vyntra, Kanu, Theophilus Solomon) (17 February 2018)
  • Apollon 5–1 AEL – 4 for Apollon (Alef, Esteban Sachetti, Fotios Papoulis, Anton Maglica) and 6 for AEL (Leandro Silva, David Texeira, Bogdan Mitrea, Dani Benítez, Marco Airosa, Kevin Lafrance) (3 March 2018)
• Most red cards in a single match: 2
  • Pafos 0–1 AEL – 1 for Pafos (Dmitri Torbinski) and 1 for AEL (Kevin Lafrance) (14 January 2018)

Notes and References

1. Web site: http://www.cfa.com.cy/Gr/news/30940/3228359/254. el:Αναλυτικό Πρόγραμμα. el. CFA. 7 July 2017. 26 February 2018.
2. Web site: http://www.kerkida.net/articles/a-katigoria/eidiseis/ethnikos-ahnas/350563-anamenomeno-diazygio. el:Αναμενόμενο… διαζύγιο. kerkida.net. el. 18 May 2017. 23 October 2017.
3. Web site: http://www.kerkida.net/articles/a-katigoria/eidiseis/ethnikos-ahnas/403039-plirofories-strofi-se-gioti. el:(Πληροφορίες) Στροφή σε Γιώτη!. kekrida.net. el. 4 July 2017. 23 October 2017.
4. Web site: http://www.kerkida.net/articles/a-katigoria/eidiseis/apoel/424459-xekathari-i-ermineia-telos-o-been. el:ΞΕΚΑΘΑΡΗ η ερμηνεία... (ΤΕΛΟΣ ο Been). kerkida.net. el. 27 July 2017. 23 October 2017.
5. Web site: http://www.kerkida.net/articles/a-katigoria/eidiseis/apoel/425387-tora-giorgos-donis-gia-ena-hrono. el:Γιώργος Δώνης για ένα χρόνο. kekrida.net. el. 28 July 2017. 23 October 2017.
6. Web site: http://www.kerkida.net/articles/a-katigoria/eidiseis/aris/469856-oristiko-me-nikola. el:ΟΡΙΣΤΙΚΟ με Νικόλα. kerkida.net. el. 3 October 2017. 23 October 2017.
7. Web site: http://www.kerkida.net/articles/a-katigoria/eidiseis/aris/469912-erhetai-o-hristopoylos. el:(ΕΡΧΕΤΑΙ ο Χριστόπουλος. kekrida.net. el. 3 October 2017. 23 October 2017.
8. Web site: http://www.kerkida.net/articles/a-katigoria/eidiseis/nea-salamina/473897-eyharisties-se-liaso-kai-synergates. el:Ευχαριστίες σε Λιάσο και συνεργάτες. kerkida.net. el. 18 October 2017. 23 October 2017.
9. Web site: http://www.kerkida.net/articles/a-katigoria/eidiseis/nea-salamina/473916-toraepivevaiosi-oristiko-gia-savva. el:(ΕΠΙΒΕΒΑΙΩΣΗ) Οριστικό για Σάββα. kekrida.net. el. 18 October 2017. 23 October 2017.
10. Web site: http://www.kerkida.net/articles/a-katigoria/eidiseis/ermis/479354-telos-o-panagiotoy. el:"Διαζύγιο" με Παναγιώτου. kerkida.net. el. 7 November 2017. 7 November 2017.
11. Web site: http://www.kerkida.net/articles/a-katigoria/eidiseis/ermis/479440-anakoinose-milogevits. el:ΑΝΑΚΟΙΝΩΣΕ Μιλόγεβιτς. kekrida.net. el. 7 November 2017. 7 November 2017.
12. Web site: http://goal.philenews.com/podosfero/kypros/a-katigoria/ethnikos-achnas/parelthon-o-egkomitis/. el:Παρελθόν ο Εγκωμίτης. goal.com.cy. el. 13 November 2017. 13 November 2017.
13. Web site: http://goal.philenews.com/podosfero/kypros/a-katigoria/ethnikos-achnas/neo-afentiko-o-gkiorgki-tsichrantze/. el:Νέο αφεντικό ο Γκιόργκι Τσιχράντζε. goal.com.cy. el. 13 November 2017. 13 November 2017.
14. Web site: http://www.kerkida.net/articles/a-katigoria/eidiseis/omonoia/486947-oristiki-exelixi-gia-pampo-stin-omonoia/. el:ΟΡΙΣΤΙΚΗ ΕΞΕΛΙΞΗ για Πάμπο στην Ομόνοια (ΕΔΩ η ΑΠΟΦΑΣΗ). kerkida.net. el. 5 December 2017. 5 December 2017.
15. Web site: http://www.kerkida.net/articles/a-katigoria/eidiseis/omonoia/489429-episima-epohi-petef-xero-oti-i-omonoia-einai-i. el:ΕΠΙΣΗΜΑ... Εποχή Πέτεφ: "Ξέρω ότι η Ομόνοια είναι η λαοφιλέστερη ομάδα στην Κύπρο". kerkida.net. el. 14 December 2017. 14 December 2017.
16. Web site: http://www.kerkida.net/articles/a-katigoria/eidiseis/ermis/491608-tora-ton-teleiosan. el:(ΕΞΕΛΙΞΗ) Τον... τελείωσαν!. kekrida.net. el. 22 December 2017. 8 February 2018.
17. Web site: http://www.kerkida.net/articles/a-katigoria/eidiseis/491923-epistrofi-stoys-pagkoys. el:Επιστροφή στους πάγκους.... kekrida.net. el. 23 December 2017. 8 February 2018.
18. Web site: http://www.kerkida.net/articles/a-katigoria/eidiseis/aris/507349-exelixi-me-hristopoylo-plirofories. el:ΕΞΕΛΙΞΗ με Χριστόπουλο (Πληροφορίες). kerkida.net. el. 22 January 2018. 22 January 2018.
19. Web site: http://www.kerkida.net/articles/a-katigoria/eidiseis/507587-episimo-kai-epivevaiosi. el:ΕΠΙΣΗΜΟ και επιβεβαίωση. kerkida.net. el. 14 December 2017. 22 January 2018.
20. Web site: http://dialogos.com.cy/blog/telos-o-elsner/#.WnxYuJOFgWo. el:Τέλος ο Ελσνερ. dialogos.com.cy. el. 21 January 2018. 8 February 2018.
21. Web site: http://www.kerkida.net/articles/a-katigoria/eidiseis/pafos-fc/512865-ntempoyto-me-anorthosi-dilothike. el:Ντεμπούτο με Ανόρθωση (Δηλώθηκε). kerkida.net. el. 31 January 2018. 8 February 2018.
22. Web site: http://www.kerkida.net/articles/a-katigoria/eidiseis/ethnikos-ahnas/506199-epivevaiosi-gia-tzihrantze-me-pogiatzi-sto-pap. el:ΕΠΙΒΕΒΑΙΩΣΗ για Τζιχράντζε- Με Πογιατζή στο ΠΑΠ! (Νέες αποχωρήσεις). kerkida.net. el. 19 January 2018. 7 March 2018.
23. Web site: http://www.kerkida.net/articles/a-katigoria/eidiseis/513513-synehizei-me-gioti. el:ΣΥΝΕΧΙΖΕΙ με Γιώτη. kerkida.net. el. 1 February 2018. 7 March 2018.
24. Web site: http://www.kerkida.net/articles/a-katigoria/eidiseis/ael/531613-parelthon-o-mpaltazar. el:ΠΑΡΕΛΘΟΝ ο Μπαλταζάρ. kerkida.net. el. 5 March 2018. 7 March 2018.
25. Web site: Σκόρερς. 12 September 2017.