Anorthosis Famagusta FC

The period from 1911 until 1928 can be characterized as the first period of Anorthosis history. In that period, Anorthosis was mostly a nationalist and spiritual group. Patriotic speeches and national commemorations were organised in the building of Anorthosis. But the sector where Anorthosis had created a tradition, unique in the history of clubs of which the reputation and activity was spread all over Cyprus, was in music.[1]

Under the control of Demetris Demetriades, it began with great success the only madolinade and band of Anorthosis. The actions taken at that time were many, some of them were:

(From Anorthosis Practices) 1913: In a collection that has been done in the building of Anorthosis the extravagant – for that time – amount of 84 pounds was gathered in just one hour, which was given for the political needs of the country (which was under British rule). 1922: Anorthosis establishes a depository for the relief of the refugees from the Asia Minor destruction.[1]

The second period in the history of Anorthosis started with an important changeover in the aims and actions of the club. The "Anorthosis Reading Club" renamed to "Musical Philological and Philanthropical Club" and as an emblem of the club is now the mythical bird Phoenix. During this period the mantolinade and band of Anorthosis are better organised and stipendiary teachers are being appointed for the development of the two groups.[1]

In the philological sector the tradition of the past continued. Anorthosis created a first class library with a lending section. In 1936, 1,500 volumes of books were lent to Anorthosis members. In the second period a great importance was given to the athletic sector. Under the control of professor of Gymnastics, Anastasis Oikonomides, football and volleyball teams, sea sports and teams of classical athleticism, gave Anorthosis many first wins, renown and trophies. Anorthosis in association with Gymnastic Club Evagoras (GSE), which is its own child, organized district and pan-Cyprian games and athletes got their first wins, not only in PanCyprian games. Of course, for a small time period, there was almost nothing to show. For example, in 1929 with a letter of POEB of which members are in Anorthosis, said that it was ready to break up and its members to be merged into the football team of Anorthosis. Then, it was decided that a second football team should be funded, and the responsibility was on Mr. An. Oikonomidis and S. Mathaiou. On 11 February 1932, at the command of the Ammochostos governor (Cyprus was still under British rule) the club of Anorthosis closed for a short time. On 29 October, the president, the general secretary and the boufι manager of Anorthosis were arrested by the police because the Greek flag was hanging on the balcony of the club building.[2][3]

On 26 July 2005, they beat the Turkish team Trabzonspor 3–1 in the first leg of their second-round Champions League qualifying match. They lost the second leg 1–0 in Turkey, but progressed 3–2 on aggregate. In the third-round qualifying tie against the Scottish team Rangers, Anorthosis lost the first leg 2–1, and the second leg 2–0, so dropped into the first round of the UEFA Cup. They were then defeated 6–1 on aggregate by the Italian team Palermo. Anorthosis qualified for the 2007–08 UEFA Cup by way of their Cypriot Cup win. They entered the competition at the First Qualifying round stage. Aggregate victories over FK Vardar and CFR 1907 Cluj saw them move through to the First Round proper. Anorthosis were drawn against English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur. The first leg was played at White Hart Lane on 20 September 2007 which Tottenham Hotspur won 6–1. On 4 October 2007 the second leg resulted in a 1–1 draw when Robbie Keane equalised for Tottenham Hotspur after Fabinho had put Anorthosis ahead.[4]

After winning the domestic league 2007–08, Anorthosis qualified for the 2008–09 UEFA Champions League Group Stage, over-running Armenian Champions FC Pyunik, Austrian Champions Rapid Wien and Greek Champions Olympiacos in the qualifying rounds.

This allowed the team to qualify for the Group Stage of the Champions League, the first time for a Cypriot team.

In the group stage, they earned their first point following a 0–0[5] away draw with Werder Bremen, then got their first win beating Panathinaikos FC 3–1[6] while Hawar Mulla Mohammed became the first Iraqi player to score in the UEFA Champions League, although they lost to Inter Milan 1–0[7] at San Siro, they drew 3–3 in GSP Stadium. In their fifth Champions League game, Anorthosis had a chance to make it to the knock-out stage if they would have won against Werder Bremen. Anorthosis went up 2–0, but in the second half Diego made the score 2–1, and minutes before the match ended, Hugo Almeida managed to equalise for Bremen, and the match finished 2–2. Anorthosis still had a chance to get into the knock-out stage in the final match against Panathinaikos if they would have won. However, during the last game they lost 1–0 away to Panathinaikos. Inter (who had already qualified for the next stage) lost 2–1 to Bremen, meaning that Anorthosis finished fourth – missing out on a consolation UEFA Cup place.

In the week prior to the game against Panathinaikos, the club was disrupted when the directors complained to the police that the president was embezzling funds. He was remanded in custody and forced to resign, eventually being released by the police without charges.[8]

After the highs of their exploits in the previous season's Champions League, Anorthosis went crashing out of the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League in the second qualifying round, losing 4–3 on aggregate to OFK Petrovac of Montenegro.

Anorthosis started well the Europa League 2010–11 by beating FC Banants of Armenia 3–0 and 0–1 respectively. In the second round they lost the first match 0–2 to HNK Šibenik of Croatia, but still managed to qualify after a 3–0 victory in the second leg fixture accompanied by great performance. In the third qualifying round Anorthosis had a poor performance against Cercle Brugge, losing 0–1 in Belgium. Whenever they came back in Cyprus for the rematch they defeated Cercle 3–1 with Cafu scoring all 3 goals. Anorthosis's adventure ended with a 0–4 loss in Moscow and a 1–2 home loss against CSKA Moscow.

Anorthosis in 2011–12 started from the second qualifying round, in which Anorthosis met Fc Garga Georgia. The Cypriot club defeated the Georgian Club 3–0 at the Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium, but then lost to the Georgian Club 2–0 in Zestafoni. In the third qualifying round Anorthosis encountered FK Rabotnički Skopje. The first match at Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium was not the ideal for the Cypriot club, after the first 70 minutes the result was still 0–0. The Skopje Club scored in their first real opportunity in the game, after another 10 minutes the Skopje club scored a second goal with after an incredible mistake by the Anorthosis' goalkeeper Dimitar Ivankov. In the second match at the Philip II Arena Anorthosis won 1–2 FK Rabotnički. The score 0–2 until 87 minute, which would send the game to extra-time. After that match Dimitar Ivankov was released from his contract and removed from the Anorthosis Squad.

Anorthosis Famagusta began the season in Second qualifying round of Europa League. Anorthosis faced the cup winner of Estonian for the season 2011–12, Levadia Tallinn, On the first match Anorthosis Famagusta defeat the Estonian club 3–1 (Spadacio, Toni Calvo, Ricardo Laborde) in Kadrioru Stadium, with mvp the best player of the clube Ricardo Laborde.

On 21 August 2013, President Achilleas Nicolaou asked all the supporters of Anorthosis to contribute using automated bank orders, donating a small amount of money by month, having as the main goal the viability of the club and in order to be able to get rid of the whole debit of that period which was 13.5 million euros. The main goal of this action was the club players to be paid by the fans (that's why the request of automated bank order) so the sponsors, and other club income to lower the debit of the club.

Since the club's foundation, Anorthosis have had four main crests, though all underwent minor variations. In 1970, Anorthosis adopted as their first crest the image of a phoenix and the laters ΑΝΟΡΘΩΣΙΣ, and remained for the next 15 years, though it never appeared on the shirts. From 1985 Anorthosis change as a first time his crest and remained for the next 5 years, though it never appeared on the shirts. In 1990 Anorthosis announced their first official crest as a part of an attempt to modernise, that used on the shirts the image of a burned phoenix with the laters of ΑΝΟΡΘΩΣΙΣ, the year of the founding, 1911 and under the banner of ΑΜΜΟΧΩΣΤΟΣ. In 2000 with Presidential Kikis Konstantinou, Anorthosis crest was changed again as a part of the attempt to modernise and to capitalise on new marketing opportunities. The new badge featured a more naturalistic blue phoenix, standing over the fire. It lasted for the next 11 years, with some modifications such as the use of different colours, birds and including some stars for the celebrations of the titles. For the centenary season the new Presidential Savvas Kakos, Anorthosis announced tender for the emblem in 100 years this was accompanied by the words '1911–2011' on the top and bottom of the crest respectively.[9] In 2012 Anorthosis with some changes on 100 years crest announce their final official crest that shows the phoenix over the fire by using the design of 100 years logo.

Anorthosis have always worn white and blue shirts,[10] although they originally used the paler blue, which was taken from the Greek flag colours and was worn with white or blue shorts and blue, black or white socks. The black[11] and yellow color was the color of the inaugural football team and was intended to extol Byzantium, the colors of which were the same as the shirt of 2011–12.[12] Anorthosis have also use the black color for their second and third shirts like 2009–10 and 2012–13 as previously. In the recent European match Anorthosis used a t-shirt with Famagusta in the background (white) [13]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 33 DF  UKR Yevhen Selin

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  CYP Andreas Neofytou (at Karmiotissa until 30 May 2021) — MF  CYP Michalis Ioannou (at Roda JC until 30 May 2021) — MF  CYP Marios Stylianou (at Karmiotissa until 30 May 2021)

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  CYP Konstantinos Georgallides (at ASIL until 30 May 2021) — FW  GEO Nika Kacharava (at Lech Poznań until 30 May 2021)

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  CYP Christos Rossos — MF  CYP Konstantinos Koumpari

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  CYP Stefanos Kafataris — FW  CYP Efthymios Anastasiadis

Position	Staff
President	Evgenios Hamboullas
Vice-President	Marios Michael
Secretary	Andreas Papalis
Directors	Andreas Andreou
	Christos Karas
	Nikolas Karoullas
	Yiannos Constantinou
	Panicos Panagi
	Panayiotis Salaforis

Source: Board of Directors

Position	Staff
Head coach	Temur Ketsbaia
Assistant coach	Soso Chedia
Analyst	Christodoulos Michael
Fitness coach	Michalis Michael
Fitness coach	Lambros Ioannou
Goalkeeping coach	Zoltan Nagy
Chief Scout	Kyriakos Hadjicharalambous
Medical staff
Team doctor (orthopaedist)	Dr Demetrios Tsoukas
Team doctor (Pathologist)	Dr Kypros Pambou
Physiotherapist	Emilios Syzinos
Massuers	Plamen Panov
	Dobromir Kerchev
Caregivers	Antonis Panayiotou
	Prodromos Fivou

Source: Technical team