Nea Salamis FC - Football

Football

The men's football department is the most importance and longest running of the club. The ground of the team is Ammochostos Stadium.

Nea Salamis's greatest moment was the winning of the Cypriot Cup and the Cyprus FA Shield (Super Cup), in 1990. Its highest ranking in the Cypriot championship was the third place.

In the first five years after its foundation (1948–1953), the team participated in the championships of the Cyprus Amateur Football Federation. In 1953, the club became a member of the Cyprus Football Association (CFA) participating regularly in championships and cups under the auspices of the federation. The football team has more than 50 participation in the Cypriot First Division, being in seventh place in league's ranking. The team claimed unsuccessfully four times to win the championship, finishing all four times in the third position. Participated in a total of three cup finals.

As Cup winner, Nea Salamina played for the first time in a European Cup in 1990, but was excluded from the first round by Aberdeen F.C.. Aberdeen F.C., which had won the 1982–83 European Cup Winners' Cup by defeating Real Madrid in the final it was a very strong team. The first game was at Tsirion Stadium on 19 September 1990, in the presence of 8000 fans. Nea Salamina was defeated 0–2 (half time 0–0). The replay took place in Aberdeen, at Pittodrie Stadium, on 3 October 1990. Nea Salamina lost 3–0. The team participated in UEFA Intertoto Cup 1995, and UEFA Intertoto Cup 1997, but exclusive at the first round. At 2000, Nea Salamina, after wining twice KS Vllaznia Shkodër, qualified for the second round, wining FK Austria Wien at Cyprus, but losing 3-0 at Vienna.

The 1965–66 season was one of the best and most painful seasons in the history of Nea Salamina, and remains a landmark in the history of the team so far. According to witnesses and the newspapers of that period, Nea Salamina played the best football in Cyprus. It claimed the championship until the last game of the season and also played for the first time in the Cup final, but failed to win it. The championship began with consecutive wins and claimed the championship with claims. In the away game with APOEL to GSP Nea Salamina preceded by 3–0. In the 62' minute a player of APOEL hit a player of Nea Salamina and a member of APOEL grabbed the flag of assistant referee and extinction. The referee stopped the game according to the provisions of the CFA special circular. The court of CFA decided repeat of the match, ignoring that for the interruption was responsible player and agent for the home team. The trial lasted over three weeks and the team affected, resulting in the defeat of sweeping team, Aris Limassol F.C.. It is noteworthy that Nea Salamina won the booster with rival APOEL. But the injustices continued. In the penultimate match of the tournament Omonia and Salamis equal in the first place of the league and Olympiakos Nicosia followed with one point of difference. In the game against Olympiakos, Nea Salamina preceded by 2–1, the referee added undue delay, giving the opportunity to Olympiakos to score. The excuse of the referee was the injuries of players, something that did not exist according to the newspapers of season. After clashes in the last seconds the game was interrupted. The court of CFA decided replay the match. Until the case is heard, the championship was over. The classification were: 1) Omonia 50 points, 2) Nea Salamina 47 points, 3) Olympiakos 46 points. Nea Salamina with victory over Olympiakos would won the championship after had a better goal difference from Omonia. On 31 May 1966 queues of buses and cars started in the morning from Famagusta to Nicosia. Unfortunately, Nea Salamina defeated 6–3 losing the chance to be crowned champion. The best defense in the league, which had received only 15 goals in 19 games, allowed just six in one game, clearly influenced by the events. The team get for the second time the third position. This defeat caused problems and some players did not come back to the team. The result weakened the team was presented with the cup final opponent Apollon Limassol and despite being favorite to win the Cup, defeated 4–2. During this season Salamis had the best defense in the league with 21 goals in 20 games for the first and only time.