Football In Cyprus
Football is the country's most popular sport.
Short of some sporadic surprise wins versus higher-ranked countries, mostly on home soil, the national team has not enjoyed any success of note. On the other hand, Cypriot clubs have reached the Champions League Group Stage three times in recent years; that has made Cyprus the smallest sovereign state (in both terms of area and population) to have been represented in the main phase of Europe's most prestigious club tournament, since the introduction of the current format in 1992. APOEL F.C. made history in 2012 by being the first Cypriot team to reach the quarter finals of Champions League.
Moreover, the national association has organised various FIFA and UEFA events (tournaments, courses, meetings).
Read more about Football In Cyprus: History, League System, National Team
Famous quotes containing the word football:
“People stress the violence. That’s the smallest part of it. Football is brutal only from a distance. In the middle of it there’s a calm, a tranquility. The players accept pain. There’s a sense of order even at the end of a running play with bodies stewn everywhere. When the systems interlock, there’s a satisfaction to the game that can’t be duplicated. There’s a harmony.”
—Don Delillo (b. 1926)