Cyprus: Premier League Nations
Continuing our alphabetical world tour, next up is Cyprus. Not historically a powerhouse of World or European football, Cyprus have never qualified for a major tournament.
According to the Premier League website, just one player has represented Cyprus in the Premier League, a mysterious winger who vanished almost as fast as he arrived.
First Player – Nicos Papavasiliou (Newcastle United; 1993-94)
Having enjoyed spells in the youth setups of Arsenal and Oldham, Nicos Papavasiliou moved to newly-promoted Newcastle after spending the early years of his professional career in Greece.
Papavasiliou started well, starting the Magpies first seven league games as they settled well into the Premier League. However, he never featured for Newcastle again, with sources suggesting a combination of injury and Cypriot national service was to blame while other sources suggest it was simply for football reasons.
Since leaving Newcastle in 1994, Papavasiliou has spent time as both a player and manager in Cyprus and Greece, retiring as a player in 2003 with 38 international appearances to his name. If anyone has further information on Nicos Papavasiliou’s time at Newcastle, please get in touch!
Records
- Most Appearances – Nicos Papavasiliou (7)
- First appearance – Nicos Papavasiliou (NEWCASTLE 0-1 Spurs, August 14th 1993)
- Most goals – N/A
- First goal – N/A
Elsewhere
Despite being born in the UK, former Chelsea midfielder Alexis Nicolas won caps for Cyprus’ U21s although he is listed as English on the Premier League website.
Elsewhere, 23-year-old Spurs midfielder Anthony Georgiou has won eight senior caps for Cyprus but is yet to make a Premier League appearance for the Lilywhites.
Trivia & Records
- No newly promoted team in the history of the Premier League has finished higher than Newcastle’s 3rd place finish in 1993/94; Nicos Papavasiliou’s sole season in England (Nottingham Forest also 3rd in 1994/95).
- Nicos Papavasiliou is the joint-36th most capped Cypriot of all time (38 caps).