Pafos FC

Pafos

Full name	Pafos Football Club
Founded	10 June 2014; 10 years ago (2014-06-10)
Ground	Stelios Kyriakides Stadium
Capacity	9,300[1]
Chairman	Roman Dubov
Manager	Juan Carlos Carcedo
League	First Division
2023–24	First Division, 5th
Website	https://pafosfc.com.cy/
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Pafos F.C. (Greek: Πάφος F.C.) is a Cypriot professional football club based in Paphos. It was created in 2014, by the merger of AEP Paphos and AEK Kouklia. The club plays their home games at the Stelios Kyriakides Stadium and currently compete in the Cypriot First Division. The club is owned by the two Russians Sergey Lomakin and Roman Dubov. Lomakin is also the owner of the Russian second-tier club FC Rodina Moscow.^[2]

History

Early years (2014–2017)

Pafos FC was formed by a merger between the strongest football forces of the province of Paphos. The club's emblem includes the name of the club and town, and features the figure of Cypriot revolutionary Evagoras Pallikarides. The shape and colours of the emblem (white, blue, and gold) refer to the historical clubs of APOP and AEK Kouklia. The emblem was renewed in the 2018–19 season, making the figure of Pallikarides more visible.

On 10 June 2014, the historic building of AEP Paphos FC hosted the first gathering for the supporters of the merged team, in the presence of politicians, active and veteran football players of Paphos, and hundreds of fans. The first president of the team was Christakis Kaizer, who was previously the president of AEK Kouklia and one of the main people in the effort to create the new team together with the then six-member managing committee of AEP.

As an official home stadium for its obligations in the championship of the first division, the team uses Stelios Kyriakides Stadium (Paphiako Stadium).

The purpose of the club is to promote noble rivalry, "fair play" and culture both through sports activities and through numerous cultural and educational events, and visits to schools, and educational institutions in Paphos. The team has projected a picture of renewal and full professionalism in all departments and levels. An important event is the complete renovation of the training center to the standards of European clubs.

The team's first coach was Radmilo Ivančević, who had served as AEP Paphos's coach in the past.^[3]

Pafos FC competed in the 2014–15 Cypriot Second Division, in their first season as a club. The first match in the club's history was against Enosis Neon Paralimni, at the Municipal Stadium of Geroskipou which was the first home stadium of the team. The team finished in second place and was promoted to the first division. In the 2015–16 season, in the first participation of Pafos FC in the first division, the team finished in 12th place and was relegated. Their first victory and the team's first overall victory in the first division came on 12 September 2015 in the third game of the league when Pafos FC defeated Aris Limassol 3–0 at home. The team finished 2nd in the Second Division and was promoted to the First Division in the 2016–17 season.^[4][5]

Dubov/Lomakin Era (since 2017)

The following season, Pafos FC remained in the top division, finishing in 10th place under the leadership of their new owner, Total Sports Investments, managed by British businessman Roman Dubov. Changes in the club's structure, the academy's operational processes, renovation of the Pafos FC Training Center along with resounding transfers significantly raised the level of the club which now appears to be one of the most modern and well-equipped teams in Cyprus.

Pafos FC - Aris Limassol FC 25.02.2022

Since Dubov's arrival, the team's placement in the league has improved or remained constant every year, from 2018 until 2023. On 25 February 2022, a new attendance record was set for Pafos FC, as over 4661 fans came to support the club in a 1–1 home draw against Aris Limassol, which secured a place in the championship playoffs for the first time in the club's history.^[6] Pafos FC players were the top goalscorers of the Cypriot First Division in the 2018–19, 2022–23 and 2023–24 seasons.

On 24 June 2023, Juan Carlos Carcedo was announced as the new Head Coach of Pafos.^[7] In May 2024, Pafos won the Cypriot Cup, marking the club's first major honour.^[8]

Domestic history

Season	League									Cypriot Cup	Top goalscorer		Manager
	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P		Name	League
2014–15	2nd	2nd	26	19	5	2	55	19	62	First Round			Radmilo Ivančević Sofoklis Sofokleous
2015–16	1st	12th	36	8	12	16	41	58	36	Quarterfinal	Nassir Maachi	11	Sofoklis Sofokleous José Manuel Roca Apostolos Makrides
2016–17	2nd	2nd	26	17	6	3	51	24	57	First Round			Dimitris Ioannou
2017–18	1st	10th	36	11	9	16	36	51	42	Semifinal	Daniel Sikorski Kévin Bérigaud	7	Luka Elsner Steven Pressley
2018–19	1st	8th	32	12	8	12	39	50	38	Quarterfinal	Adam Nemec	16	Steven Pressley Željko Kopić
2019–20	1st	7th	23	8	6	9	26	28	30	Second Round	Onni Valakari	5	Željko Kopić Cameron Toshack
2020–21	1st	7th	40	18	9	13	58	38	63	Second Round	Onni Valakari Kévin Bérigaud	13	Cameron Toshack Dmytro Mykhaylenko Stephen Constantine
2021–22	1st	6th	32	11	13	8	39	30	46	Second Round	Onni Valakari	10	Darko Milanič Míchel Salgado (Acting Head Coach)
2022–23	1st	4th	32	17	12	7	60	30	63	Semifinal	Jairo	18	Henning Berg Míchel Salgado (Acting Head Coach)
2023–24	1st	5th	36	18	8	10	60	33	62	Champions	Jairo	16	Juan Carlos Carcedo

Honours

Type	Competition	Titles	Seasons	Ref.
Domestic
	Cypriot Cup	1	2023–24	[8]

•   record

European history

As of match played 19 December 2024

Competition	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
UEFA Europa League	2	0	0	2	2	8
UEFA Conference League	12	6	1	5	23	12
Total	14	6	1	7	25	20

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2024–25	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Elfsborg	2–5	0–3	2–8
	UEFA Conference League	2Q	Žalgiris	3–0 (a.e.t.)	1–2	4–2
		3Q	CSKA 1948	4–0 (a.e.t.)	1–2	5–2
		PO	CFR Cluj	3–0	0–1	3–1
		LP	Petrocub Hîncești	—	4–1	12th Place
			1. FC Heidenheim	0–1	—
			Astana	1–0	—
			Fiorentina	—	2–3
			Celje	2–0	—
			Lugano	—	2–2
		KPO	Omonia

Notes

• 1Q: First qualifying round
• 2Q: Second qualifying round
• 3Q: Third qualifying round
• PO: Play-off round
• LP: League Phase
• KPO: Knockout phase play-offs

Badge and colours

The logo of Pafos FC is a variation of AEP Paphos's logo and a refresh of Pafos FC's first logo, including the name of the team and town and the classic figure of the Cypriot hero Evagoras Pallikaridis. The logo also includes the team's colours, blue, white, and gold.^[9][10] The emblem was renewed during the period 2018–19, making the depiction of the hero Evagoras Pallikarides more prominent.

Shirt sponsors and manufacturers

Period	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
2019–2023	Jako	KORANTINA HOMES

Players

As of 30 September 2024^[11]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  CRO Ivica Ivušić 2 DF  CYP Kostas Pileas 3 DF  ARG Matías Melluso 4 DF  CZE Josef Kvída 5 DF  ESP David Goldar 7 FW  BRA Bruno Felipe 8 MF  GNB Domingos Quina 9 FW  BRA Léo Natel 10 FW  BRA Jairo (captain) 11 FW  BRA Jajá (on loan from Athletico Paranaense) 16 MF  ARG Mateo Tanlongo (on loan from Sporting CP) 22 FW  SWE Muamer Tanković 23 DF  NED Derrick Luckassen 25 MF  SEN Moustapha Name

No. Pos. Nation Player 26 MF  BIH Ivan Šunjić 30 MF  ROU Vlad Dragomir 32 DF  MAR Mehdi Boukamir (on loan from Sporting Charleroi) 33 FW  BRA Anderson Silva (on loan from Alanyaspor) 45 DF  BRA Rafael Pontelo (on loan from Sporting CP) 49 MF  POR Bruno Tavares 55 GK  CRO Antonio Cikač 70 FW  CYP Marios Ilia 77 DF  CPV João Correia 80 MF  CYP Christos Efzona 88 MF  POR Pêpê 93 GK  CYP Neofytos Michail 99 GK  GRE Athanasios Papadoudis

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  RUS Khetag Kochiyev (at Rodina Moscow until 30 June 2025) — MF  BRA Diogo Dall'Igna (at Enosis Neon Paralimni until 30 June 2025) — MF  GUI Mamadou Kané (at Rodina Moscow until 30 June 2025) — MF  FIN Onni Valakari (at AIK until 30 June 2025)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  POR Pedro Pelágio (at Chaves until 30 June 2025) — FW  GHA Patrick Twumasi (at Beitar Jerusalem until 30 June 2025) — FW  GUI Thierno Barry (at Enosis Neon Paralimni until 30 June 2025)

Current staff

Senior Management
Vice President	George Ioannou
CEO	Charis Theocharous
COO	Rustam Khafizov
Sporting Director	Cristiano Giaretta
Head Scout	Rodolfo Filipe Aniceto Vaz
Senior Scout	Pedro Henrique
CFA Representative	Filippos Georgiou
Technical staff
Head Coach	Juan Carlos Carcedo
Assistant Coach	Sergio Domínguez Cobo
Assistant Coach	Sebastián Corona
Goalkeeping Coach	Silvije Čavlina
Fitness Coach	Edu Caro
Head Analyst	Andreas Kattamis

Managers

As of match played 19 December 2024

Manager name	From	To	Duration	P	W	D	L	Win %
Radmilo Ivančević	1 July 2014	14 October 2014	105 days
Sofoklis Sofokleous	1 November 2014	9 November 2015	1 year, 8 days
José Manuel Roca	17 November 2015	14 December 2015	27 days
Apostolos Makridis	16 December 2015	31 May 2016	167 days
Dimitris Ioannou	14 June 2016	31 May 2017	351 days
Luka Elsner	30 June 2017	21 January 2018	205 days	23	6	6	11	26.09
Steven Pressley	31 January 2018	9 October 2018	251 days	22	8	5	9	36.36
Željko Kopić	19 October 2018	6 November 2019	1 year, 18 days	41	16	11	14	39.02
Jeremy Steele (Caretaker)	6 November 2019	13 December 2019	37 days	5	3	1	1	60
Cameron Toshack	13 December 2019[12]	20 October 2020[13]	312 days	21	8	5	8	38.1
Dmytro Mykhaylenko	20 October 2020[14]	31 January 2021[15]	103 days	16	4	5	7	25
Stephen Constantine	4 February 2021[16]	30 June 2021[17]	146 days	18	12	2	4	66.67
Darko Milanič	30 June 2021[18]	10 May 2022[19]	314 days	33	11	14	8	33.33
Míchel Salgado (Caretaker)	14 May 2022[20]	22 May 2022	8 days	2	1	0	1	50
Henning Berg	11 June 2022[21]	3 April 2023[22]	296 days	33	17	11	5	51.52
Míchel Salgado (Caretaker)	3 April 2023	24 June 2023	82 days	9	3	3	3	33.33
Juan Carlos Carcedo	24 June 2023[7]		1 year, 187 days	70	40	11	19	57.14

References

1. "Στάδιο Στέλιος Κυριακίδης (πρώην Παφιακό Αθλητικό Κέντρο)". Cyprussports.org. Archived from the original on 2021-12-18. Retrieved 2022-03-24.
2. "Limassol second-tier club gets Russian YouTuber makeover". Financial Mirror. 2022-08-18. Archived from the original on 2023-07-31. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
3. ΣΥΜΦΩΝΙΑ ΜΕ ΡΑΤΜΙΛΟ ΙΒΑΝΤΣΕΒΙΤΣ (in Greek). pafosfc.com.cy. 3 July 2014. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
4. "Cypriot Second Division - Participating and promoted teams per season". 2016-06-24. Archived from the original on 2016-06-24. Retrieved 2023-06-06.
5. "lucky88". Archived from the original on 6 June 2023. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
6. "ΤΟΣΟΙ στην Πάφο!". Balla.com.cy. 2022-02-25. Archived from the original on 2022-03-02. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
7. "PAFOS FC NEW HEAD COACH – Juan Carlos Carcedo". pafosfc.com.cy. Pafos FC. 24 June 2023. Archived from the original on 25 June 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
8. Καρτσάκης, Νίκος (18 May 2024). "Ομόνοια - Πάφος 0-3: Έγραψαν ιστορία οι Παφίτες, κατακτώντας το πρώτο Κύπελλο της ιστορίας τους". gazzetta.gr (in Greek). Retrieved May 19, 2024.
9. "Πάφος FC: Με διαγωνισμό το έμβλημα του νέου σωματείου". sentragoal.philenews.com. 3 June 2014. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
10. "Δείτε το νέο έμβλημα της Πάφος F.C!". protathlima.com. 7 June 2014. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
11. "Our Team – PAFOS FC". pafosfc.com.cy. Archived from the original on 24 June 2019.
12. "Cameron Toshack". pafosfc.com.cy/. Pafos FC. 13 December 2019. Retrieved 26 December 2020.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
13. "CONTRACT TERMINATION WITH CAMERON TOSHACK". pafosfc.com.cy/. Pafos FC. 20 October 2020. Archived from the original on 30 October 2020. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
14. "DMYTRO MYKHAYLENKO – nEW HEAD COACH". pafosfc.com.cy/. Pafos FC. 20 October 2020. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
15. "CONTRACT TERMINATION WITH DMYTRO MYKHAILENKO". pafosfc.com.cy/. Pafos FC. 31 January 2021. Archived from the original on 31 January 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
16. "STEPHEN CONSTANTINE / NEW HEAD COACH OF PAFOS FC". pafosfc.com.cy/. Pafos FC. 4 February 2021. Archived from the original on 4 February 2021. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
17. "END OF CONTRACT WITH STEPHEN CONSTANTINE". pafosfc.com.cy/. Pafos FC. 30 June 2021. Retrieved 13 July 2021.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
18. "DARKO MILANIC APPOINTED AS HEAD COACH". pafosfc.com.cy/. Pafos FC. 30 June 2021. Retrieved 13 July 2021.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
19. "Darko Milanic has been relieved of his duties as Pafos FC Head Coach, effective immediately". facebook.com/fcpafos. FC Pafos Facebook. 10 May 2022. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
20. "Pafos FC football advisor Michel Salgado will be in charge for the last two games of the season as an Interim Head Coach". facebook.com/fcpafos. FC Pafos Facebook. 14 May 2022. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
21. "HENNING BERG JOINS PAFOS FC AS NEW HEAD COACH". pafosfc.com.cy. Pafos FC. 11 June 2022. Archived from the original on 24 June 2022. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
22. "PAFOS FC: HENNING BERG RELIEVED OF DUTIES". facebook.com/pafosfc/. Pafos FC Facebook. 3 April 2023. Archived from the original on 7 April 2023. Retrieved 7 April 2023.

External links

• Official website
• Pafos FC on Facebook