The Pot 4 Club – APOEL FC

We all know everything about the major clubs that play Champions League football year-in, year-out, right? Pot 1 – with its Chelseas, Arsenals and Real Madrids – is old news. Pot 4 is where the fun’s at. Introducing a new feature on Just Football: The Pot 4 Club. Here we take a look at all eight Pot 4 clubs, with the lowdown from the writers who know them best. Starting with Cypriot-based journalist Andreas Vou and a look at APOEL FC.

Club: APOEL FC

Straight outta’: Cyprus

Group: G – with FC Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk and Zenit St Petersburg

After never previously managing to reach the group stages of the Champions League, APOEL FC have now achieved this twice in three years. The Cypriot champions have been given a tough group with FC Porto, Zenit St. Petersburg and Shakhtar Donetsk – all teams to have won the Europa League in the last three years. Preparation for Europe’s biggest stage has been made even harder for APOEL with the devastating news of veteran Christos Kontis suffering a heart-attack that has retired him from football.

The club endured a long summer having to start their campaign from the 2nd qualifying round in mid-July. APOEL defeated Albanian champions KS Skënderbeu and Slovakian side Slovan Bratislava to get into the play-off stage where they faced Wisla Krakow. After a first leg 1-0 defeat in Poland, the Cypriots took control of the return leg, seemingly cruising at 2-0 up midway through the second half.

Despite the home side’s dominance, Wisla scored a stunner out of nowhere on 71 minutes to put the Polish side ahead on away goals and leave APOEL’s Champions League dream in huge doubt. Despite extreme tiredness in the 35C degree heat in Nicosia, there was still enough in the tank to make one more golden chance, one that Brazilian striker Ailton took instinctively with a quick touch followed by a superb shot on the turn that proved too hot for Sergei Pareiko in the Wisla goal to take APOEL into Europe’s elite competition after a one year absence.

Brief History

APOEL are the most successful club in Cyprus having won the national division a record 21 times and the cup 19 times. The translation of APOEL’s initials is Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia. The club was initially formed by a Greek, Georgios Poulias, and the club has an extreme right-wing political stance that has always favored the island being part of Greece which is why you will see the stands flooded with Greek flags as opposed to Cypriot.

Traditions

You will also notice that the majority of fans wear orange rather than the colour of their home jersey, yellow. The story behind this came in 1992 when the team travelled to Athens for the first game of the Champions League qualifying rounds to play AEK, who also wear the same colour strip. AEK’s ‘ultras’ wore yellow jackets so the APOEL’s main supporters group, the ‘Pan.Sy.Fi’ wanted to have something that stood out and therefore turned their black jackets inside out which bared the colour orange. This caught on to the rest of the APOEL fans when they returned home and the tradition has remained ever since, giving birth to the nickname ‘The Oranges’.

Stadium and fans

APOEL do not own their own stadium and thus play their home games at the GSP National Stadium, as do Olympiakos Nicosia and fierce rivals Omonoia while Anorthosis Famagusta also used it for their Champions League campaign in 2008/09. The ground fits a modest 23,000 fans but will unquestionably produce one of the most intimidating atmospheres in this year’s Champions League. They have an incredibly loyal following both home and away, as any Chelsea fan will tell you in 2009 when 6,000 fans travelled to Stamford Bridge to see their team net an 87th minute equalizer to claim a historic 2-2 draw.

Style of play

The Oranges play an expansive 4-2-3-1 formation with a philosophy of short passing, patient build up and an extra gear going forward with an explosive forward line consisting of players with great skill and flair: Gustavo Manduca and Ivan Tričkovski cause the most danger to opposing defences from the wings and link up with the lone striker Ailton to great effect.

Ones to watch

Helio Pinto (ex-Sevilla) converted from a left winger and Nuno Morais (ex-Chelsea) a former centre back now patrolling the midfield; Pinto’s ability to dictate play with composure and creativity complements Morais’ defensive determination and doggedness. What is also impressive is the Portuguese duo’s tendency to interchange roles from one helping the attack and the other aiding the defence. This part of the team is the most compatible to the Champions League.

Their weakest point by far is their defense which is often left exposed against more sophisticated opposition due to the full backs attacking nature. It is no coincidence then that both Boaventura on the left and Savvas Poursaitides on the right are former wingers.

APOEL have made a number of new signings since qualifying for the group stages and tightening up the defence was clearly the main objective. Former Barcelona B Goalkeeper Urko Pardo has been brought in after a successful year with Greek champions Olympiacos. Brazilian center backs Marcelo Oliveira and Kaka will battle it out to replace the unfortunate Christos Kontis, with Kaka being able to lend some useful knowledge about group rivals FC Porto having played against them for Braga in last year’s Europa League Final. Plus, former Hull City playmaker Tijani Belaid will provide competition to Marcinho whose slightly sluggish performances are starting to be noticed by the APOEL manager.

The boss

Ivan Jovanovic is in his second spell at the club and has guided the club to both of APOEL’s Champions League group qualifications. A very precise and articulate manager, tactically astute, the Serbian knows exactly what to say in order to get the best of his players. Gives praise where it’s due but also keeps them well grounded before a big occasion.

When it comes to transfers, nearly all Cypriot clubs sign aging average foreign players on one-year contracts but on the contrary APOEL have managed to retain their top players and build a solid foundation. This stability is what separates them from the others in the domestic league.

Outlook / Prediction

If APOEL are to have a successful campaign, which would be to finish 3rd in their group, they need to become more disciplined as a team defensively. In the domestic league they are the clear favourites in most games which is why they can afford to play with such an offensive line-up but they will be severely punished with the same setup when they are up against the likes of Jadson, Moutinho and Danny.

You may not know

Former Liverpool legend Terry McDermott who won the European Cup three times with the Reds finished his career at APOEL, making 50 appearances.

Next to join The Pot 4 Club – Chelsea’s opponents Genk. Follow Just Football on Twitter to keep updated.

Andreas Vou is a Barcelona-based journalist and columnist for Just Football. He’s on Twitter, too.

APOEL FC, Champions League, Cyprus, Cyprus First Division, The Pot 4 Club