2018–19 Cypriot First Division

The 2018–19 Cypriot First Division was the 80th season of the Cypriot top-level football league.

Cyta Championship

Season	2018–19
Champions	APOEL 28th title
Relegated	Alki Oroklini Ermis
UEFA Champions League	APOEL
UEFA Europa League	AEK AEL Apollon
Matches played	162
Goals scored	534 (3.3 per match)
Top goalscorer	Adam Nemec (16 goals)
Biggest home win	Apollon 5–0 E.N. Paralimni (28 September 2018)[1] Apollon 5–0 Ermis (20 October 2018)[2]
Biggest away win	Doxa 0–5 AEK Larnaca (21 January 2019)[3]
Highest scoring	E.N. Paralimni 3–5 Nea Salamina (2 September 2018)[4]
← 2017–18 2019–20 → All statistics correct as of 19 May 2019.

Teams

Promotion and relegation (pre-season)

Aris Limassol and Ethnikos Achna were relegated at the end of the first phase of the 2017–18 season after finishing in the bottom two places of the table. They were joined by Olympiakos Nicosia, who finished at the bottom of the second-phase relegation group.

The relegated teams were replaced by 2017–18 Second Division champions Enosis Neon Paralimni.

Stadiums and locations

AEK
Alki
Anorthosis
Nea Salamina

AEL
Apollon

APOEL
Omonia
Doxa

ENP

Ermis

Pafos FC

Locations of the 2018–19 Cypriot First Division teams.

Note: Table lists clubs in alphabetical order.

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
AEK	Larnaca	AEK Arena, Larnaca	7,400
AEL	Limassol	Tsirio Stadium, Limassol	13,331
Alki	Oroklini, Larnaca	Ammochostos Stadium, Larnaca	5,500
Anorthosis	Famagusta	Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium, Larnaca	10,230
APOEL	Nicosia	GSP Stadium, Nicosia	22,859
Apollon	Limassol	Tsirio Stadium, Limassol	13,331
Doxa	Katokopia, Nicosia	Makario Stadium, Nicosia	16,000
EN Paralimni	Paralimni, Famagusta	Tasos Markou Stadium, Paralimni	5,800
Ermis	Aradippou, Larnaca	Ammochostos Stadium, Larnaca	5,500
Nea Salamina	Famagusta	Ammochostos Stadium, Larnaca	5,500
Omonia	Nicosia	GSP Stadium, Nicosia	22,859
Pafos	Paphos	Stelios Kyriakides Stadium, Paphos	9,394

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players and Managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team	Head coach	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
AEK Larnaca	Imanol Idiakez	David Català	Puma	A.J.K.
AEL	Dušan Kerkez	Kevin Lafrance	Nike	MegaBet Plus
Alki	Costas Sakkas	Urko Pardo	Capelli	Alexander College
Anorthosis	Jurgen Streppel	João Victor	Nike	MegaBet Plus
APOEL	Paolo Tramezzani	Nuno Morais	Nike	Pari-Match
Apollon	Sofronis Avgousti	Giorgos Vasiliou	Puma	Stoiximan
Doxa Katokopias	Loukas Hadjiloukas	Bogdan Mitrea	Nike	Victory Ammunition
EN Paralimni	Giorgos Kosma	Eyong Enoh	Macron	Paralimni Marina
Ermis Aradippou	Demetris Daskalakis	Yaroslav Martynyuk	Joma	Cablenet
Nea Salamina	Savvas Poursaitidis	Constantinos Mintikkis	Zeus	Vitex
Omonia	Yannis Anastasiou	Demetris Christofi	Puma	Fonbet
Pafos FC	Željko Kopić	Zdeněk Folprecht	Jako	Korantina Homes

Regular season

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	APOEL	22	15	4	3	45	20	+25	49	Qualification for the Championship round
2	Apollon Limassol	22	14	5	3	50	17	+33	47
3	AEL Limassol	22	14	3	5	35	25	+10	45
4	AEK Larnaca	22	11	6	5	37	16	+21	39
5	Omonia	22	9	4	9	25	24	+1	31[a]
6	Nea Salamis Famagusta	22	9	4	9	28	30	−2	31[a]
7	Anorthosis Famagusta[b]	22	9	7	6	27	26	+1	28	Qualification for the Relegation round
8	Pafos FC[c]	22	7	6	9	24	36	−12	21
9	Doxa Katokopias	22	5	5	12	28	39	−11	20
10	Enosis Neon Paralimni	22	4	5	13	17	38	−21	17[d]
11	Alki Oroklini	22	4	5	13	19	43	−24	17[d]
12	Ermis Aradippou	22	2	4	16	19	40	−21	10

Source: Cyprus Football Association, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Head-to-head away goals scored (only if two teams); 6) Goal difference; 7) Goals scored; 8) Play-off (only if deciding championship round, relegation round or relegation).^[7]
Notes:

1. Head to head record: Omonia 3–1 Nea Salamis, Nea Salamis 1–0 Omonia.
2. Anorthosis were deducted six points for use of unregistered player on a game against Apollon on 2 February 2019.^[5]
3. Pafos FC were deducted six points for use of unregistered player on a game against AEK Larnaca on 2 January 2019.^[6]
4. Head to head record: Paralimni 2–0 Alki, Alki 1–2 Paralimni.

Results

Home \ Away	AEK	AEL	ALK	ANO	APOE	APOL	DOX	ENP	ERM	NSL	OMO	PAF
AEK Larnaca	—	0–1	2–0	3–0	1–0	0–0	3–0	3–0	2–2	0–1	1–0	3–0[a]
AEL Limassol	0–0	—	5–1	0–3	0–1	0–3	2–0	4–1	3–2	3–2	2–1	1–0
Alki Oroklini	0–3	1–3	—	0–0	2–4	1–3	2–1	1–2	0–2	2–0	0–2	3–3
Anorthosis Famagusta	1–2	0–1	0–0	—	2–3	0–3[b]	3–1	2–0	2–1	1–0	0–0	2–2
APOEL	2–2	0–0	0–0	4–0	—	5–1	2–5	3–0	2–0	4–0	2–0	1–2
Apollon Limassol	3–3	0–0	3–0	1–2	1–2	—	2–0	5–0	5–0	1–0	2–1	5–1
Doxa Katokopias	0–5	3–4	4–0	0–1	1–2	1–1	—	2–1	1–1	1–1	1–2	3–2
Enosis Neon Paralimni	2–1	1–2	2–0	1–1	0–2	0–2	0–1	—	2–0	3–5	1–1	1–1
Ermis Aradippou	1–2	0–1	2–4	2–3	0–1	0–3	1–1	0–0	—	0–1	0–2	3–0
Nea Salamis Famagusta	1–1	4–1	1–1	0–2	2–3	0–3	1–0	0–0	1–0	—	1–0	3–0
Omonia Nicosia	1–0	2–0	1–0	1–1	1–2	0–2	2–2	1–0	2–1	3–1	—	2–4
Pafos FC	1–0	0–2	0–1	1–1	0–0	1–1	1–0	1–0	2–1	1–3	1–0	—

Source: Cyprus Football Association
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.
Notes:

1. Original AEK-PAF result of 1-1 was overturned upon appeal. Η απόφαση του Αθλητικού Δικαστή για την ένσταση της ΑΕΚ Λάρνακας (πλήρες σκεπτικό) (in Greek). Cyprus Football Association. 16 January 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
2. Original ANO-APOL result of 0-1 was overturned upon appeal.^[8]

Positions by Round

The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. In order to preserve chronological progress, any postponed matches are not included in the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards. For example, if a match is scheduled for matchday 13, but then postponed and played between days 16 and 17, it will be added to the standings for day 16.

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
APOEL	5	8	2	5	4	5	3	2	2	3	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	1
Apollon	6	9	7	2	2	2	2	3	3	1	3	3	3	3	3	3	2	2	3	3	1	2
AEL Limassol	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	2	2	2	3	3	2	2	3	3
AEK Larnaca	4	7	9	7	6	3	4	5	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	5	4	4	4	4	4	4
Omonia	2	5	3	4	7	8	8	8	7	7	8	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	6	5
Nea Salamis	8	3	4	8	5	4	5	4	5	5	5	6	6	6	6	4	6	5	6	6	5	6
Anorthosis	3	2	5	6	8	7	7	7	6	6	6	5	5	5	5	6	5	6	5	5	7	7
Pafos	9	6	10	11	11	12	9	10	11	9	10	9	9	9	11	12	12	11	11	9	9	8
Doxa Katokopias	10	12	8	3	3	6	6	6	8	8	7	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	9
EN Paralimni	7	10	11	9	10	9	10	9	9	11	9	10	10	11	10	10	10	10	9	10	10	10
Alki Oroklini	11	11	12	12	12	10	11	11	12	12	12	12	11	10	9	9	9	9	10	11	11	11
Ermis	12	4	6	10	9	11	12	12	10	10	11	11	12	12	12	11	11	12	12	12	12	12

	Qualification to Championship round
	Qualification to Relegation round

Updated to match(es) played on 24 February 2019. Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Championship round

Championship round table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	APOEL (C)	32	21	7	4	66	25	+41	70	Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round
2	AEK Larnaca	32	18	8	6	51	23	+28	62	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round
3	Apollon Limassol	32	17	7	8	64	32	+32	58
4	AEL Limassol	32	17	4	11	49	47	+2	55	Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round[a]
5	Nea Salamis Famagusta	32	12	8	12	41	47	−6	44
6	Omonia	32	10	6	16	36	45	−9	36

Updated to match(es) played on 20 May 2019. Source: CFA (in Greek)
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Head-to-head away goals scored (only if two teams); 6) Goal difference; 7) Goals scored; 8) Play-off (only if deciding champion or UEFA competitions).^[9]
(C) Champions
Notes:

1. AEL Limassol qualified for the Europa League second qualifying round by winning the 2018–19 Cypriot Cup.

Results

Home \ Away	AEK	AEL	APOE	APOL	NSF	OMO
AEK Larnaca	—	1–0	1–0	2–1	1–1	2–1
AEL Limassol	2–3	—	0–3	0–3	5–2	3–2
APOEL	0–0	4–0	—	3–0	4–0	1–1
Apollon Limassol	1–2	1–1	1–3	—	1–1	3–1
Nea Salamis Famagusta	1–0	0–2	1–1	2–1	—	5–2
Omonia Nicosia	0–2	3–1	1–2	0–2	0–0	—

Updated to match(es) played on 20 May 2019. Source: Cyprus Football Association
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Positions by Round

The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches.

Team ╲ Round	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32
APOEL	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
AEK Larnaca	4	4	4	4	3	3	3	3	2	2
Apollon	2	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	3
AEL Limassol	3	3	3	3	4	4	4	4	4	4
Nea Salamis	5	5	5	6	5	5	5	5	5	5
Omonia	6	6	6	5	6	6	6	6	6	6

	Qualification to Champions League first qualifying round
	Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Relegation round

Relegation round table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Relegation
7	Anorthosis Famagusta[a]	32	12	11	9	42	41	+1	41
8	Pafos FC[b]	32	12	8	12	39	50	−11	38
9	Doxa Katokopias	32	9	8	15	47	50	−3	35
10	Enosis Neon Paralimni	32	9	8	15	35	51	−16	35
11	Alki Oroklini (R)	32	10	5	17	35	58	−23	35	Relegation to the Cypriot Second Division
12	Ermis Aradippou (R)	32	3	4	25	29	65	−36	13

Source: CFA
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Head-to-head away goals scored (only if two teams); 6) Goal difference; 7) Goals scored; 8) Play-off (only if deciding champion or UEFA competitions).^[12]
(R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Anorthosis were deducted six points for use of unregistered player on a game against Apollon on 2 February 2019.^[10]
2. Pafos FC were deducted six points for use of unregistered player on a game against AEK Larnaca on 2 January 2019.^[11]

Results

Home \ Away	ALK	ANO	DOX	ENP	ERM	PAF
Alki Oroklini	—	1–0	1–4	2–0	2–1	2–3
Anorthosis Famagusta	3–0	—	0–3	1–1	3–2	1–1
Doxa Katokopias	0–1	3–3	—	2–2	1–0	0–0
Enosis Neon Paralimni	3–2	2–2	1–0	—	4–1	1–2
Ermis Aradippou	1–2	2–1	0–4	1–2	—	1–2
Pafos FC	0–3	0–1	3–2	0–2	4–1	—

Updated to match(es) played on 20 May 2019. Source: Cyprus Football Association
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Positions by Round

The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches.

Team ╲ Round	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32
Anorthosis	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7
Pafos	8	9	11	9	8	8	8	8	9	8
Doxa Katokopias	9	10	8	8	9	9	9	10	10	9
EN Paralimni	10	11	9	10	11	11	11	11	11	10
Alki Oroklini	11	8	10	11	10	10	10	9	9	11
Ermis	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12

	Relegation to Cypriot Second Division

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Season statistics

Top scorers

As of 20 May 2019.^[13]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Adam Nemec	Pafos	16
2	Ivan Trichkovski	AEK Larnaca	15
	Rubén Jurado	AEL
4	Nuno Morais	APOEL	13
5	Berat Sadik	Doxa	12
6	Facundo Pereyra	Apollon	11
	Kingsley Onuegbu	Nea Salamina
8	Michal Ďuriš	Anorthosis	10
	Ivan Carlos França Coelho	Alki Oroklini
	Thiago	Nea Salamina
	Emilio Zelaya	Apollon

Hat-tricks

#	Player	For	Against	Result	Date
1.	Berat Sadik4	Doxa	APOEL	5–2	23 September 2018
2.	Ivan Trichkovski	AEK Larnaca	Doxa	5–0	21 January 2019
2.	Paul Batin	Doxa	Ermis	4–0	31 March 2019

• ⁴ Player scored 4 goals.

Attendances

#	Football club	Average attendance[14]
1	APOEL	4,414
2	Omonoia	4,143
3	Apollon FC	2,514
4	Anorthosis Famagusta	2,291
5	AEK Larnaca	2,060
6	AEL Limassol	1,563
7	Nea Salamis Famagusta	988
8	Pafos FC	676
9	Enosis Neon Paralimni	647
10	Alki Oroklini	425
11	Ermis Aradippou	412
12	Doxa Katokopias	306