Ethnikos Achna FC

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Ethnikos Achna
Full name	Ethnikos Achna
Founded	1968
Ground	Dasaki Stadium, Achna (Capacity 4,500)
Chairman	Kikis Philippou
Manager	Stéphane Demol
League	Cypriot First Division
2007-08	7th
Home colours 　 Away colours

Ethnikos Achna (Greek: Εθνικός Άχνας) is a Cyprus football club based in the village of Achna. The club was founded in 1968. The club's president is Kikis Philippou. Ethnikos Achnas plays in the Dasaki Stadium, which has a capacity of 4,000 seats. It is currently used mostly for football matches and was built in 1997. It is the only Cypriot team to qualify for the UEFA Cup via the Intertoto Cup.

Contents 1 History 1.1 European Competitions 2 Current squad 2.1 Transfers 2008/09 3 Former Players 4 Major Honours and Trophies 5 External links

[edit] History

The club played in the Cypriot Second Division until 1983 when it was promoted to the Cypriot First Division but immediately relegated. Ethnikos was promoted to the First Division again in 1986 and stayed there for four seasons. Another two years in the Second Division ended with promotion to the First Division in 1992, where Ethnikos Achna have remained since.

The team's best overall national ranking is fourth in the 1994/95, 1997/98 and 2006/07 seasons. For first time in the club's history, the club participated in the Cypriot Cup final in 2002, where they were beaten by Anorthosis 0-1.

[edit] European Competitions

Ethnikos Achna has played four times in the UEFA Intertoto Cup: 1998, 2003, 2004 and 2006. The first three times, they were eliminated in the first round. However in 2006, Ethnikos managed to reach the Cup's third round. After eliminating the Albanian team KF Partizani (winning at home 4-2 and losing away in Albania 2-1), they faced the Croatian team NK Osijek and tied both matches, the first leg in Osijek 2-2 and the second 0-0. Ethnikos was the first Cypriot team to advance to the third round of the Intertoto Cup. However, they even topped their achievement through also beating Maccabi Petah Tikva FC (2-0 victory away and 2-3 loss at home), winning that official cup and so they progressed to the UEFA Cup.

After Maccabi Petah Tikva FC Ethnikos eliminated K.S.V. Roeselare (2-1 loss in Belgium and 5-0 victory in Cyprus and so qualified for the first round of the UEFA Cup (which leads to the group stage) where they were eliminated by RC Lens. Ethnikos tied the first leg at home (it was in Neo GSP Stadium, Nicosia) 0-0 and lost 3-1 in France. Because of the success in Intertoto Cup, Ethnikos was awarded by Sports Journalists Union of Cyprus as the Sports Team of the Year of 2006. At the end of the same season, Ethnikos won for third time the fourth position and qualified again in Intertoto Cup.

[edit] Current squad

No. Position Player 2 DF Antonio Lopes 3 DF Daniel Blanco 4 DF Christos Shailis 5 DF Goran Grkinić 6 MF Christos Kotsonis 7 MF Zoran Stjepanović 8 MF Lars Schlichting 10 MF Christos Poyiatzis (Captain) 11 FW Riste Naumov 12 GK Stelios Pattihi 13 FW Patrik Ipavec 14 FW Kyriakos Chatziaros 15 DF Demetris Simov

No. Position Player 16 MF Elipidoforos Elia 17 MF Christofis Pashialis 18 DF Branislav Jovanović 20 MF Ivan Petrović 22 GK Panayiotis Charalambous 23 MF Charalampos Loizou 24 FW Constantinos Georgiades 27 DF Andreas Germanou 28 MF Kyriakos Shimillas 29 FW Levan Kebadze 30 MF Panayiotis Engomitis 33 GK Szabolcs Kemenes

[edit] Transfers 2008/09

In

No. Position Player MF Daniel Edusei (from Egaleo F.C.) MF Eleftherios Eleftheriou (from Enosis Neon Paralimni) GK Mahamadou Sidibè (from PAS Giannina)

Out

No. Position Player GK Guillermo Álvarez (Released) DF Marios Elia (Loan return to APOEL FC) MF Guilherme Weisheimer (Released) DF Aleš Puš (Released)

[edit] Former Players

• Petr Vlček
• Arthur Voskanyan
• Nilton
• Stavros Georgiou
• George Gebro
• Milos Adamović
• Milan Belić
• Dragan Isailović
• Aleksandar Kocić
• Leo Lerinc
• Dusan Radojević
• Ljubiša Vukelja
• Željko Mitrakovič

[edit] Major Honours and Trophies

• Cypriot Cup:
  • Runner-up (1): 2002

• Cypriot Second Division:
  • Champions (2): 1986, 1992

• UEFA Intertoto Cup:
  • Winners (1): 2006

[edit] External links

• Official site

UEFA Intertoto Cup 2007 v • d • e

Overall Champions Hamburg Other winners of Third Round Aalborg • Atlético Madrid • Blackburn Rovers • Hammarby • Leiria • Lens • Oţelul Galaţi • Rapid Wien • Sampdoria • Tobol Other contestants Ararat Yerevan • Baku • Birkirkara • Cherno More • Chornomorets Odessa • Cliftonville • Cork City • Dacia Chişinău • Differdange 03 • Dinaburg • Ethnikos Achna • Gent • Gloria Bistriţa • Grbalj • Hajduk Kula • Honka • Klaksvík • Legia Warsaw • Llanelli • Maccabi Haifa • Makedonija GP • Maribor • OFI Crete • Rubin Kazan • Sant Julià • Shakhtyor • Slavija • Slovan Bratislava • Slovan Liberec • St. Gallen • Trabzonspor • TVMK • Utrecht • Valur • Vėtra • Vllaznia • Zagreb • Zalaegerszeg • Zestaponi

Cypriot First Division 2008-09 v • d • e
AEK | AEL | AE Paphos | Alki | Anorthosis | APEP | APOEL | Apollon | APOP Kinyras Peyias | Atromitos | Doxa | EN Paralimni | Ethnikos Achna | Omonia
Football in Cyprus v • d • e
League competitions CFA Cup competitions First Division National team Cypriot Cup Second Division U-21 CFA Shield League system List of clubs List of venues

v • d • e Ethnikos Achna – current squad 1 Álvarez • 3 Blanco • 4 Siailis • 5 Grkinić • 6 Kotsonis • 7 Stjepanović • 8 Lars • 9 M. Elia • 10 Poyiatzis (c) • 11 Naumov • 12 Pattihi • 13 Ipavec • 15 Simov • 16 Elia • 17 Pashialis • 18 Jovanović • 20 Petrović • 23 Loizou • 24 Georgiades • 25 Guilherme • 26 Puš • 27 Germanou • 28 Shimillas • 29 Kebadze • 30 Engomitis • 33 Kemenes • Manager: Svetozar Šapurić