2016–17 Cypriot First Division

Cyta Championship
Season 2016–17
Champions APOEL
26th title
Relegated Karmiotissa
Anagennisi
AEZ
Champions League APOEL
Europa League AEK
Apollon
AEL
Matches played 242
Goals scored 696 (2.88 per match)
Top goalscorer Matt Derbyshire
(24 goals)
Biggest home win APOEL 7–0 AEZ
(22 January 2017)
Biggest away win Karmiotissa 0–6 Apollon
(20 November 2016)
Highest scoring Ethnikos 5–3 Anagennisi
(1 October 2016)

Karmiotissa 5–3 Ethnikos
(12 March 2017)
Longest winning run 8 matches
AEK
Apollon
Longest unbeaten run 22 matches
Apollon
Longest winless run 26 matches
Anagennisi
Longest losing run 9 matches
Anagennisi
Highest attendance 14,841
APOEL 0–0 AEK
(7 May 2017)
Lowest attendance 2
AEZ 0–4 Ermis
(18 February 2017)
Total attendance 403,207
Average attendance 1,666
2017–18
All statistics correct as of 21 May 2017.

The 2016–17 Cypriot First Division was the 78th season of the Cypriot top-level football league. The season began on 20 August 2016 and ended on 21 May 2017. The fixtures were announced on 7 July 2016. APOEL were the defending champions.

APOEL were crowned champions for the 26th time and a fifth time in a row, securing the title after beating title arch-rivals Omonia 3–1 at the GSP Stadium on 13 May 2017.

Teams

Promotion and relegation (pre-season)

Enosis Neon Paralimni and Ayia Napa were relegated at the end of the first-phase of the 2015–16 season after finishing in the bottom two places of the table. They were joined by Pafos FC, who finished at the bottom of the second-phase relegation group.

The relegated teams were replaced by 2015–16 Second Division champions Karmiotissa, runners-up AEZ Zakakiou and third-placed team Anagennisi Deryneia.

Stadia and locations

Note: Table lists clubs in alphabetical order.
Team Location Stadium Capacity
AEK Larnaca AEK Arena 7,400
AEL Limassol Tsirion Stadium 13,331
AEZ Zakaki, Limassol Pafiako Stadium 9,394
Anagennisi Deryneia, Famagusta Tasos Markou Stadium 5,800
Anorthosis Larnaca Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium 10,230
APOEL Nicosia GSP Stadium 22,859
Apollon Limassol Tsirion Stadium 13,331
Aris Limassol Tsirion Stadium 13,331
Doxa Peristerona, Nicosia Makario Stadium 16,000
Ermis Aradippou, Larnaca Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium 10,230
Ethnikos Achna, Famagusta Dasaki Stadium 7,000
Karmiotissa Pano Polemidia, Limassol GSZ Stadium 13,032
Nea Salamina Larnaca Ammochostos Stadium 5,500
Omonia Nicosia GSP Stadium 22,859

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 Imanol Idiakez David Català Puma A.J.K.
AEL Bruno Baltazar Marios Nicolaou Nike Kepaky
AEZ Demetris Demetriou Andreas Mammides Luanvi CRI Group
Anagennisi Zouvanis Zouvani Giorgos Giannakou Eldera Kymco
Anorthosis Ronny Levy João Victor Macron Olympia
APOEL Thomas Christiansen Nektarios Alexandrou Nike Pari-Match
Apollon Sofronis Avgousti Giorgos Vasiliou Puma Carabao
Aris Nikolas Martides Christos Theophilou Nike Europcar
Doxa Loukas Hadjiloukas Edmar Joma Murphy's
Ermis Carlos Corberán Cristian Sîrghi Legea Mybet
Ethnikos Valdas Ivanauskas Christos Poyiatzis Legea
Karmiotissa Liasos Louka Giannis Taralidis GEMS MoneySafe
Nea Salamina Toni Conceição Giannis Skopelitis GEMS Vitex
Omonia Ioakim Ioakim (caretaker) Renato Margaça Puma Gree

Managerial changes

Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment
Nea Salamina Giorgos Lagkaditis End of tenure as caretaker End of 2015–16 season Pre-season Eugen Neagoe 6 May 2016
Anorthosis Neophytos Larkou End of contract End of 2015–16 season Antonio Puche 17 May 2016
APOEL Georgios Kostis End of tenure as caretaker End of 2015–16 season Thomas Christiansen 1 June 2016
AEK Demetris Demetriou End of tenure as caretaker End of 2015–16 season Imanol Idiakez 31 May 2016
Omonia Vladan Milojević End of contract End of 2015–16 season John Carver 4 June 2016
Aris Kostas Kaiafas End of contract End of 2015–16 season Thalis Theodoridis 24 June 2016
Nea Salamina Eugen Neagoe Sacked 19 September 2016 11th Staikos Vergetis 20 September 2016
Ethnikos Danilo Dončić Sacked 28 September 2016 14th Valdas Ivanauskas 4 October 2016
Anorthosis Antonio Puche Sacked 18 October 2016 8th Ronny Levy 26 October 2016
Anagennisi Adamos Adamou Resigned 18 October 2016 14th Savvas Poursaitidis 23 October 2016
Aris Thalis Theodoridis Sacked 24 October 2016 13th Frederik Vanderbiest 1 November 2016
AEZ Nikolas Martides Resigned 16 November 2016 11th Demetris Demetriou 12 December 2016
Doxa Loukas Hadjiloukas Resigned 28 November 2016 13th Carlos Corberán 29 November 2016
Apollon Pedro Emanuel Sacked 11 December 2016 4th Sofronis Avgousti 16 December 2016
Aris Frederik Vanderbiest Resigned 3 January 2017 11th Nikolas Martides 4 January 2017
Ermis Nicos Panayiotou Mutual consent 9 January 2017 6th Giorgos Kosma 9 January 2017
Doxa Carlos Corberán Sacked 24 January 2017 12th Savvas Poursaitidis 25 January 2017
Anagennisi Savvas Poursaitidis Signed by Doxa 25 January 2017 14th Zouvanis Zouvani 25 January 2017
Ermis Giorgos Kosma Sacked 28 January 2017 6th Carlos Corberán 30 January 2017
Omonia John Carver Mutual consent 23 February 2017 5th Ioakim Ioakim (caretaker) 23 February 2017
Nea Salamina Staikos Vergetis Resigned 6 March 2017 8th Toni Conceição 16 March 2017
AEL Pambos Christodoulou Mutual consent 7 March 2017 4th Dionysis Dionysiou 7 March 2017
AEL Dionysis Dionysiou Mutual consent 22 March 2017 5th Bruno Baltazar 22 March 2017
Doxa Savvas Poursaitidis Resigned 29 April 2017 12th Loukas Hadjiloukas 2 May 2017

Regular season

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 APOEL 26 19 5 2 62 16 +46 62 Qualification for the championship round
2 AEK Larnaca 26 17 7 2 54 19 +35 58
3 Apollon Limassol 26 17 6 3 56 19 +37 57
4 AEL Limassol 26 15 6 5 40 22 +18 51
5 Omonia 26 15 5 6 56 37 +19 50
6 Anorthosis Famagusta 26 10 9 7 39 27 +12 39
7 Ermis Aradippou 26 10 5 11 35 41 −6 35 Qualification for the relegation round
8 Nea Salamis Famagusta 26 8 7 11 22 33 −11 31
9 Ethnikos Achna 26 8 6 12 42 46 −4 30
10 Karmiotissa Pano Polemidion 26 7 6 13 30 53 −23 27
11 Aris Limassol 26 6 6 14 30 52 −22 24
12 Doxa Katokopias 26 5 5 16 20 38 −18 20
13 Anagennisi Deryneia (R) 26 0 7 19 18 58 −40 7 Relegation to the Cypriot Second Division
14 AEZ Zakakiou (R) 26 1 8 17 20 63 −43 5
Source: CFA (in Greek), UEFA, 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).
(R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. AEZ Zakakiou were deducted six points for suspicious betting activity.

Results

Home \ Away AEK AEL AEZ AND ANO APOE APOL ARI DOX ERM ETH KAR NSL OMO
AEK Larnaca 2–1 1–1 6–0 4–1 1–1 1–3 4–0 2–0 1–0 1–0 3–0 2–0 4–2
AEL Limassol 1–1 1–1 1–0 0–0 1–0 2–1 3–0 1–0 1–2 0–0 4–1 3–0 1–0
AEZ Zakakiou 2–5 0–3 1–1 0–2 1–4 0–4 2–3 0–4 0–4 3–1 3–3 1–5 0–1
Anagennisi Deryneia 0–0 1–3 0–0 1–2 2–4 0–1 1–2 0–1 2–2 2–3 0–1 0–1 2–2
Anorthosis Famagusta 0–1 0–0 2–2 3–0 0–0 0–0 2–0 3–0 2–2 4–2 0–1 0–0 2–2
APOEL 1–1 3–0 7–0 2–0 2–1 1–1 5–0 2–0 3–0 2–0 4–1 1–0 2–1
Apollon Limassol 0–1 2–0 2–1 4–0 1–1 2–0 0–0 3–1 3–0 3–2 3–0 1–1 2–1
Aris Limassol 1–1 0–3 0–0 4–0 1–2 0–3 1–4 4–0 0–2 3–1 1–1 1–2 2–4
Doxa Katokopias 1–1 1–3 1–0 0–0 0–2 0–2 0–1 3–1 1–2 0–0 1–2 0–0 2–3
Ermis Aradippou 2–3 0–1 2–1 1–0 1–4 1–1 3–2 1–2 1–0 2–1 2–0 1–2 2–2
Ethnikos Achna 0–3 2–2 3–1 5–3 2–1 2–3 2–2 2–0 2–0 3–1 4–2 0–0 1–2
Karmiotissa 0–3 0–1 0–0 2–2 1–4 0–1 0–6 3–3 1–0 3–0 2–2 1–0 0–1
Nea Salamis Famagusta 0–1 1–3 2–0 2–0 2–1 0–4 0–3 0–0 1–3 0–0 1–0 1–3 1–1
Omonia Nicosia 2–1 4–1 2–0 5–1 2–0 1–4 1–2 3–1 1–1 3–1 3–2 4–2 3–0
Source: Cyprus Football Association (in Greek)
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.

Qualification to Championship round
Qualification to Relegation round
Relegation to 2017–18 Cypriot Second Division
Team ╲ Round 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
APOEL 9 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
AEK 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 2 2 2 2 4 4 3 3 2
Apollon 1 4 3 5 6 5 6 5 5 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 2 2 3
AEL 5 2 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 3 2 3 3 3 3 2 2 4 4 4
Omonia 3 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
Anorthosis 8 9 6 6 7 7 8 8 8 7 7 8 9 10 10 9 8 8 9 9 8 6 6 6 6 6
Ermis 11 13 8 7 5 6 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 7 6 6 6 7 9 7 7 7
Nea Salamina 14 11 14 11 8 10 12 9 9 8 8 7 8 9 7 7 7 6 7 8 9 9 7 8 8 8
Ethnikos 12 14 13 14 14 12 10 11 10 10 9 10 10 8 9 10 10 9 8 7 7 8 8 9 9 9
Karmiotissa 7 8 10 10 12 9 7 7 7 9 10 9 7 7 8 8 9 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
Aris 6 7 9 9 11 11 13 13 13 13 12 11 11 11 11 11 11 12 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11
Doxa 13 12 12 13 10 13 11 12 12 12 12 13 12 12 12 12 12 11 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12
Anagennisi 10 10 11 12 13 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 13
AEZ 2 6 7 8 9 8 9 10 11 11 11 12 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 14
Source:

Championship round

Table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 APOEL (C) 36 24 8 4 77 24 +53 80 Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round
2 AEK Larnaca 36 22 10 4 66 28 +38 76 Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round
3 Apollon Limassol 36 21 10 5 71 30 +41 73 Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round
4 AEL Limassol 36 19 9 8 53 36 +17 66 Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round
5 Omonia 36 17 6 13 68 57 +11 57
6 Anorthosis Famagusta 36 12 11 13 48 41 +7 47
Source: CFA (in Greek), UEFA, 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 champion or UEFA competitions).
(C) Champions
Notes:

Results

Home \ Away AEK AEL ANO APOE APOL OMO
AEK Larnaca 1–1 1–0 2–1 1–0 1–1
AEL Limassol 2–1 2–0 1–4 1–1 3–2
Anorthosis Famagusta 0–1 0–1 0–1 3–1 4–3
APOEL 0–0 2–0 1–1 2–2 1–0
Apollon Limassol 3–2 1–1 1–1 1–0 3–0
Omonia Nicosia 1–2 2–1 2–0 1–3 0–2
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.

Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round
Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round
Team ╲ Round 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36
APOEL 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
AEK 2 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2
Apollon 3 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3
AEL 4 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Omonia 5 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
Anorthosis 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
Source:

Relegation round

Table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Relegation
7 Nea Salamis Famagusta 36 12 9 15 33 44 −11 45
8 Ethnikos Achna 36 11 10 15 57 66 −9 43
9 Ermis Aradippou 36 14 6 16 51 61 −10 42
10 Aris Limassol 36 11 8 17 47 65 −18 41
11 Doxa Katokopias 36 10 7 19 40 52 −12 37
12 Karmiotissa Pano Polemidion (R) 36 10 7 19 47 71 −24 37 Relegation to the Cypriot Second Division
Source: CFA, UEFA, 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 champion or UEFA competitions).
(R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. Ermis Aradippou were deducted six points for suspicious betting activity.
  2. Head to head record: Doxa: 6 points (GD: +2), Karmiotissa: 6 points (GD: –2)

Results

Home \ Away ARI DOX ERM ETH KAR NSL
Aris Limassol 4–1 2–0 0–1 3–2 1–1
Doxa Katokopias 0–1 2–1 3–3 3–0 0–3
Ermis Aradippou 2–1 1–5 3–4 3–1 3–0
Ethnikos Achna 1–1 0–4 1–1 1–1 0–2
Karmiotissa 5–1 1–2 0–1 5–3 2–0
Nea Salamis Famagusta 0–3 0–0 4–1 0–1 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.

Positions by round

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

Relegation to 2017–18 Cypriot Second Division
Team ╲ Round 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36
Nea Salamina 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 9 7 7
Ethnikos 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 8 10 8
Ermis 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 8 9
Aris 11 10 10 11 10 10 10 10 9 10
Doxa 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 11 11 11
Karmiotissa 10 11 11 10 11 11 11 12 12 12
Source:

Season statistics

Hat-tricks

# Player For Against Result Date
1. Konstantinos Pangalos AEZ Ethnikos 3–1 21 August 2016
2. Nassir Maachi4 Nea Salamina AEZ 1–5 24 September 2016
3. Nika Kacharava4 Ethnikos Karmiotissa 4–2 29 October 2016
4. Matt Derbyshire Omonia Ethnikos 3–2 4 January 2017
5. Pieros Sotiriou APOEL Aris 5–0 8 January 2017
6. Edward Mashinya Ermis AEZ 0–4 18 February 2017
7. André Alves Anorthosis Ethnikos 4–2 19 February 2017
8. Rogério Martins Aris Ethnikos 3–1 4 March 2017
9. Alejandro Barbaro Karmiotissa Aris 5–1 21 May 2017
10. Nassir Maachi Nea Salamina Doxa 0–3 21 May 2017
  • 4 Player scored 4 goals.

Scoring

Discipline