The club did not exist 12 years ago + what the stadium looks like

Ashley Davis27/08/2025

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Article by Alexandru Tomuțiu – published on Wednesday, August 27, 2025, 10:22 / Updated Wednesday, August 27, 2025 10:22

FC Pafos Cypriot club was founded in June 2014 and, after eleven years of existence, qualified on the main panel of the Champions League. He defeated the Red Star in Belgrade (2-1) in the tour, and at home it was enough (1-1) to reach the European elite.

The club that last season won the championship in Cyprus for the first season was established by the merger of AEK Kouklia and AEP PAFOS teams. From 2017, behind him is the Romanian businessman Dubov, originally from Fehervar, Hungary, but who has been living in England for many years. This is not an unknown name in the world of football, having leadership roles at clubs such as FC Portsmouth and FC Reading, according to Sport.Aaktuality.sk.

Pafos's fabulous story, at the first qualification in the Champions League: the club did not exist 12 years ago + what the stadium looks like

Roman Dubov, Pafos's owner

In Cyprus there are only a few dozen football clubs with men's teams, so that, from his first season, 2014-2015, Pafos promoted in the elite of Cypriot football. After the debut year, he immediately relegated back to the second league.

In the 2016-2017 season, the club returned to the elite, at which point it was taken by Dubov. Under his leadership, the development of the academy and the club infrastructure began. In 2020, the training bases went through a significant renovation. Between 2018 and 2020, the club also played Slovak striker Adam Nemec, currently at FC Voluntari. The peak played in Romania and Dinamo.

Photo gallery. Stelios Kyriakides, Pafos's stadium

The club disputes its home matches in the Cypriot championship on the Stelios Kyriakides stadium, with a capacity of 9,300 seats, built in 1985. A “boom” in the city appeared only at the end of last season, in which, as winner of the Cyprus Cup from the previous season, PAFOS managed to qualify in Conference League. final and winning the title in the internal championship. He removes CFR Cluj in the play-off with 3-1 general.

The last championship match of the season, after which the players from Pafos raised the trophy above the head, played with the full stands. However, the European matches must host them in Limassol, because their own stadium does not meet the infrastructure conditions for parties under the aegis of UEFA. There he also played the home matches in the previous preliminary tours – with Maccabi Tel Aviv and Dynamo Kyiv, in which he started with the second chance for qualification.

Pafos is a city with about 40,000 inhabitants, located on the southern coast of Cyprus, about 70 kilometers from Limassol. It is a lesser -known area, which “comes to life” especially in the summer months due to tourists, while spring and winter is rather a quiet rural area. However, the city hosts numerous ancient monuments, some included in the UNESCO heritage, as well as an international airport.

Juan Carlos Mărcedo, the former assistant of UNAI Emery, works wonders at PAFOS

Juan Carlos Mărcedo's coach Pafos FC / PHOTO: IMAGO

The artisan of the most successful period of the young club so far is Juan Carlos Poedo, the Spanish coach who was an assistant to UNAI Emery in Arsenal in the 2018-2019 season and, before, at Paris Saint Germain.

In addition, he worked as a second coach at Almeria, Valencia, Spartak Moscow and FC Sevilla, and before coming to Pafos, he was a head coach in Ibiza and Zaragoza. With Sevilla, he managed to win the Europa League three times.

Pafos arrived in the Champions League, becoming the third club on the “Aphrodite Island” that succeeds. The other two are Anorthosis Famagusta (2008-2009) and Apoel Nicosia, with four participation (2009-2010, 2011-2012, 2014-2015 and 2017-2018).

However, in the Europa League or Conference League groups were also Aris Limassol, AEK Larnaca or Omonia Nicosia.