Apollon of Limassol celebrates the 4th title of the Cyprus Football League during the 68 years of its history.
After 16 years, the club’s fans and the members of the team, celebrated from the final whistle of the referee until the early hour of Monday. Celebrations started in Tsirio Stadium and continued in the streets of Limassol and mainly in the roundabout of Agios Nikolaos, where thousands of Apollon fans created a festive atmosphere with fireworks and cheering.
Apollon won the championship in the seasons 1990-91, 1993-94 and 2005-06 seasons.
The team of Limassol was not the most effective in the 2nd Phase of the Championship. While entering the second phase in the first place of the standings, 7 points ahead of the second team, until Match Day 7 it managed to have seven draws in a raw.
Apollon entered the play offs phase with five consecutive draws, against Pafos, APOEL, Anorthosis, Aris and AEK. However, in the last two Match Days of the Championship, Apollon played as a champion and with two excellent games managed to beat APOEL and Aris in Match Day 8 and 9 respectively.
In the most decisive game of the season, the team of Limassol played as a true champion and took the derby against APOEL beating the team of Nicosia with 3-2 in Limassol. With that victory, the Blues of Limassol made the most decisive step towards the title of the championship.
In yesterday’s match, Apollon just needed the win against Aris. In a stadium full of enthusiastic fans the game just could not be lost. The “blues” were victorious with 4-1 and set up a title party, celebrating in the Stadium and in the streets of Limassol.
During this season, one game from the end, Apollon achieved 16 victories, had 10 draws and lost 5 times, from Pafos, Aris, Omonia and twice from AEK. Apollon drew 4 times with Anorthosis, 2 times with APOEL, once with PAEEK, once with Pafos, once with AEK and once with Aris.
The president of the Club, Nicos Kirzis, said after winning the title that “all these years we worked hard, we insisted and today we had redemption. Out of all teams Apollon was the best. The teamwork in Kolossi was unprecedented. Together we were all like a fist and a single voice,” he said.
He added that the fans were amazing in the last games. “It was a new team in the summer with a new coach. We did not start our course in Europe during Summer but in the end, we got back on our feet. We knew it was difficult. We managed and built up a difference from the other teams, this difference decreased and at the right time we showed after the match with Paphos what we had to show and we won this championship,” he said.
Alexander Zorniger, team’s head coach said it was a great day for everyone. “I am very proud to be the coach of Apollon. There was a lot of unnecessary pressure during the year”, he said and added: “I would like to thank the people and the players. I love this game. It was a difficult year for all of us,” he said.
Source: Cyprus News Agency