AEL Limassol

The club was founded on 4 October 1930, with Stavros Pittas serving as the club's first president.[2] The football section of the club competed in its first game on 6 January 1931 against PSC, winning 6–1 in Limassol.[2] The club won the national championship in 1934 though this is not credited as it is an unofficial title.[3] Later that year, AEL became one of the eight founding members of the Cypriot First Division for the 1934–35 season, the first official league of the country.[2][3]

AEL Limassol celebrated its first official title success in 1941, defeating APOEL 4–3 in a two-legged championship play-off.[3] AEL fans had to wait 12 years until tasting title success again, as the club finally became champions of Cyprus again in 1953.[2][3] AEL would twice repeat this success, winning back-to-back league championships in 1955 and 1956.[4]

The club won its last major trophy in 1989 – before the title success of 2012 –[5] when it defeated city rivals Aris Limassol 3–2 after extra time in final of the Cypriot Cup.[6][7]

In 2011, after disappointingly finishing in seventh-place in the previous campaign, AEL hired Pambos Christodoulou,[8] who had a reputation of steering "modest sides away from relegation", to start the club's rebuilding process.[9] AEL Limassol secured the Cypriot league title for the first time since 1968 on 5 May 2012, ending a 44-year drought without a Cypriot first division title.[10]

Christodoulou had a dream-like first season at the helm AEL, as his side was unbeaten and had not conceded any goals through the first five games. At the end of the second round, AEL finished top of the table,[11] three points clear of the second placed team and had only conceded seven goals, the best defensive record of all the league teams. In the play-off round, AEL battled with the top four teams for the championship, winning it with one game to spare and conceding only nine goals. As Christodoulou has managed to bring AEL the

Sports departments of AEL Limassol
Football (Men's) Basketball (Men's) Basketball (Women's) Bowling (Men's) Billiards (Men's) Handball (defunct) Cycling (Men's) Futsal (Men's) e-Sports (Men's) Hockey (defunct) Volleyball (Women's) Boxing (Men's)

championship crown,[12][13][14][15] he was nicknamed by fans "Pambourinho", a combination of his name and of esteemed manager José Mourinho.

AEL received the championship trophy during a spectacular "fiesta" evening at the Tsirio Stadium on the evening of Saturday 12 May 2012. They followed this with an open-top bus parade through Limassol. Up to 12,000 AEL fans packed the stadium to watch the fiesta and trophy presentation.

The club then turned their attention to the Cup Final of 16 May against Omonia and the chance to be crowned double winners for the first time in club history; the club, however, lost 1–0 in the final.[16] The following year, AEL made it to the group stage of a UEFA tournament for the first time, finishing last and picking up four points in their UEFA Europa League group.[17]

On 22 October 2013, Angolan manager Lito Vidigal was sacked after just over three months in charge.[18] Bulgarian Ivaylo Petev was appointed as AEL's manager on 25 October, having previously guided Ludogorets Razgrad to promotion to the A Group as well as two A Group titles, a Bulgarian Cup win as well as a triumph in the Bulgarian Super Cup.[18] Petev signed an initial deal to stay at AEL until the end of the 2014–15 season.[18]

At the end of the 2013–14 season, AEL finished in first place in the initial phase of the competition. Going into the championship match against APOEL on 17 May 2014, AEL needed only a draw to secure their second league title in three years. The match, however, was abandoned (at 0–0) after 52 minutes when firecrackers thrown by AEL fans struck APOEL player Kaká.[19] The match was replayed behind closed doors at a neutral stadium on 31 May 2014, and APOEL achieved to win their second consecutive league title after beating AEL 1–0, courtesy of a Cillian Sheridan goal.[20][21] On 6 June 2014, the Cyprus Football Association's (CFA) disciplinary committee – acting as an appeals board – unanimously cancelled on the CFA council's decision to repeat the 17 May championship final, awarding the match to APOEL with a 0–3 score.[22] AEL winger Jorge Monteiro finished the season as joint-top scorer in the league with 18 goals, and the former Porto academy product was voted player of the year by the CFA. AEL finished in the 4th place of the championship of 2016–2017 and as a result the team won a place in the first qualifying round of Europa League. Furthermore, AEL achieved to go up to third qualifying round from a not fair play game from the referee Artyom Kuchin and the players of Austria Wien. The referee had shown the white dot of the penalty for a ghost foul outside of the box of AEL and a red card for AEL defender Marco Airosa in the twenty second minute. AEL had fight for the win for the whole game to achieve two goals that send her in the play-offs but the score finished 1–2.[23]

The football department of AEL is legally owned by AEL Football (Public) Ltd (Greek: ΑΕΛ Ποδόσφαιρο Δημόσια ΛΤΔ), a public limited company, from 2009 until 31 May 2023. The company's main activity is the management, operation and commercial exploitation of AEL Football club. After the vote of confidence by the AEL Board of Directors, from 1 June 2023 the football team will pass into the hands of our association.

Tsirio Stadium

AEL Limassol has been playing its home matches at the 13,331-seat Tsirio Stadium until 2022. Tsirio Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Limassol. It is mostly used for football matches and was also the home ground of Apollon Limassol FC and Aris Limassol FC. The stadium was built in 1975.

The construction of the Alphamega Stadium replaced Tsirio Stadium as the home ground of AEL Limassol. The first match on the new Stadium was ΑΕL vs Olympiakos, with a score of 2–0 on 23 December 2022.[24] The capacity of the new stadium is 10,700 seats.[25]

As of 30 September 2023

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  BRA Muriel Becker 2 DF  CYP Christoforos Frantzis 4 DF  CYP Constantinos Soteriou 5 DF  POR Hugo Basto 6 MF  SRB Slobodan Medojević (captain) 7 MF  CYP Evangelos Andreou 8 MF  CYP Vasilios Papafotis (vice captain) 9 FW  BDI Saido Berahino 10 MF  ARG Javier Mendoza 11 MF  LTU Fedor Černych 14 MF  SRB Slavoljub Srnić 16 GK  POR Miguel Oliveira 17 FW  GUI Ahmad Mendes Moreira 19 FW  NGA Ezekiel Henty 20 MF  SWE Alexander Kačaniklić

No. Pos. Nation Player 21 MF  ENG George Marsh 22 MF  CYP Evdoras Silvestros 23 DF  GER Petar Filipović 24 DF  CGO Ravy Tsouka 25 FW  SLE Jonathan Morsay 32 GK  CYP Michalis Kyriakou 33 FW  CYP Andreas Makris 34 FW  CYP Michalis Kolias 49 DF  CYP Kypros Neofytou 66 DF  BRA Djalma Silva 73 FW  CYP Themis Themistokleous 77 FW  CMR Fabrice Kah 80 MF  ITA Vittorio Continella 91 DF  BEL Sébastien Dewaest — MF  CYP Giannis Gerolemou

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  CYP Panagiotis Kyriakou (on loan to Doxa Katokopias until 31 May 2024) — FW  CYP Panagiotis Louka (on loan to Akritas Chlorakas until 31 May 2024) — FW  CYP Adonis Nikolettidis (on loan to Peyia 2014 until 31 May 2024)

• Cypriot First Division

Champions (6): 1940–41, 1952–53, 1954–55, 1955–56, 1967–68, 2011–12

Runners-up (2): 1947–48, 2013–14

• Cypriot Second Division

Champions: 1996–97

• Cypriot Cup

Champions (7): 1938–39, 1939–40, 1947–48, 1984–85, 1986–87, 1988–89, 2018–19

Runners-up (12): 1937–38, 1940–41, 1958–59, 1978–79, 1987–88, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2008–09, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2014–15, 2022–23

• Cypriot Super Cup

Champions (4): 1953, 1968, 1985, 2015

Runners-up (5): 1955, 1987, 1989, 2012, 2019

UEFA Team Ranking 2022

UEFA Club ranking

Rank	Country	Team	Points
263		Bnei Yehuda	5.000
264		Hapoel Haifa	5.000
265		Aris Limassol	4.895
266		AEL Limassol	4.895
267		Elfsborg	4.750
268		Hammarby	4.750
269		Häcken	4.750

Last update: 1 June 2023
Source:

1R = First round, PR = Preliminary round, Q = Qualifying round, PO = play-off round.

Season	Competition	Round	Club	1st leg	2nd leg	Aggregate
1968–69	European Cup	1R	Real Madrid	0–6	0–6	0–12
1985–86	European Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Dukla Prague	2–2	0–4	2–6
1987–88	European Cup Winners' Cup	PR	DAC Dunajská Streda	0–1	1–5	1–6
1989–90	European Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Admira Wacker	0–3	1–0	1–3
2002–03	UEFA Cup	QR	Ferencváros	0–4	2–1	2–5
2012–13	UEFA Champions League	2Q	Linfield	3–0	0–0	3–0
		3Q	Partizan	1–0	1–0	2–0
		PO	Anderlecht	2–1	0–2	2–3
	UEFA Europa League	Group C	Marseille	1–5	3–0	4th place
			Fenerbahçe	0–1	0–2
			Borussia Mönchengladbach	0–0	0–2
2014–15	UEFA Champions League	3Q	Zenit	1–0	0–3	1–3
	UEFA Europa League	PO	Tottenham Hotspur	1–2	0–3	1–5
2017–18	UEFA Europa League	1Q	St Joseph's	4–0	6–0	10–0
		2Q	Progrès Niederkorn	1–0	2–1	3–1
		3Q	Austria Wien	0–0	1–2	1–2
2019–20	UEFA Europa League	2Q	Aris	0–0	0–1	0–1
2021–22	UEFA Europa Conference League	2Q	Vllaznia	1–0	1–0	2–0
		3Q	Qarabağ	1–1	0–1	1–2

• Cypriot U21 Championships: 13

1940, 1951, 1960, 1973, 1978, 1983, 1984, 1989, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2008

Runners-up: 1

2012

• Cyprus U21 Cup: 1

1997

• Cypriot U19 Championships: 1

2018(Participating 2018–19 UEFA Youth League)

• Cypriot U17 Championships: 6

2004, 2005, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2018

Runners-up: 1

2019

• priot U16 Championships: 1

2017

• Cypriot U15 Championships: 2

2005, 2009

• Cypriot U13 Championships: 3

2006, 2008, 2017

AEL sports club maintains both men’s and women’s professional basketball teams. Since the 2022—23 season, both the men’s and women’s teams currently operate under the same administration and are both referred to for sponsorship reasons as Payabl EKA AEL.

A founding member of the Cyprus Volleyball Federation in 1976, AEL's women team has dominated in the Cypriot volleyball. The team's achievements are phenomenal; Out of the 32 seasons played so far in Cyprus since the commencement of the women's volleyball league, the team won the Championship 27 times. Out of the 31 cups they won it 27 times, 24 consecutive times, from 1980 until 2003. Also they have won the Championship 15 consecutive times, from 1977 until 1991. They have also the amazing records of winning the Double 12 times from 1980 until 1991 and 9 times from 1993 until 2001. In the past the club had also a men's team for 10 years which participated in the Cypriot Championship.

The bowling club was founded in 1999 and the same year became a member of the Limassol District Federation. In 2001, the team participated in the Cypriot Championship as one of the two representatives of the Limassol District Federation. In the team won its first trophy by winning the Limassol District Federation Cup and in 2006 its first Championship by winning the Limassol District Federation Championship. The home of the team is the Galaktika Bowling Center.

Player

Christos Krassas

Michalis Perikleous

Matthaios Armeftis

Niki Schiza

Kyriakos Hadjitofis

Stelios Potamitis

Christos Antoniou

The cycling team was founded in 2001 and the same year became a member of the Limassol District Federation. The first men's cycling team consisted of the following : Κωνσταντίνος Ιωάννου, Στέλιος Βασιλάκης, Χριστόφορος Στεφάνου, Αλέξης Κέστας, Mark Williams, Σταύρος Αντωνίου, Χρίστος Παναγιώτου, William de Doncker.

Apart from the currently active sports departments, AEL had in the past some other sports departments, which today are defunct. Despite this, these currently not active departments had all won titles for AEL when they were active.

• Official website
• AEL Limassol Club official website
• Official SY.F.AEL fans' website
• Lions Radio unofficial fans' website