Marked for Facundo Castro
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jan 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Apollon will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Apollon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Connor Goldson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad4 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Apollon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market4 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Apollon have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad4 Jan 2027
10 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Peter Leeuwenburgh has given nobody the chance.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Marked 7.68 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Apollon had the best player on the pitch.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Apollon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Connor Goldson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Mikhail Sivakov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match19 Dec 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match5 Dec 2026
Whatever happens, Apollon do not lose
16 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Facundo Castro was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match5 Dec 2026
Nobody wins at Apollon
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Match5 Dec 2026
Nea Salamis made Apollon work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Bruno Gaspar falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match28 Nov 2026
Whatever happens, Apollon do not lose
15 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad30 Nov 2026
19 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad30 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Apollon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Connor Goldson falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 132% of everything Apollon earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
A mark of 7.66, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
A defender's afternoon for Bruno Gaspar
Defensive actions: 15. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match21 Nov 2026
Still nobody has beaten Apollon
The unbeaten run reaches 14. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 6.98 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Facundo Castro was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Apollon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Connor Goldson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match21 Nov 2026
Nobody wins at Apollon
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Match21 Nov 2026
Three points for Apollon, 2‑0 the final word against Ermis in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.52 on the card, and the Apollon support went home talking about one name.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match31 Oct 2026
Still nobody has beaten Apollon
The unbeaten run reaches 11. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 22, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Connor Goldson falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Bruno Gaspar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match31 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Garry Rodrigues’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Apollon.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 132% of everything Apollon earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 18, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ali Youssef, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match24 Oct 2026
10 unbeaten for Apollon
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Apollon did not have in the autumn.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Mikhail Sivakov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Oct 2026
Apollon refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 14 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Match17 Oct 2026
Still nobody has beaten Apollon
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad19 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Apollon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Connor Goldson falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad19 Oct 2026
David Díaz gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match10 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, Apollon do not lose
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Apollon are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Facundo Castro was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Apollon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Connor Goldson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Defensive actions: 18. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Edison Penilla
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
7.44, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Apollon had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Match10 Oct 2026
Apollon and Doxa cancel each other out
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Doxa came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Market12 Oct 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market5 Oct 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Apollon can pretend not to have heard.
Match3 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, Apollon do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Apollon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Doğan Alemdar is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
22 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Apollon know it.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 156% of everything Apollon earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Match3 Oct 2026
A 2‑0 win over Agia Napa, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Apollon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Gaspar is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Sep 2026
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
23 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Connor Goldson falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Bruno Gaspar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match5 Sep 2026
Three points for Apollon, 1‑0 the final word against Nea Salamis in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 19, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market7 Sep 2026
Masr El Makasa are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Apollon will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
A move Facundo Castro would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Facundo Castro is living that version at Apollon, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad10 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Apollon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Bruno Gaspar falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market10 Aug 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Apollon will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Market10 Aug 2026
24 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Market10 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Apollon, another week without a signature from Gaëtan Weissbeck.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad3 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Federico Lértora, 36, rolls back the years — 8.30
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.30 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market3 Aug 2026
The name of Facundo Castro has come up in conversations Colón were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad3 Aug 2026
59 appearances across 8 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Colón know what they have.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Federico Rasmussen commits to Colón for another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Colón
Ignacio Lago was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market3 Aug 2026
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 20. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.