“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Omonoia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. André Anderson 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.
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.
Anastasios Giannakou and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Antonis Artymatas was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Omonoia dressing room was either.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jure Balkovec is on it.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The words a physio says slowly. 22 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Luuk Brouwers. 1‑0 against Omonoia Aradippou, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Half the programme played, position 12, 12 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Omonoia, and 6 appearances in 19 say he has earned the hearing.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Antonis Artymatas could afford to be generous.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
53 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Omonoia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and André Anderson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Omonoia will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Omonoia would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
The words a physio says slowly. 60 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and André Anderson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Minute 88, against Anorthosis, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Nobody at Omonoia will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Nobody at Omonoia is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
In brief
The dugoutJuraj Badelj knocks on the manager's door
92 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Omonoia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Omonoia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Omonoia, another week without a signature from Juraj Badelj.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Tasos Chatzigiovanis may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Omonoia that is a harder question to answer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Omonoia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom30 Aug 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Omonoia
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
The name of Pantelis Michail has come up in conversations Omonoia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Michalis Artymatas is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Dimitris Artymatas is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Vaná had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Omonoia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Omonoia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihlali Mayambela 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Carel Eiting signs something — a contract at Omonoia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Omonoia. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Omonoia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Antonis Artymatas has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Omonoia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Florin Tănase 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Carel Eiting 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Muamer Tanković is on it.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Marco Tumminello is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Omonoia than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Omonoia told Felipe Ferreira something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Loïc Nego 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 Jul 2027
Words at Omonoia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carel Eiting 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Carel Eiting signs something — a contract at Omonoia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A new face in his position, and Florin Tănase suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Omonoia have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Angelos Neofytou has written the date down.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Omonoia, and it is not being withdrawn.
The phone has started ringing about Senou Coulibaly again, and this time the name on the line is AEZ Zakakiou. Omonoia are listening politely and promising nothing.
Marco Tumminello was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $3.7M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carel Eiting was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Luuk Brouwers and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
A squad is not eleven players and a wish. Marco Tumminello arrives from Benevento to make the number up properly, and the value of that will be argued about in March rather than today.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Antonis Artymatas has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Omonoia can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ethnikos Achnas waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Omonoia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Omonoia have gone to Benevento with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carel Eiting was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Omonoia asked and Gimnasia La Plata said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Omonoia will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Omonoia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Omonoia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AEL have kept their man, and Omonoia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Carel Eiting 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.
Senou Coulibaly 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.
9 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
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.
Nobody at Omonoia will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The words a physio says slowly. 29 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Karmiotissa waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Omonoia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at AEL is saying, and nobody at Omonoia is enjoying the guessing.
The deal with Slavia Sofia is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Carel Eiting 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.
Omonoia asked and Anorthosis said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Juan Cejas from Ethnikos Achnas for $1.6M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Omonoia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mihlali Mayambela 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 44 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Omonoia can pretend not to have heard.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Omonoia is running low.
Squad31 May 2027
Carel Eiting 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.
28 games, 5 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Omonoia now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mateusz Musiałowski trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Omonoia would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings17 May 2027
A brace, and Florin Tănase takes the afternoon — 8.70
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Florin Tănase provided it, and the 8.70 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Senou Coulibaly and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Omonoia pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Something was said to Nikola Maraš and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Willy Semedo is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Omonoia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Sharpest man there all week, by every account. It is the quietest line on this page and it usually runs the week before somebody’s run in the side begins.
Position 7, 36 points, safe from one end and out of reach of the other. The last weeks are about next season now, and the team sheet has started saying so.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
5 goals in 28 games at ASIL Lysi — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Omonoia updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Gabriel Lima has written the date down.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Omonoia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Omonoia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
4 goals in 25 games at ASIL Lysi — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Omonoia updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Omonoia have made Senou Coulibaly available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Carel Eiting is training like a man with a point to make
Nobody has promised him anything and he has not asked. The coaching staff have noticed, which at this stage of a season is the only thing that matters.
2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
4 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Omonoia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Nobody at Omonoia will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.85 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Omonoia, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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 Omonoia know it.
Senou Coulibaly and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Omonoia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Antonis Artymatas on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Pafos next, and one man in the Omonoia dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at AEL is saying, and nobody at Omonoia is enjoying the guessing.
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Carel Eiting 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Omonoia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Omonoia asked and Apollon said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The name of Andreas Christou has come up in conversations Omonoia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Everything agreed with AEL, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Carel Eiting 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.
Omonoia asked and AEL said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Omonoia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A brace, and Florin Tănase takes the afternoon — 8.61
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Florin Tănase provided it, and the 8.61 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Omonoia can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Omonoia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Omonoia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carel Eiting 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Antonis Artymatas on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Omonoia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Omonoia can pretend not to have heard.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.88 for the rest of it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Omonoia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 17 actions, 7.23, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Carel Eiting 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.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Morgan Brown has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Omonoia have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Omonoia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carel Eiting was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Senou Coulibaly and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I did not go to Olympiakos Nicosia to sit and watch. I want to come back to Omonoia and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 16 matches say the rest.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Florin Tănase. 2‑0 against Omonoia Aradippou, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Florin Tănase was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.42. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Omonoia can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
In brief
Player ratingsLuuk Brouwers ran the middle of the pitch — 7.46
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carel Eiting was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Omonoia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.72 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Marked 7.58 on 16 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Omonoia and Pafos, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Pafos left with the points after a 2‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Jorge De Asis 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Omonoia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Saad Agouzoul
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Omonoia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Nikola Maraš and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Carel Eiting 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Saad Agouzoul trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Pafos next, and one man in the Omonoia dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Muamer Tanković signs something — a contract at Omonoia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Giannis Masouras has written the date down.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Omonoia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Carel Eiting 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 14 actions, 7.26, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jorge De Asis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Jorge De Asis and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Antonis Artymatas left the room before anybody could ask which.
Jorge De Asis 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
At 20 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Omonoia will try not to make too much of it.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Antonis Artymatas chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
1‑4 against Aris, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Carel Eiting 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.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Nikola Maraš is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Omonoia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
1‑5 against Olympiakos Nicosia, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Omonoia and Olympiakos Nicosia, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Omonoia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carel Eiting 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.
13 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 2 saves does not settle it either way.
Carel Eiting 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.
Senou Coulibaly 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Omonoia, and 0 appearances in 7 say he has earned the hearing.
The young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at Omonoia who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
4 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Omonoia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Omonoia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorge De Asis 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Jorge De Asis has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Marked 8.05 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
13 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Antonis Artymatas, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carel Eiting was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jorge De Asis trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Antonis Artymatas after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Anorthosis defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
11 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Ypsonas keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Omonoia have gone to Kairat with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
$1.4M was the most the club would pay and Ethnikos Achnas were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Omonoia will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Omonoia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carel Eiting 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.
12 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Omonoia have gone to Ypsonas with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Omonoia asked and Akritas Chlorakas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Felipe Ferreira is living that version at Omonoia, and it tends to show in the first month.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $4.0M — a club that wants Xavi Quintillà enough to be asked twice.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at AE Kition is saying, and nobody at Omonoia is enjoying the guessing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carel Eiting was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Senou Coulibaly and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Gabriel Lima is living that version at Omonoia, and it tends to show in the first month.
$650.0K on the table at Apollon. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Omonoia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Carel Eiting 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.
The phone has started ringing about Francis Uzoho again, and this time the name on the line is Olympiakos Nicosia. Omonoia are listening politely and promising nothing.
Still no offer on the table, and Carel Eiting’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.