Dálcio

Defensive Midfielder - APOEL
27 Dec 2026
Sunday
Process

Marked for Dálcio

21 Edition

The APOEL Courier

21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

A brace, and Marquinhos takes the afternoon — 8.44

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marquinhos provided it, and the 8.44 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

A defender's goal wins it for APOEL — 7.81

1 for Dálcio, marked 7.81, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.

Squad

A falling-out at APOEL

Oliver Zelenika and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

APOEL find a way past Paralimni

Paralimni made APOEL work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.

The dugout

No hiding place for Oliver Zelenika

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oliver Zelenika, and the manager let it.

Match

Marquinhos at the heart of a fast APOEL start

2 goals inside twenty minutes with Marquinhos in the middle of it, and Paralimni unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.

The dugout

Grigoris Elia: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 3‑1, already talking about the next one.

The dugout

APOEL pick somebody else ahead of André Anderson

There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.

Squad

Bookings catch up with Konstantinos Laifis

One yellow too many, and a match watched from the stand. The most avoidable absence in football, and APOEL will feel it on Saturday.

In brief

Back issues
18 Edition

The APOEL Courier

30 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

APOEL march on in the cup

Spartakos Kitiou are out and APOEL go through, 3‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.

Player ratings

Fabricio Pedrozo scores twice — 8.20

Two goals and a mark of 8.20 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Match

APOEL refuse to drop out of the race

Position 3, 23 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.

Player ratings

Jean Silva, 37, rolls back the years — 8.34

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.34 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Player ratings

Dálcio goes up and wins it — 7.82

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 7.82 for the rest of it.

Market

Daniel Mancini wants European nights

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.

Squad

Tempers go at APOEL

Aitor Córdoba 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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Aitor Córdoba

“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.

Boardroom

Wages eat 116% of everything APOEL 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.

In brief

17 Edition

The APOEL Courier

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Hyuri keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” APOEL may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Daniel Mancini signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniel Mancini and APOEL agree another 3 years.

Squad

A row about effort at APOEL

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Konstantinos Laifis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

A falling-out at APOEL

Gabriel Maioli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

Miloš Degenek 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.

Match

APOEL share the spoils with Aris

A 2‑2 draw with Aris leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

The dugout

Grigoris Elia: “We have to be better”

“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.

The dugout

Somebody else is better right now than Fabricio Pedrozo

The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.

Squad

Marquinhos suspended

One booking too many, and Marquinhos sits out. APOEL lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.

In brief

5 Edition

The APOEL Courier

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Market

Konstantinos Laifis puts it in writing

“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 APOEL, and it is not being withdrawn.

Transfer targets

Luka Stojković turns down APOEL

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Dinamo Zagreb keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Transfer targets

APOEL rebuffed over Joy-Lance Mickels

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sabah have kept their man, and APOEL go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Transfer targets

Too dear: APOEL walk away from Giorgos Malekkidis

$230.0K was the most the club would pay and Apollon 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.

Squad

Words at APOEL training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aitor Córdoba 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.

Match

Max Meyer the difference as APOEL beat Paralimni

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Max Meyer. 2‑0 against Paralimni, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Player ratings

Both jobs done by Álvaro Carrillo — 6.92

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. 10 actions, 6.92, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.

Player ratings

Marquinhos was the difference for APOEL

Marked 7.91. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.

Squad

APOEL are still strangers to each other

10 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.

In brief

  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • The dugout APOEL pick somebody else ahead of André Anderson
  • Player ratings Dálcio keeps on missing