From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Feb 2027
Yannick Gomis breaks a bone — 93 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 93 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market1 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ararat waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AEL is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.89 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Age has not caught Stevan Jovetić yet — 8.18
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.18 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market1 Feb 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AEL can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
AEL close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Match30 Jan 2027
AEL make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now AEL have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Chinedu Geoffrey
14 goals and a season average of 7.36 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at AEL
Luther Singh 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match23 Jan 2027
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑2 against Paralimni, and it could have been more.
Squad25 Jan 2027
100 days out for Yannick Gomis after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AEL will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Match25 Jan 2027
AEL up to position 3
48 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
At 37 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.84, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market25 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Tempers go at AEL
Luther Singh 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.
Market25 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. François-Régis Mughe will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AEL the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Ninety minutes of Chinedu Geoffrey at his very best
Marked 9.99. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at AEL.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad18 Jan 2027
Yannick Gomis breaks a bone — 107 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 107 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.40 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Luther Singh in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Stevan Jovetić 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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Stevan Jovetić
12 goals and a season average of 7.24 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match16 Jan 2027
AEL find a way past Ermis
Ermis made AEL work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.24, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Jan 2027
Yannick Gomis breaks a bone — 114 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 114 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market11 Jan 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AEL have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market11 Jan 2027
“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 AEL, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market11 Jan 2027
Aris come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and AEL did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A falling-out at AEL
Luther Singh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A row about effort at AEL
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stevan Jovetić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
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.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Rémi Oudin left out for the big one
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Rémi Oudin will call it something else in private.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 46. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Yannick Gomis out for 121 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AEL will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market4 Jan 2027
“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 AEL, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Age has not caught Stevan Jovetić yet — 7.87
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.87 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at AEL
Luther Singh 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A row about effort at AEL
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stevan Jovetić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. APOEL have kept their man, and AEL go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Loan watch4 Jan 2027
“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 AEL, and 4 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
Market4 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. AEL have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
128 days out for Yannick Gomis after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AEL will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match28 Dec 2026
AEL up to position 3
38 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Match26 Dec 2026
After 12 games, AEL finally taste it again
The first defeat in 12 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Apollon; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market28 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Tempers go at AEL
Luther Singh 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Stevan Jovetić 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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages swallow 174% of the AEL income
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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Apollon take the points off AEL
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Dec 2026
Yannick Gomis breaks a bone — 137 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 137 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.22, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match19 Dec 2026
Whatever happens, AEL do not lose
12 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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” AEL may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Age has not caught Stevan Jovetić yet — 8.08
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.08 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market21 Dec 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AEL is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom21 Dec 2026
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Match19 Dec 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about AEL and Ethnikos Achnas in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match19 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Fernando Forestieri. 4‑2 against Ethnikos Achnas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 40. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match9 Dec 2026
AEL bow out of the cup
Anorthosis go through and AEL go home, 0‑0 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad14 Dec 2026
1 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Whatever happens, AEL do not lose
11 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.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Stevan Jovetić, 37, rolls back the years — 7.94
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.94 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A falling-out at AEL
Luther Singh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at AEL training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stevan Jovetić 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Giorgos Christofi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A season average of 7.22 with 11 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match5 Dec 2026
AEL run riot against Doxa
5‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad7 Dec 2026
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Age has not caught Stevan Jovetić yet — 8.44
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.44 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match5 Dec 2026
9 unbeaten for AEL
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 9 matches without defeat is a foundation AEL did not have in the autumn.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at AEL
Luther Singh 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A row about effort at AEL
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stevan Jovetić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch7 Dec 2026
“I did not go to Young Boys to sit and watch. I want to come back to AEL and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 14 matches say the rest.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.57, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Nemanja Glavčić
“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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.35, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match30 Nov 2026
AEL refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 31 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.
Market30 Nov 2026
“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 AEL, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match28 Nov 2026
Still nobody has beaten AEL
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Tempers go at AEL
Luther Singh 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A row about effort at AEL
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stevan Jovetić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 168% of the AEL income
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.
Match28 Nov 2026
AEL get the job done against Agia Napa
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.
In brief
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The dugout
No hiding place for Carlos Alberto
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Tomás Mejías dropped after a run of poor form
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Nov 2026
Luther Singh in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match21 Nov 2026
Still nobody has beaten AEL
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Match21 Nov 2026
The run is over for AEL
6 matches without defeat, and then AE Kition. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at AEL training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luka Bogdan 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Roderick Miranda, and the manager let it.
Match23 Nov 2026
Halfway: AEL sit in position 3
28 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Squad23 Nov 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 AEL know it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Grigoris Nicolaou after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match14 Nov 2026
AEL make it 6 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now AEL have 6 straight wins of it.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
At 37 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.34, and nobody on the pitch better.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at AEL
Luther Singh 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
Stevan Jovetić 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Stevan Jovetić. 1‑0 against APOEL, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Luka Bogdan
“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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
International break empties AEL
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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Grigoris Nicolaou could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match7 Nov 2026
AEL run riot against Aris
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Match7 Nov 2026
AEL cannot stop winning
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
At 36 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.27, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at AEL
Luther Singh 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at AEL
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stevan Jovetić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Chinedu Geoffrey at his very best
Marked 8.84. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at AEL.
Match7 Nov 2026
AEL are at home on the road
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Luther Singh at his very best
Marked 8.32. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at AEL.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rémi Oudin, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match2 Nov 2026
AEL are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 21 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Match31 Oct 2026
AEL cannot stop winning
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AEL have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Tempers go at AEL
Hörður Magnússon 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 Nov 2026
A row about effort at AEL
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stevan Jovetić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 168% of everything AEL 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.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I watch every AEL game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Anorthosis runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Match31 Oct 2026
Nea Salamis made AEL work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Marked 8.32 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A brace, and Chinedu Geoffrey takes the afternoon — 9.29
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Chinedu Geoffrey provided it, and the 9.29 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Match24 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play AEL right now
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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Luther Singh in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Stevan Jovetić 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Chinedu Geoffrey’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to AEL.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Cafú 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.15 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A falling-out at AEL
Luther Singh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at AEL training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stevan Jovetić 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Chinedu Geoffrey’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to AEL.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Carlos Alberto
“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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Grigoris Nicolaou could afford to be generous.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The form table has caught Tomás Mejías
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 dugout19 Oct 2026
Nobody at AEL 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.96 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at AEL
Luther Singh 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Grigoris Laban has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market12 Oct 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Kostakis Laban has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Match10 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Fernando Forestieri. 1‑0 against Pafos, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Luka Bogdan 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
Rémi Oudin 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at AEL
17 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Valentinos Ioannou and AEL agree another 3 years.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Somebody else is better right now than Tomás Mejías
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The dugout
Daniil Paroutis gets picked when it counts
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 46. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at AEL can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Tempers go at AEL
Luther Singh 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at AEL training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stevan Jovetić 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 217% of everything AEL 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.
Loan watch5 Oct 2026
“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 AEL, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout5 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad5 Oct 2026
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Market
Still no ink between AEL and Luka Bogdan
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The dugout
Tomás Mejías dropped after a run of poor form
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match23 Sep 2026
Cup progress for AEL
A 6‑0 win over Ermis, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Squad28 Sep 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Age has not caught Yannick Gomis yet — 8.08
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.08 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Luther Singh in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The medical room confirms 34 days on the sidelines for Bassel Jradi, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Match23 Sep 2026
Yannick Gomis among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Yannick Gomis on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of AEL and Ermis.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Lucas Henrique gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Lucas Henrique has just signed for AEL, and for once the answer mattered.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 35. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Age has not caught Bassel Jradi yet — 8.05
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.05 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad21 Sep 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 AEL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Sep 2026
Three points for AEL, 2‑1 the final word against Ethnikos Achnas in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Chinedu Geoffrey was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.67. 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Luka Bogdan 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
Luka Bogdan 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Grigoris Nicolaou on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The form table has caught Tomás Mejías
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Július Szӧke 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at AEL
Hörður Magnússon 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Stevan Jovetić 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
AEL come up short against Omonoia
Omonoia left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Ali Şaşal Vural
“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.
Market14 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Charalambos Konstantinou has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market14 Sep 2026
One of our own: Pieros Merkis joins the AEL first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Pieros Merkis is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Fernando Forestieri 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 dugout14 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Grigoris Nicolaou after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match5 Sep 2026
AEL run riot against Doxa
4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The match ball belongs to Fernando Forestieri, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
At 36 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 9.55, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market7 Sep 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 AEL can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 24 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at AEL until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at AEL
Luther Singh 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
AEL offered $480.0K; Panetolikos said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at AEL training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stevan Jovetić 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
AEL are still strangers to each other
16 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match29 Aug 2026
No mercy from AEL
Agia Napa will want this one forgotten quickly: 8‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. AEL were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad31 Aug 2026
4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad31 Aug 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
At 36 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 9.79, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The fee is $1.3M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Aris drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
AEL offered $920.0K; Apollon said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Luther Singh in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AEL have done the hard part with Aris, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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 AEL, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The offer went to Apollon this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Pafos wanted more than $1.0M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Market24 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. AEL have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at AEL
Luther Singh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A row about effort at AEL
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stevan Jovetić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
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
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. AEL know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Hörður Magnússon has just signed for AEL, and for once the answer mattered.
Market17 Aug 2026
AEL say no — this time
The offer from Doxa for Christoforos Frantzis was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Sporting CP keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at AEL
Luther Singh 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Hörður Magnússon 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniil Paroutis and AEL agree another 3 years.
Market17 Aug 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Panagiotis Kyriakou has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at AEL.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
AEL had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at AE Kition, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Luther Singh in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The name of Christoforos Frantzis has come up in conversations AEL were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Fotis Charalambous has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Georgios Papoulis has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
One of our own: Andreas Laban joins the AEL first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Andreas Laban is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
AEL have made the call to Omonoia. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The formation has left Carlos Alberto behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. AEL will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Luther Singh commits to AEL for another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at AEL
Luther Singh 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at AEL training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stevan Jovetić 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Anorthosis have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Kypros Neofytou. The answer from AEL has not changed — yet.
Market3 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months and counting on Luther Singh
Still no offer on the table, and Luther Singh’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
8 new faces, and AEL are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Sporting CP: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.