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.
Back issues
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.