Here and for more than a year no young person was promoted, in contrast to the three years 19-22 when there was …overproduction
Omonia is the team that, with its pioneering and …revolutionary for Cyprus policy in the development and promotion of young players, gathered universal admiration and became an example to follow.
It is true that with Stavros Papastavrou taking over the leadership of the team, it was said that one of the main goals of the team is the promotion and exploitation of the Cypriot element. “One of the big goals we have is our academies. We want to build them so that every year we have 1-2 footballers ready for the first team. When I left Cyprus there were two foreigners and nine Cypriots playing, now it's the opposite. For the good of football and Cypriot footballers we must invest in them. We want Cypriot players first from our own academies, but if we see talent in other teams we will pursue them.” This is what the president of Omonia said in an interview on the show “Time for Ball” on Cytavision on August 27, 2018.
And distinctions and highlighting and establishing talents made in Cyprus!
The term by Henning Berg
This objective was ideally realized (better not), during the period 2019-2022. Specifically from August 2019 to May 2022. It was the period of Henning Berg's term.
We remind you that Hennig Berg during his tenure in Omonia (he sat on the “green” bench in 114 matches) through collective work, excellent cooperation with the Academies and his own decision established Andronikos Kakoullis (3.5.2001), Loizos Loizou (18.7.2003) and Marino Tzioni (16.7.2001), who now plays in Kansas City for Charalambos Charalambous (4.4.2002) while he appeared (in Omonia, because previously he was in Anorthosis with minimal participation) and established Nikolas Panagiotou (12.5 .2000)
To be precise before the Norwegian (season 2019-20) went to Omonia Andronikos Kakoullis had one appearance as a substitute in the 2018-2019 season and again as a substitute in the 2017-18 season, Loizos Loizou 2 appearances as a substitute in the same season , Marinos Tzionis 11 appearances (3 as a substitute) in the 2018-19 season and 2 (one as a substitute) in the 2017-18 season and Charalambos Charalambous 2 appearances as a substitute in the 2018-19 season.
He had also give participation time to Andreas Savvas (21.7.2004) Konstantinos Venizelos (5.7.2004) Andreas Asimenos (2.7.2004) Konstantinos Christou (19.4.2003), Angelos Zeukis (15.4.2003), Andreas Evangelou (20.9.2004) Iakovos Lao (10.10.2003), Kyriakos Chrysomilis (4. 1.2004). None of them are competing in Omonoia today.
Establishing and employing so many young people comes with some…small details. During this time, Omonia won the 21st championship, the 17th super cup, the 1st place of the 2019-20 season and qualified for the Europa League and Europa Conference League groups. And awards and highlighting and establishing talents made in Cyprus!
Nine-minute debut
Since the Norwegian left (ie from May 2022) two academy youngsters have made their debuts in the first team. Panagiotis Andreou (29.4.2006) and Nikolas Kyriakidis (20.9.2004) who played for nine minutes (!) as a substitute in the last match of last year's championship against AEK in the GSP. Kyriakidis now plays for MEAP.
This statement of facts is not a criticism of anyone. It is also a fact that the Academies work at a high level. Perhaps even better since then, Andronikos Kakoullis, Loizos Loizou, Charalambos Charalambous and Marinos Tzionis were promoted. We continue with … facts. Jesper Jansson has been impressed by the level of the youngsters. After all, he has said so himself. So it makes sense that he wants to take advantage of them. This word -utilize- in this text is interpreted to improve, mature and contribute to the team in its quest for titles and distinctions. Not turning the player into a product to be put on the display for sale. This is secondary.
Anyway, this Academy has enormous quality and it is unthinkable not to utilize its players… We mention this with particular insistence because all the information converges that these are exceptional cases of young people.
It is positive for Omonia that did not fill the positions of the non-Cypriot footballers. So, logically, there is some space for youngsters to train with the first team. The truth is that things are a bit confusing with the little Africans who keep arriving and it's good to have a compass. I am not saying that the little ones should not come, but that there should be a direction.
It is understandable that it is not easy for the little ones to move on. There are many obstacles. But I'm asking. Of the players who are in the potential, aren't there also those who don't play for Omonia? Of course they exist (of course they won't be mentioned, but more or less everyone…understands) but they keep a place on the roster and young people who have prospects see their dreams fade away (of course this does not apply only to Omonia but to all teams ).
We will come back to these because there is a lot of interesting material in the Academies.
P.S. When war breaks out, any human with a dash of sense and a degree of empathy gets a knot in their stomach. Unfortunately, since ancient times there have always been naive people, who rush to serve every politically or economically powerful anthropomorphic monster, killing, dishonoring, destroying and tyrannizing their fellow human beings, without any remorse and with the illusion that they are doing their duty.
