Football is the most popular sport in Cyprus and the majority of the sports fans on the island follow it. Basketball is the second most popular sport in the 800.000 population country. The Cyprus Basketball Association was founded in 1966 and became a member of FIBA in 1974. The first organized league was played in 1967 with Digenis Morphou winning the first title.
The history of basketball in Cyprus could be divided into 3 periods. This are 1966-1974, 1974-1988 and 1988-present day.
Until 1974 the best teams on the island were Digenis Morphou and PAEEK Kerynia. But the Turkish invasion on the 20th of July 1974 turned those two teams into refugees and economically destroyed them.
In the second period between 1974 and 1988 the teams had no foreign players so the level of play was lower.
In the last period the Cyprus teams introduced foreigners, especially Americans, so the level of the basketball teams became better and the first successes in international play was a matter of time to appear.
Eight teams have won the league title since 1967. AEL has 11 championship trophys, APOEL has 8, Achilleas 5, POL 4, Keravnos and PAEEK 3 and ENAD, Digenis 2 while seven teams have won the cup. APOEL has 11 cups, AEL follows with 8, and Achilleas has 7. POL won 5 trophies and Keravnos took 4. Finally Apollon and ENAD have 1 cup.
Many of the teams in Cyprus have financial problems. The top teams like APOEL, Keravnos and Apollon have a budget of about $400.000 while the wages for the local players range from $300 to $3000. The players are semi-professional and the majority of the players have a second job. Due to the financial problems PAEEK Kerynia had to suspend their basketball action two years ago while teams like Achilleas Kaimakliou and Agros lost lots of their power.
About the stadiums…Until the early 80’s the teams used to play in open courts with asphalt parquet! But later in the decade KOA (Cyprus Sports Authority) started building modern arenas. Stadiums like “Eleptheria” in Nicosia, “Kition” in Larnaca, AEL arena and Apollon stadium in Limassol have all the modern standards.
In season 2005-06 8 teams will compete in the first division. They are AEK, AEL, APOEL, Apollon, ENAD, Etha, Keravnos and Omonia. The city of Nicosia is represented by 5 teams; Limassol has 2 and Larnaca by 1. The 8 teams will play a double round robin. By the end of the 14 game regular season the team that is last in the standings is relegated to division 2. The team that finishes at top qualifies to the semis while number 2 team will play number 7, number 3 will play 6 and number 4 will play number 5 all in a best out of five. The three winners plus the top team of the regular saeason play in the semis with a best out of five. The two teams qualify to the finals.
In the Cyprus cup, just like season 2004-05 again this year there will be two competitions, one for division 1 and one for division 2. The reason is that the division 2 teams are too weak to compete against the top division clubs so a separate cup tournament was a good option.
Except of the men’s championship there is also a teenager’s league (U-20). The teams that take part in the men’s league also take part in the U-20 league. There is also women’s championship with 6 teams, U-16 boys and girl’s championship. Most of the teams also have basketball academies were young children go and learn the game.
The Cyprus national team has made a big improvement in the last years. The national side is the permanent winner of the European minor countries tournament while Cyprus made their first appearance in a Euro semifinal round in 2003. Now the NT is in division 2 of the European championship.
Basketball in Cyprus is an expanding sport. More and more people are coming close to the game and the interest form the press and fans is going rapidly.
By Erodotos Miltiadous