Kostas Kaiafas

Kostas Kaiafas

Personal information
Full name	Konstantinos Kaiafas
Date of birth	September 22, 1974 (1974-09-22) (age 37)
Place of birth	Nicosia, Cyprus
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position	Midfielder (retired)
Club information
Current club	Alki Larnaca (assistant manager)
Youth career
	AC Omonia
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1991–2009	AC Omonia	347	(68)
2009-2011	Alki Larnaca	25	(10)
National team
1997–2005	Cyprus	23	(1)
Teams managed
2011-	Alki Larnaca (assistant manager)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 24 May 2010. † Appearances (Goals).

Kostas Kaiafas (born September 22, 1974 in Nicosia) is a retired Cypriot midfielder of Alki and former player of AC Omonia. He was the captain of Omonia and the second longest servant in the history of the club, only five appearances short of becoming Omonoia's all-time record holder.

Career

Kaiafas came through the AC Omonia academies, playing at first as a right midfielder but then moving to the centre as a defensive midfielder. 2008-2009 was his last season with Omonia, as manager Takis Lemonis let him know that he is no longer included in his squad, and decided to announce his retirement from the team in June 2009. His final game with Omonia was a friendly match against the Lithuanian champions Ekranas, on July 7, 2009.

Although, later he came out of retirement and signed a contract with Alki, a team from Larnaca, that was playing in the Cypriot Second Division during the season 2009-10. He played a major role and captain the team to the league championship and promotion to First Division.

During 2010-11, he became the first and only member of the Kaiafas family, to play against Omonia, on September 18, 2010, despite having said that he never wishes to do so.^[1] The match was held at Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium, and despite playing as opponent, Kaiafas was very well accepted by Omonia fans.^[2]

In the same season, Kaiafas was a key figure for Alki, but on 29 November 2010 he was involved in an infamous incident which attracted headlines and controversy in Cyprus. In a home match against Ermis Aradippou, he was sent off for pushing and swearing at the referee, after the away team scored the winning goal. Kaiafas was suspended for six months, which ruled him out of first team action, and raised questions about a possible inglorious end to his career.^[3]

Personal life

Kostas is the son of Sotiris Kaiafas, winner of 1975/76 European Golden Boot.

Omonia statistics

Club	Season	League		Cup		Europe		National
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
AC Omonia	1991–92	6	1	2	0	-	-	-	-
	1992–93	13	1	2	0	-	-	-	-
	1993–94	16	1	3	1	-	-	-	-
	1994–95	28	5	6	3	4	0	-	-
	1995–96	23	3	6	1	4	0	-	-
	1996–97	20	3	6	2	-	-	-	-
	1997–98	19	8	3	0	-	-	3	1
	1998–99	21	3	?	?	4	0	-	-
	1999–00	18	1	?	?	4	1	3	0
	2000–01	8	1	?	?	1	0	1	0
	2001–02	22	2	?	?	2	1	4	0
	2002–03	23	10	?	?	-	-	7	0
	2003–04	20	7	?	?	4	0	2	0
	2004–05	23	6	?	?	4	1	3	0
	2005–06	22	4	?	?	4	1	-	-
	2006–07	23	2	?	?	4	0	-	-
	2007–08	26	6	?	?	4	2	-	-
	2008–09	21	4	?	?	2	0	-	-
Career total		347	68	?	?	41	6	23	1

• Kaiafas first league game was on 18 January 1992 against Alki. Omonia won 2-0 and he scored the second goal, the first of his career. His last game was on 2 May 2009 against Anorthosis. Omonia won 1-0 and he scored the winning goal, the last of his career.

• Kaiafas first international appearance was a friendly match against Greece on 19 August 1997 in Heraklion. His first and only goal was scored on 2 February 1998 during a friendly match against Slovenia, which Cyprus won 1-0. His last game with Cyprus was on 17 November 2004 in a defeat against Israel.

• Kaiafas totaled 498 appearances with Omonia , only five behind the all time record owned by Andreas Kanaris with 503 appearances. He did however overtake his father, Sotiris Kaiafas, who made 476 appearances for the club.

Honours

• Cypriot Championship (3): 1993, 2001, 2003
• Cypriot Cup (4): 1991, 1994, 2000, 2005
• Cyprus FA Shield (4): 1991, 1994, 2001, 2005
• Football Player of the Year : 2003 (awarded by Cyprus Sports Journalists)

References

1. ^ Αλκή: Σε δίλημμα ο Καϊάφας ShootandGoal.com
2. ^ Ομόνοια: Κέρδισε όπως γουστάρει ShootandGoal.com
3. ^ [1] ShootandGoal.com

External links

• Player profile

Persondata
Name	Kaifas, Costas
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	22 September 1974
Place of birth	Nicosia, Cyprus
Date of death
Place of death