Pafos Football Club () is a professional football club based in Paphos, Cyprus. Founded on 10 June 2014 following the merger of AEP Paphos and AEK Kouklia, the club represents the wider Paphos region in the Cypriot First Division. Pafos play home matches at the Stelios Kyriakides Stadium, which has a capacity of 9,394, though their European home matches are played at the Alphamega Stadium (capacity 10,830) due to the former falling short of UEFA standards.
The club won their first major honour, the Cypriot Cup, in 2024 and secured a first league championship in 2024–25. Pafos made their European debut in the UEFA Europa Conference League in 2024–25, reaching the round of 16, and entered the UEFA Champions League qualifiers for the first time in 2025–26 as domestic champions. After surviving two 2025–26 UEFA Champions League qualifying rounds, Pafos also won their subsequent play-off against Red Star Belgrade and advanced to the league phase.
History
Early years (2014–2017) Pafos FC was formed to consolidate senior football in the Paphos district. AEP Paphos and AEK Kouklia voted to combine operations in June 2014; the new club played its first season in the Cypriot Second Division. Pafos won promotion in 2014–15 as Second Division runners-up, were relegated in 2015–16, and returned to the top flight at the first attempt in 2016–17.
Investment and consolidation (2017–2023)
In 2017 the club came under the control of Total Sports Investments, linked with British-based businessman Roman Dubov, and began a programme of professionalisation across the first team and academy. The training centre in Paphos underwent significant renovation in 2020. Spanish coach Juan Carlos Carcedo was appointed head coach in June 2023.
First honours and European debut (2023–present) Pafos won the 2023–24 Cypriot Cup—the club's first major trophy—by defeating Omonia 3–0 in the final on 18 May 2024 at the GSP Stadium in Nicosia. The victory qualified the club for European competition for the first time.
In 2024–25 Pafos entered the UEFA Europa Conference League in the second qualifying round, overturning a first-leg defeat to Žalgiris with a 3–0 home win to advance 4–2 on aggregate. They eliminated CSKA 1948 (after extra time) and CFR Cluj (on penalties) to reach the league phase, where they recorded home wins over Astana and other positive results against seeded opposition.
In February 2025, Pafos faced Omonia in what was billed as the first all-Cypriot tie in UEFA competition; after a 1–1 first leg in Nicosia, Pafos won the return in Limassol to advance 3–2 on aggregate to the round of 16, where they were eliminated by Djurgårdens IF.
Pafos secured the 2024–25 league title—their first—by beating Aris Limassol 4–0 on 5 May 2025 and were officially crowned champions later that month.
As Cypriot champions, Pafos entered the 2025–26 UEFA Champions League in the second qualifying round and defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv 2–1 on aggregate (1–1 home, 1–0 away at a neutral venue in Serbia). In the third qualifying round they beat Dynamo Kyiv 3–0 on aggregate (1–0 away in Lublin, 2–0 home at Alphamega Stadium) to reach the play-off round for the first time. In the play-offs, Pafos eliminated Serbian side Red Star Belgrade with a 3–2 aggregate victory, securing their first-ever place in the UEFA Champions League league stage.
On 5 January 2026, Pafos announced that head coach Juan Carlos Carcedo had bought out his contract, and the contracts of Sergio Domínguez Cobo and Sebastián Corona, and had left the club for a new project. Four days later, on 9 January 2026, Pafos announced the appointment of Albert Celades as their new head coach on a contract until 2027. On 28 April, Pafos announced that they had terminated their contract with Albert Celades, and that Ricardo Sá Pinto had been appointed as the clubs new head coach.
Domestic Season League Cypriot Cup Top goalscorer Manager Div. Pos. Pl. W D L GS GA P Name League2014–152nd2nd261952551962First Round Radmilo Ivančević Sofoklis Sofokleous2015–161st12th3681216415836Quarterfinal Nassir Maachi11 Sofoklis Sofokleous José Manuel Roca Apostolos Makrides2016–172nd2nd261763512457First Round Dimitris Ioannou2017–181st10th3611916365142Semifinal Daniel Sikorski Kévin Bérigaud7 Luka Elsner Steven Pressley2018–191st8th3212812395038Quarterfinal Adam Nemec16 Steven Pressley Željko Kopić2019–201st7th23869262830Second Round Onni Valakari5 Željko Kopić Cameron Toshack2020–211st7th4018913583863Second Round Onni Valakari Kévin Bérigaud13 Cameron Toshack Dmytro Mykhaylenko Stephen Constantine2021–221st6th3211138393046Second Round Onni Valakari10 Darko Milanič Míchel Salgado 2022–231st4th3217127603063Semifinal Jairo18 Henning Berg Míchel Salgado 2023–241st5th3618810603362Champions Jairo16 Juan Carlos Carcedo2024–251st1st362646672182Runners Up Jairo13 Juan Carlos Carcedo Sofyane Cherfa Albert Celades Ricardo Sá Pinto
European
Honours TypeCompetitionTitlesSeasonsDomesticCypriot First Division12024–25Cypriot Cup22023–24, 2025–26Cypriot Super Cup12026
UEFA club coefficient ranking UEFA Team Ranking (2026/27)
UEFA Club ranking Rank Country Team Points79Genk25.00080Sturm Graz25.00081Pafos24.12582Nottingham Forest23.00083Celje23.000
Last update: 29 August 2026 Source: UEFA
Club's identity The logo of Pafos FC is a variation of AEP Paphos's logo and a refresh of Pafos FC's first logo, including the name of the team and town and the classic figure of the Cypriot hero Evagoras Pallikarides. The logo also includes the team's colours, blue, white, and gold. The emblem was renewed during the period 2018–19, making the depiction of the hero Evagoras Pallikarides more prominent.
Kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors From 2019 to 2023, Pafos FC's kits were manufactured by Jako. Starting with the 2023–24 season, Pafos FC transitioned to Puma, both for the Main Team and for Academy, as their official kit supplier, though the club retained its core sponsors — Korantina Homes, LF Group, and Cablenet.
Players
Out on loan
Current staff Senior managementVice president George IoannouCEO Charis TheocharousCOO Rustam KhafizovSporting director Cristiano GiarettaHead scout Rodolfo Filipe Aniceto VazSenior scout Pedro HenriqueCFA representative Filippos GeorgiouTechnical staffHead coach Ricardo Sá PintoAssistant coach Nuno MoraisFitness coach Leandro De Sousa MendesGoalkeeping coach Ricardo JanotaStrength coach Daniel CaraçaDoctor Ivan AkimovPhysio Charalampos KaragiannisPhysio Nicolas GonçalvesSports scientist Luis VitaVideo analyst Kaio FonsecaTeam manager Xenofon OnisiforouNutritionist Max BogaertKit manager Laurentiu LunguKit manager Marius MihalceaOther staffDirector of finance Egor TkachenkoCommercial director Andrey Finerman Head of media and communications Christoforos MatheouHead of football operations Michalis KiriakouMedia officer Raphael MichaelSocial media Alia SpyropoulouPhotographer Andrii Lichko
Records Most appearances
NameYearsLeague appsLeague goalsCup appsCup goalsSuper Cup appsSuper Cup goalsEurope appsEurope goalsTotal appsTotal goals1 Vlad Dragomir2021–Present1561819330374215252 Jairo2021-20251275516410181162603 Bruno Felipe2023–Present1071013030362159124 Onni Valakari2020–2025136401560070158465 Pêpê2023–2024, 2024–Present99514430341150106 Josef Kvída2020–20251244110001013647 Muamer Tanković2022–2025962814210234134348 David Goldar2023–Present7399130353120139 Jajá2024–2025, 2025–Present71912520316116209 Anderson Silva2024–2025, 2025–Present7221873032611633
Top goalscorers
NameYearsLeague appsLeague goalsCup appsCup goalsSuper Cup appsSuper Cup goalsEurope appsEurope goalsTotal appsTotal goalsRatio1 Jairo2021-20251275516410181162602 Onni Valakari2020–2025136401560070158463 Muamer Tanković2022–2025962814210234134344 Anderson Silva2024–2025, 2025–Present72218730326116335 Kévin Bérigaud2018-202268223+2000071+246 Vlad Dragomir2021–Present1561819330364215257 João Correia2024–Present5317602027688238 Adam Nemec2018–2020421765000048229 Jajá2024–2025, 2025–Present719125203161162010 Nassir Maachi2015–20163111120000321310 David Goldar2023–Present739913035312013
Managers
Manager name From To Duration PWDLWin % Radmilo Ivančević 1 July 2014 14 October 2014 Sofoklis Sofokleous 1 November 2014 9 November 2015 José Manuel Roca 17 November 2015 14 December 2015 Apostolos Makridis 16 December 2015 31 May 2016 Dimitris Ioannou 14 June 2016 31 May 2017 Luka Elsner 30 June 2017 21 January 2018 23 6 6 11 Steven Pressley 31 January 2018 9 October 2018 22 8 5 9 Željko Kopić 19 October 2018 6 November 2019 41 16 11 14 Jeremy Steele 6 November 2019 13 December 2019 5 3 1 1 Cameron Toshack 13 December 2019 20 October 2020 21 8 5 8 Dmytro Mykhaylenko 20 October 2020 31 January 2021 16 4 5 7 Stephen Constantine 4 February 2021 30 June 2021 18 12 2 4 Darko Milanič 30 June 2021 10 May 2022 33 11 14 8 Míchel Salgado (Caretaker) 14 May 2022 22 May 2022 2 1 0 1 Henning Berg 11 June 2022 3 April 2023 33 17 11 5 Míchel Salgado (Caretaker) 3 April 2023 24 June 2023 9 3 3 3 Juan Carlos Carcedo 24 June 2023 5 January 2026 129 74 25 30 Sofyane Cherfa (Caretaker) 5 January 2026 9 January 2026 1 1 0 0 Albert Celades 9 January 2026 28 April 2026 21 9 6 6 Ricardo Sá Pinto 28 April 2026 17 8 4 5
References
External links