Sotiris Kaiafas

Kaiafas in October 1979
Personal information
Full name	Sotirios Kaiafas
Date of birth	17 December 1949 (age 71)
Place of birth	Mia Milia, Cyprus
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9 1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1967–1984	Omonia	388	(261)
National team
	Cyprus	17	(2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Kaiafas played for a local club in Mia Milia, called Proodos. He joined Omonia in 1965, and in 1967 he debuted for Omonia's senior team, joining the youth team at the age of 16. Soon he established himself as one of the most prolific strikers Omonia had ever employed, but it was not until the early 1970s that he served notice of his talent. In the 1971–72 season, Kaiafas became for first time leading scorer in Cyprus with 12 goals, a tally that helped Omonia to their third domestic title. It was the start of a successful partnership. Kaiafas, like other Cypriot stars such as Andreas Stylianou, Panicos Efthymiades, and Leonidas Leonidou, became a cult hero to the fans during a period where there was a close connection between players and fans; during this time, football was played on gravel and footballers were paid only a pittance by clubs.

During the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, the Turks captured the northern part of Cyprus, including Kaiafas' home village Mia Milia. He, along with 200,000 other Greek Cypriots, had to leave his house and become a refugee in the rest of Cyprus. He moved to South Africa with his family, but came back to Cyprus one year later and has lived with his family in Nicosia since then. He continued playing football while in South Africa. Kaiafas was the top scorer of the Cypriot First Division in another seven seasons (1973–74, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81, and 1981–82) and scored a total of nearly 300 league goals, having the record of scoring 44 goals in one season. He helped his beloved Omonia AC to the league championship on six occasions.

His most productive season was 1975–76, when his 41 league goals were sufficient to win him the European Golden Boot[1] and to date represents the highest award ever won by a Cypriot footballer. He was also voted "Cypriot Sportsman of the Year" in 1976 and 1978 by the Cyprus Journalists Association. "Winning the Golden Boot was one of the happiest days of my life," he said. "It is a very special honour for any European footballer."

On 7 November 1979, Kaiafas enjoyed one of his best games for Omonia, scoring twice as they defeated Dutch team Ajax 4–0 in the second round of the European Cup (a partial explanation for the shock scoreline is that it was the second leg of the tie and Omonia had lost 10–0 in Amsterdam two weeks earlier). In the previous round, Kaiafas had scored four goals as Omonia defeated Luxembourg's Red Boys 6–1. This left him as the third highest goalscorer in the European Cup that season. His success at club level was not reflected whilst playing for his country but that might reflect the defensive strategy Cyprus employed at the time. For a Cypriot player, international goals were always harder to come by in the days of Pelé, Johan Cruyff, and Franz Beckenbauer. Yet, even while appearing for one of Europe's smaller teams, Kaiafas managed to register twice in 17 matches.

Kaiafas announced his retirement from football in May 1984, ending a career which coincided with the greatest decade in Omonia's history, seeing them as league champions seven times. He refers to the club as his "second family". In 2003, he was selected as the Golden Player of Cyprus and had the honour of representing his country at the UEFA Jubilee Awards. His son, Kostas, spent the majority of his own footballing career at Omonia and also played for Aiki Larnaca in the Cypriot Second Division.
Honours
Club

AC Omonia
Cypriot Championship (9): 1971–72, 1973–74, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84
Cypriot Cup (6): 1971–72, 1973–74, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83
Stylianakis Shield (4): 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983

Individual

Top goalscorer in the Cypriot League (8): 1971/72, 1973/74, 1975/76, 1976/77, 1978/79, 1979/80, 1980/81, 1981/82
European Golden Shoe (1): 1976
Cypriot Sportsman of the Year (2): by Cypriot Journalists: 1976, 1978
2003 UEFA Jubilee Awards for Best Cypriot Footballer of the 20th Century
Chosen By Cyprus Sports Association as the Best Cypriot Sportsman of the 20th Century (shared with athlete Stavros Tziortzis)

References

Όλοι οι νικητές του χρυσού παπουτσιού (in Greek). sport24.gr. Retrieved 21 November 2013.

External links

UEFA.com – Golden Player of Cyprus [1]

Awards

vte

UEFA Jubilee Golden Players

Albania Pano Andorra Koldo Armenia Oganesian Austria Prohaska Azerbaijan Banishevskiy Belarus Aleinikov Belgium Van Himst Bosnia and Herzegovina Sušić Bulgaria Stoichkov Croatia Šuker Cyprus Kaiafas Czech Republic Masopust Denmark Laudrup England Moore Estonia Poom Faroe Islands Løkin Finland Litmanen France Fontaine Georgia (country) Khurtsilava Germany Walter Greece Hatzipanagis Hungary Puskás Iceland Sigurvinsson Republic of Ireland Giles Israel Spiegler Italy Zoff Kazakhstan Kvochkin Latvia Starkovs Liechtenstein Hasler Lithuania Narbekovas Luxembourg Pilot North Macedonia Pančev Malta Busuttil Moldova Cebanu Netherlands Cruyff Northern Ireland Best Norway Bratseth Poland Lubański Portugal Eusébio Romania Hagi Russia Yashin San Marino Bonini Scotland Law Serbia and Montenegro Džajić Slovakia Popluhár Slovenia Oblak Spain Di Stéfano Sweden Larsson Switzerland Chapuisat Turkey Şükür Ukraine Blokhin Wales Charles

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European Golden Shoe
L'Équipe award

1967–68: Eusébio 1968–69: Zhekov 1969–70: Müller 1970–71: Skoblar 1971–72: Müller 1972–73: Eusébio 1973–74: Yazalde 1974–75: Georgescu 1975–76: Kaiafas 1976–77: Georgescu 1977–78: Krankl 1978–79: Kist 1979–80: Vandenbergh 1980–81: Slavkov 1981–82: Kieft 1982–83: Gomes 1983–84: Rush 1984–85: Gomes 1985–86: Van Basten 1986–87: Cămătaru / Polster 1987–88: Çolak 1988–89: Mateuț 1989–90: Sánchez & Stoichkov 1990–91: Pančev

Unofficial

1991–92: McCoist 1992–93: McCoist 1993–94: Taylor 1994–95: Avetisyan 1995–96: Endeladze

ESM award

1996–97: Ronaldo 1997–98: Machlas 1998–99: Jardel 1999–2000: Phillips 2000–01: Larsson 2001–02: Jardel 2002–03: Makaay 2003–04: Henry 2004–05: Henry & Forlán 2005–06: Toni 2006–07: Totti 2007–08: C. Ronaldo 2008–09: Forlán 2009–10: Messi 2010–11: C. Ronaldo 2011–12: Messi 2012–13: Messi 2013–14: C. Ronaldo & Suárez 2014–15: C. Ronaldo 2015–16: Suárez 2016–17: Messi 2017–18: Messi 2018–19: Messi 2019–20: Immobile

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Cypriot First Division top scorers

1961: Krystallis 1962: Shialis 1963: Pan. Papadopoulos 1965: Pierides 1966: Efthymiades 1967: Stylianou 1968: Pam. Papadopoulos 1969: Efthymiades 1970: Constantinou 1971: Efthymiades / Stylianou / Vasiliades 1972: Kaiafas 1973: Theodorou 1974: Kaiafas 1975: Savva 1976: Kaiafas 1977: Kaiafas 1978: Kanaris 1979: Kaiafas 1980: Kaiafas 1981: Kaiafas 1982: Kaiafas 1983: Hatziloizou 1984: Kittos / Vernon 1985: Savvidis 1986: Ioannou 1987: Dzhevizov 1988: Zouvanis 1989: McNeal 1990: Gogić 1991: Beširević / Xiourouppas 1992: Dzurják 1993: Šćepović 1994: Gogić 1995: Andreou 1996: Kiprich 1997: Konstantinou 1998: Rauffmann 1999: Rauffmann 2000: Rauffmann 2001: Rauffmann 2002: Kowalczyk 2003: Neophytou 2004: Kožlej / Sosin 2005: Sosin 2006: Sosin 2007: Solari 2008: David / Sosin 2009: Serjão 2010: Joeano / Semedo 2011: Mrdaković 2012: Freddy 2013: Vasconcelos 2014: Monteiro / Sangoy / Tagbajumi 2015: Poté 2016: Cavenaghi / Alves / Makriev 2017: Derbyshire 2018: Derbyshire 2019: Nemec