Apollon Limassol FC

In its first year, Apollon suffered eight defeats in eight matches in the second division. Just before the next season (1956–57), Apollon won the regional group in the second division and subsequently the play-offs and then was promoted to the first division. This took place in 1957 and ever since Apollon has been competing in the first division. Things were not easy however for the newly promoted club. Apollon couldn't reach a satisfactory position in the rankings and was struggling in the middle of the table for many years. But in the mid-60's things changed.[1]

In 1965 Apollon reached the Cup Final. However, Omonia won the title with a score of 5–1.[3] A year later, Apollon was in the Final again, and won the Cup by defeating Nea Salamina with the score of 4–2 (Scorers: Panikos Yiolitis, Andros Konstantinou, Panikkos Kristallis, Antonis Panayides), and triumphantly took the trophy to Limassol.[2] Apollon managed to maintain its Cup title in 1967, by beating Alki 1–0 thanks to the goal of Antonis Panayides.[3] After celebrating these titles, Apollon had to wait another 15 years to start making history once again.

In the football season 1981–82 Apollon managed to reach once again the Cup final however in double games Omonia won the Cup. In the 1985–86 season, after 20 years of "drought" Apollon won once again the Cup in Tsirion Stadium, overcoming APOEL with a score of 2–0.[3] Scores were Kenny and Sokratous.[2]

Diethelm Ferner

In these years, it emerged clearly that absent was this "something" that could make the difference for the team to lead in the Championship. This "something" therefore was non-other than the German coach named Diethelm Ferner who, upon arriving in Cyprus was determined to win. The German, with his discipline and hard work accomplishes "links" between young talented footballers with older more experienced footballers creating a team ready for the big time. Thus in the season 1990–91 the team entered the championship "marathon" wanting to write the biggest and most glorious page in its history book. After a frantic and impressive season, offering both substance and spectacle in its game, Apollon was finally crowned Champion of Cyprus![4] From that year and for a five-year period the team gained the admiration of all Cypriot football fans after playing modern football. In 1991–92 season Apollon won the Cup for the fourth time, overcoming Omonia in final with a final score of 1–0.[3] The scorer was Evgenio Ptak. However, in the next season of 1992–93 Apollon lost both titles. The team returned strongly and gained the club's second Championship one year later in 1993–94 season, later after a hard duel with Anorthosis where the title was judged on the last day of the season.[4] In the 1994–95 season Apollon reached the Cup final losing from Apoel with 2–4 while the same happened also in the 1997–98 season with "executioner" this time the almighty Anorthosis, that accomplishes and gains the cup with a final score 1–3. In that five-year period Apollon was accomplished in the European ties, winning enough games and at the same time the respect of many European football clubs. However, the game, in which Apollon wrote his own unique history is non-other than with the big opponent of Inter Milan in the UEFA Cup! The 1–0 in "Stadio Giuseppe Meazza" (San Siro) left margins for Apollon to believe in a miracle, against the Italians for the second leg game of 3 November 1993. The Cup Champions, staffed with a squad of international players led by Dutchman Dennis Bergkamp talked for a walkover in Cyprus against "fishermen" (thus called the footballers of Apollon the goalkeeper of Inter, Walter Zenga before the game) and that the game in Milan was just a bad game for their team. However, the Inter team was found in Limassol, losing in the first ten minutes with a 0–2 score and only finally managed to recover and to finish another historic tie with 3–3, leaving at the end the great Italian goalkeeper speechless!. Scorers for the Apollon team were Milenko Špoljarić, Zlatan Šcepovic and Giorgos Iosifidis.[5]

Apollon supporters during a match in 2006.

In the 2000–01 season Apollon won the Cup against Nea Salamis Famagusta in the GSP stadium, with final score 1–0. Scorer was the unforgettable Viktor Zubarev.[3]

In the middle of the football season (2004–05) and after enough failed attempts for glory after the final of 2001, German manager Bernd Stange took the responsibility, accomplishing late but regularly he brought back the lost glamour of the team. In the season, 2005–06 Apollon won the league title undefeated and earned a club record of 64 points.[4] Apollon had 19 wins and 7 draws in 26 matches and this went down in Cypriot Football history, due to fact that it was the fourth team in the Cyprus Championship that won the title unbeaten (*Apollon was the only undefeated team in Europe, running an unbeaten streak since 12 March 2005 (30 games). The next year Apollon won for the first time in his history the Super Cup beating APOEL 1–3 at home.

In 2010 Apollon won the Cup after 9 years (2001 Final Cup), beating APOEL Nicosia in GSZ Stadium. The final score was 2–1.[3]

The following year (2011), Apollon reached the final of the Cypriot Cup for the second consecutive year, but lost to Omonia on penalties, after a 1–1 draw following extra time[3]

On 22 May 2013, Apollon won the Cup after three years (last Cup won in 2010). Apollon won in the final by beating 1–2 AEL Limassol at Tsirion Stadium in extra time, achieving the club's 7th Cypriot Cup title.[6] Apollon fans are very demanding and loyal to the Club and after 3 years they celebrated the Cup by singing, drinking, celebrating the whole week.

Apollon Limassol skipper Giorgos Merkis implored his team-mates not to rest on their laurels after securing a famous 2–0 victory against OGC Nice in the first leg of their 2013–14 UEFA Europa League play-off. Christakis Christoforou's men were billed as overwhelming underdogs going into the tie, but a second-half double from Argentinian forward Gaston Sangoy has put them in a commanding position ahead of the 29 August decider at Stade Municipal du Ray. The next week Apollon travelled to Nice and the dream came true. Apollon lost 1–0 from OGC-Nice but qualified at the group stage of Europa League for the first time in team's history. In the group stage Apollon will play with: Lazio, Trabzonspor and Legia Warsaw. At the debut match at GSP stadium in Nicosia in the group stage of Europa League Apollon Limassol defeated by Trabzonspor 1–2 and scorer was the team's star Gaston Sangoy. On 26 September Apollon became the first Cypriot side to win a game in Poland on matchday two, ending a seven-game losing streak away from home in Europe to beat Legia Warsaw 1–0. Scorer against Polish side was again Gaston Sangoy. It is a first away victory for a Cypriot side in a UEFA club competition group stage in their last 16 attempts. In the third match on 24 October, Apollon claimed a 0–0 draw against Serie A side Lazio in Nicosia to keep alive their chances of qualifying from UEFA Europa League Group J.

After finishing 3rd in the 2013–14 Cypriot First Division, Apollon entered the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League play-off round, where they faced Russian Premier League club Lokomotiv Moscow. First leg was held in Cyprus and ended with a 1–1 draw. Second leg, held in Moscow, ended with a 4–1 win to the guests and brought Apollon to group stage of the competition. Apollon became the first team in Cyprus to qualify for a European competition by winning in an away game in the play-off round for two consecutive years as well as joining UEFA Europa League for two years a row.

Apollon, having three points, were out of the competition after losing to FC Zürich in a replay match.

The Basketball team of Apollon was founded in 1967 and is one of the founding members of Cyprus Basketball Federation. From then the team participated regularly in the championship of 1st Division. The unique titles in the history of department, are two cups in 2002 and 2014 and a Super Cup in 2004. While it finished many times in second places.

A Founding member of the Cyprus Volleyball Federation, the women's team participated in several Championship finals (1999, 2001, 2003, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013) and in eight Cup finals (1992, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2011, 2012, 2013) . Apollon won: 5 National Championships (2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017), 4 National Cups (2014– AEK Larnaca 3–0, 2015– AEK Larnaca 3–0, 2016– AEL Limassol 3–0, 2017-Anorthosis Famagusta 3–1), 5 Super Cups (2003– AEL 3–0, 2013– Anorthosis Famagusta 3–0, 2014– AEK Larnaca 3–0, 2015– AEK Larnaca 3–2, 2016– AEL 3–2 )

The women's team has won the Cypriot First Division as well as the Cypriot Women's Cup four consecutive times from 2009 to 2012 and from 2014 to 2017. The team also reached the UEFA Women's Champions League round of 32 in 201,2011 and 2014.

On 15 October 2013, Apollon Limassol girls win the first Super Cup Beating Anorthosis 3–0 in the final, Anorthosis had won the double the previous year and played Apollon Limassol in the cup final.

• Major Sponsor – Stoiximan
• TV Sponsor –
• Official Sponsors:
  • Puma
  • Petrolina
  • Lamberts
  • Remedica
  • Columbia Restaurants
  • Gree
  • Londou Bros LTD
  • Zacharias Watches & Jewellery
  • XCH

Cypriot First Division

• Champions (3): 1990–91, 1993–94, 2005–06
  • Runners-up (5): 1983–84, 1988–89, 1992–93, 1996–97, 2017–18

Cypriot Cup

• Winners (9): 1965–66, 1966–67, 1985–86, 1991–92, 2000–01, 2009–10, 2012–13, 2015–16, 2016–17
  • Runners-up (8): 1964–65, 1981–82, 1986–87, 1992–93, 1994–95, 1997–98, 2010–11, 2017–18

Cypriot Super Cup

• Winners (3): 2006, 2016, 2017

Cypriot Second Division

• Champions (1): 1956–57

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1966–67	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Standard Liège	0–11	1–5	1–6
1967–68	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Győri ETO	0–42	0–5	0–9
1982–83	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Barcelona	1–1	0–8	1–9
1984–85	UEFA Cup	1R	Bohemians	2–2	1–6	3–8
1986–87	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Malmö FF	2–1	0–6	2–7
1989–90	UEFA Cup	1R	Real Zaragoza	0–3	1–1	1–4
1991–92	European Cup	1R	Universitatea Craiova	3–0	0–2	3–2
		2R	Red Star Belgrade	0–2	1–3	1–5
1992–93	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Liverpool	1–2	1–6	2–8
1993–94	UEFA Cup	1R	Vác	4–0	0–2	4–2
		2R	Inter Milan	3–3	0–1	3–4
1994–95	UEFA Cup	PR	Teuta	4–2	4–1	8–3
		1R	Sion	1–3	3–2 (aet)	4–5
1997–98	UEFA Cup	1Q	MYPA	3–0	1–1	4–1
		2Q	RE Mouscron	0–0	0–3	0–3
1998–99	Cup Winners' Cup	QR	FK Ekranas	3–3	2–1	5–4
		1R	Baumit Jablonec	2–1	1–2 (aet)	3–3 (4–3 p)
		2R	Panionios	0–1	2–3	2–4
2001–02	UEFA Cup	QR	Tirana	3–1	2–3	5–4
		1R	Ajax	0–3	0–2	0–5
2006–07	UEFA Champions League	1Q	Cork City	1–1	0–1	1–2
2010–11	UEFA Europa League	3Q	Sibir Novosibirsk	2–1	0–1	2–2 (a)
2013–14	UEFA Europa League	PO	Nice	2–0	0–1	2–1
		Group J	Trabzonspor	1–2	2–4	3rd place
			Legia Warsaw	0–2	1–0
			Lazio	0–0	1–2
2014–15	UEFA Europa League	PO	Lokomotiv Moscow	1–1	4–1	5–2
		Group A	FC Zürich	3–2	1–3	4th place
			Villarreal	0–2	0–4
			Borussia Mönchengladbach	0–2	0–5
2015–16	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Saxan	2–0	2–0	4–0
		2Q	Trakai	4–0	0–0	4–0
		3Q	Gabala	1–1	0–1	1–2
2016–17	UEFA Europa League	3Q	Grasshopper	3–3 (aet)	1–2	4–5
2017–18	UEFA Europa League	2Q	Zaria Bălți	3–0	2–1	5–1
		3Q	Aberdeen	2–0	1–2	3–2
		PO	Midtjylland	3–2	1–1	4–3
		Group E	Lyon	1–1	0–4	4th place
			Everton	0–3	2–2
			Atalanta	1–1	1–3
2018–19	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Stumbras	2–0	0–1	2–1
		2Q	Željezničar	3–1	2–1	5–2
		3Q	Dynamo Brest	4–0	0–1	4–1
		PO	Basel	1–0	2–3	3–3
		Group H	Lazio	1–0	1–2	3rd place
			Marseille	2–2	3–1
			Eintracht Frankfurt	2–3	0–2
2019–20	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Kauno Žalgiris	2–0	4–0	6–0
		2Q	Shamrock Rovers	3–1 (aet)	1–2	4–3
		3Q	Austria Wien	3–1	2–1	5–2
		PO	PSV Eindhoven	0–4	0–3	0–7
2020–21	UEFA Europa League	1Q

Notes

• QR: Qualifying round
• PR: Preliminary round
• 1R: First round
• 2R: Second round
• 1Q: First qualifying round
• 2Q: Second qualifying round
• 3Q: Third qualifying round
• PO: Play-off round
• ¹: Both matches played in Belgium.
• ²: Both matches played in Netherlands.

Source: UEFA.com