Full name	Άθλητικός Σύλλογος Ομόνοια Λευκωσία Athletic Club Omonia Nicosia
Nickname(s)	Τρυφύλλι (Shamrock) Βασίλισσα (Queen)
Founded	1948
Ground	Neo GSP Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus
Capacity	23,400
Chairman	Doros Seraphim
Manager	Ioan Andone
League	Cypriot First Division
2005-06	2nd
Home colours 　 Away colours

Athletic Club Omonia Nicosia is a Cypriot football club, which plays in the capital, Nicosia. Omonia has won 19 Championship titles, 12 Cyprus Cups and 14 Cyprus Super Cups). The Club was established in 1948 and became member of Cyprus Football Association in 1953. As an athletic club, Omonia has basketball, volleyball, futsal and cycling sections.

History

AC Omonia was founded in 1948, just after the Second World War. The establishment of the Club (along with that of a few other), was evoked from the political turbulance of that period and the conflict between left-wings and right-wings. Its Fans (Gate 9 - Green Army) are considered to have left-wing ideas but anyway are not afraid of showing the Hammer Sickle or flags of Che Guevara as well.

In 1953 AC Omonia joins the Cyprus Football Association as a First Division team. During the 1960s the Club announces its arrival on the Cypriot football scene by winning their first league title in 1960/61. Omonia finished seven points above second-placed Anorthosis Famagusta FC that season - and they have subsequently stayed ahead of their rivals in the first division with an impressive haul of trophies. With 19 league championships and 12 Cypriot Cups, they are the country's most-titled club. In addition, Omonia have claimed a record five domestic doubles - in 1972, 1974, 1981, 1982 and 1983.

They were most dominant in the 1970s, winning the league for six consecutive seasons from 1974 to 1979, a record that until today remains unbeaten.

It was then that Omonia produced one of Cyprus's greatest footballers in striker Sotiris Kaiafas, as well as the impressive Gregory Savvas. Kaiafas, the greatest Cypriot footballer ever in, would win the European Golden Boot after finishing as Europe's top domestic scorer in 1976 with 39 goals - an accolade still considered the greatest achievement by any Cypriot player.

Despite the gap in quality between Omonia and other European champions, Omonia proved to be worthy opponents in UEFA club competition. In the European Champion Clubs' Cup in 1979/80, they recovered from a 10-0 defeat at AFC Ajax to win the return leg 4-0 with a dazzling display in Nicosia.

After the departure of Kaiafas, Omonia continued to produce talented players to keep up their winning ways. They were champions from 1981 to 1985 and again in 1987 and 1989. But despite claiming the title in 1992/93, Omonia were forced to live in the shadow of Anorthosis in the 1990s. Even so, the fans were able to enjoy the goalscoring exploits of Hungarian Joseph Juriac during the first part of the decade, and later those of Rainer Rauffmann.

A native German, Rauffmann arrived at the club in 1998. He was the island's leading marksman for four years and also played for Cyprus national football team after gaining Cypriot citizenship. He recently retired through injury at the age of 37. Another star of the 1990s was midfield player Kostakis Malekkos, who played after for APOEL Nicosia FC.

However, it was not until the 1999/00 campaign that Omonia ended a six-year wait for silverware by lifting the Cypriot Cup. As well as rewarding the patience of supporters, this success maintained the club's strong cup tradition. The Nicosia side remains the only side to have won the Cyprus Cup 4 times in a row during the years between 1980 and 1984.

The next term, the championship flag was restored to Omonia. Following Henk Houwaart's arrival as coach midway through the season, the team climbed the table to claim the title after beating defending champions Anorthosis 3-1 in what was effectively a championship decider. Further glory followed in 2002/03 when coach Toni Savevski led the club to their 19th league triumph. Omonia won the Cyprus Cup in 2004/05.

The Fans

There are 2 major clubs supporting the team. PA.SY.FI. and Gate 9 which is the most active fan club.

Stadium

The team's current stadium is the 23,400 seater Neo GSP Stadium, also known as the Pancypria Stadium and it is the biggest stadium of Cyprus. The stadium is shared with APOEL FC, the other major football club in Nicosia, and Olympiakos Nicosia and they use it since 1999. The team'previous stadium was Makario Stadium, since 1977 and before it was the Palaio (Old) GSP Stadium. Both stadiums, like the New GSP Stadium, were shared as well by the other Nicosian teams, APOEL and Olympiakos. In the first years of its establishment, Omonia was using the "Goal" Stadium.

- As the most popular team in Cyprus, all the stadiums that Omonia has used contained too little number of seats for its many thousands of fans.Especially at the derbies, Omonia's tickets weren't enough for its fans. Also since the GSP stadium is not owned by Omonia nor any football club of Nicosia, Omonia does not gain enough money from the tickets since most of the money goes to the owner of the stadium.

For those reasons, Omonia announced that the team is seriously working to move out from Neo GSP Stadium. Furthermore the club is planning to build a new stadium outside of Nicosia with 30,000 capacity. The new stadium is expected to finish in 2008 and will be similar to Sturm Graz Arena.

Current Squad

Goalkeepers

• 01. Dimitris Leoni
• 14. Adam Vezer
• 15. Takis Taki
• 29. Antonis Antoniou

Defenders

• 02. Giorgos Theodotou
• 03. Ioakim Ioakim
• 21. Nicolas Georgiou
• 81. Loizos Kakoyiannis
• 99. Petros Konnafis
• 18. Giorgos Konstanti
• 28. Giorgos Tsikkos

Midfielders

• 11. Sinisa Dobrasinovic
• 77. Vlatko Grozdanovski
• 20. Kostas Kaiafas
• 16. Alexandros Kanaris
• 17. Loizos Louvaris
• 30. Magno Mocelin

Attackers

• 70. Musa Mguni
• 27. / Roberto Paulo Rink
• 10. Giorgos Vakouftsis

Trophies

Football

• Cypriot Championship:
  • Champion (19): 1961, 1966, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1993, 2001, 2003

• Cyprus Cup:
  • Winner (12): 1965, 1972, 1974, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1988, 1991, 1994, 2000, 2005.

• Cyprus FA Shield:
  • Winner (14): 1966, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1994, 2001, 2003, 2005