Mission accomplished for our National Under-17 Team!
In the match for the 3rd and final round of Group 11 in the UEFA European Under-17 Championship Qualifiers, Cyprus defeated Armenia 1–0 and finished top of the group, securing qualification to the Elite Round of the competition.
Our national team completed the group stage with 7 points — two wins and one draw — without conceding a single goal, in what was a tough and competitive group.
Cyprus will now join 27 other teams that advanced from this phase. They will be drawn into seven groups for the Elite Round, and the seven group winners will qualify for the final tournament, which will take place in Estonia.
The Elite Round matches will be played in March.
The Match
In the first half, Cyprus started strongly and managed to open the scoring with a close-range finish by Christodoulos Marneros, following a rebound from the Armenian goalkeeper after a direct free-kick taken by Gerasimou.
Afterwards, Armenia had more possession and created some chances, but the score remained 1–0 for Cyprus at halftime.
In the second half, Armenia again controlled possession, but the biggest chances belonged to Cyprus — with Pieris and Demetriou coming close in the 75th and 83rd minutes respectively.
In the end, the 1–0 scoreline stood, and our young internationals celebrated qualification with passion and joy!
In the other group match, Finland and Northern Ireland drew 1–1, with Northern Ireland qualifying as the group’s runners-up.
Cyprus Line-up (Coach: Michalis Markou)
Theofanis Aresti, Sotiris Panagi, Andreas Demetriou, Alexandros Geroukalis (69’ Anastasios Glafkou), Robertos Rotis (88’ Kyriakos Christodoulou), Andreas Pieris, David Gerasimou (80’ Alexandros Middleton), Antonis Konis, Christodoulos Marneros, Paraskevas Konstantinou (80’ Marios Toumpas), Petros Makkoulas (46’ Markos Theodorou)
The results of the group:
Matchday 1
Cyprus – Finland 1–0
Northern Ireland – Armenia 2–1
Matchday 2
Northern Ireland – Cyprus 0–0
Finland – Armenia 2–0
Matchday 3
Armenia – Cyprus 0–1
Finland – Northern Ireland 1–1
Final Group Standings:
Cyprus – 7 pts
Northern Ireland – 5 pts
Finland – 3 pts
Armenia – 0 pts
