Ran Ben Shimon named new Cyprus football coach

The Cyprus Football Association (CFA) has announced the appointment of Ran Ben Shimon as the new manager of the Cyprus national team until the autumn of 2019, when Cyprus conclude their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign.

He replaces Christakis Christophorou who stepped down earlier this year after a series of poor results.

Ben Shimon, a 46-year-old Israeli coach, began his managerial career in 2003 with the Maccabi Tel Aviv youth team before moving on to Hapoel Haifa a couple of years later. He has also coached Ironi Kyriat, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Hapoel Tel Aviv as well as AEK Larnaca in 2012.

Ben Shimon will take charge immediately and his first official game in charge will be against Bosnia & Herzegovina next month in World Cup qualifying.

“It’s a big challenge for me and I will be very happy if I can achieve success with the Cyprus national team, “said Ben Shimon immediately after his appointment was announced.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.