By Charlie Charalambous
THE CYPRUS women’s football championship got off to a mind-boggling start on Sunday with 35 goals hitting the back of the net in only two games.
Not only did the first-ever championship games bring a hatful of goals, but they were shared among the title favourites Lefkothea Nicosia and La Bella Limassol, who won their respective matches without conceding.
“We are at an experimental stage and what matters are the efforts made by the girls to play football; But I’m not sure if we should start comparing results with other countries,” Cyprus Football Association general manager Andreas Stylianou told the Cyprus Mail.
And Stylianou said it was too early to say whether the standard was high enough for Cyprus to establish its first international women’s team, which is the CFA’s ultimate aim. Lefkothea smashed an amazing 20 goals past rank outsiders Daphne Troullon in Nicosia and go to meet La Bella next Sunday, leading the five-team table.
Player of the match was Lefkothea forward Louiza Theophanos who thumped an astronomical ten goals in the game against Daphne, which must be some kind of record.
The Daphne babes, so called because they are mostly school children, found the going tough against the more experienced Lefkothea.
The teenagers from Troulloi had only played one friendly since the club was formed one month ago, and Daphne will need to do their homework before their next game in two weeks’ time.
Hot on the heels of Lefkothea in the goalfest were La Bella who thrashed Thiella 15-0 at Ayios Athanasios, Limassol in front of some two hundred spectators.
Top scorer, with a double hat-trick, was La Bella forward Kyriaki Georgiou.
Although the turnout for both games was no more than a few hundred – only a handful watched the Lefkothea match – the Football Association hopes the publicity over the goal spree will attract more spectators to the fledgling women’s game.
“We are happy and I would say to the girls ‘well done’,” said Stylianou.
“We hope to have better quality football next season when we hope to establish a league of about ten teams,” he added.
Apart from next Sunday’s top-of-the-table clash in Limassol, there will be a first appearance for AEK Kokkinohorion in Frenaros against a deflated Thiella.
