Apoel face daunting task in Champions League group stages

Cyprus champions Apoel will face Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Tottenham in the group stages of this season’s Champions League after the draw was made in Monaco on Thursday evening.

It will be the fourth time in their history that the Nicosia giants have made it into the group stages of the continent’s top club competition, and the seventh time in nine years that they will compete in either the Champions League or Europa League proper.

Apoel return to the Champions League after a two-season absence, again under the guidance of Greek coach Giorgos Donis. The drastic decision to sack Mario Been after the first leg of the third qualifying round this summer after only three games in charge has turned out to have paid dividends.

Qualification has also given Apoel a big financial boost, with the club guaranteed a minimum revenue of 15 million euros, plus market pool and ticket sales.

Every win in the group stage pays out €1.5m, with €500,000 for a draw.

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.