THE CYPRUS Football Association (CFA) has raised eyebrows by stating they have only allocated 2,000 seats to travelling Irish fans who will arrive in Cyprus to play the national team next month.
The Republic of Ireland will be playing on familiar territory when they face Angelos Anastasiades’ underperforming Cyprus on October 7.
Remarkably, the two nations have met six times in the last few years alone – all ending in defeats for Cyprus, which has failed to score a single goal.
The last meeting was almost one year to the day when they play again next Saturday. On October 8 last year, an early Stephen Elliot goal separated the two sides at the GSP Stadium in a game mostly remembered for Shay Given’s brilliant penalty save from Yiannakis Okkas.
But the game also made headlines because the travelling Irish fans outnumbered the home support in the stadium by 18 to one.
A record 18,000 fans wearing green and white filled up three out of the four stands at the GSP Stadium with just 1,000 Cypriot home fans turning up to watch their side.
Back then, the tickets were sold at £12 each, but this year the ticket prices have increased to £30 – a jump of 150 per cent.
CFA Official Adonis Procopiou said yesterday the Irish Football Association (FAI) only wanted to allocate 2,000 seats for their travelling fans.
“We had given the Irish FA a total of 3,900 tickets and they returned 1,900 tickets to us as not sold. Therefore, as far as we know, there will be just 2,000 Irish away fans.”
Procopiou added that the game’s less important significance is the main reason behind why he believes fewer supporters will travel to Cyprus this time round.
“Last year, the significance of the game was different. The game was more crucial to the Irish, while the match was also played in the summer period with a lot of the fans making their trip to Cyprus also a holiday.”
Around 1,500 to 2,000 fans are expected turn up to support Cyprus, added Procopiou, with tickets priced at £30.
“However, the price for home fans could go down if the CFA manages to find sponsors to help pay some money towards the tickets,” he added.
But a travel agency official yesterday told the Cyprus Mail that the chances were that Irish fans would again flood the island.
“I find this all very strange. We have already seen loads of Irish fans travel to Germany for their first group game. The Irish fans, and let’s not forget that most of them travel independently and buy the tickets here, always travel in high numbers and Cyprus is always a favourite for travelling Irish fans.”
The FAI was unavailable for comment.
