OMONOIA: HISTORIC 2025-2026 CHAMPIONS

Omonoia are the Cypriot champions for the 2025-2026 season. Though the season just ended Friday, the title was clinched weeks ago, and was a foregone conclusion even longer than that. Omonoia finished with 26 wins, only three losses and six draws, finishing the season with 87 points, a Cypriot record, and 18 points clear of second place AEK Larnaca. It’s Omonoia’s first championship since 2021, and the club will get a chance to qualify for the UEFA Champions League for the first time ever this summer. Let’s take a look back at the season that was, what went right, and what needs to be done to sustain it.

Amid the hustle and bustle of European summer qualifiers, in which Omonoia successfully qualified for the UEFA Conference League, the season did not start on a good note, a 2-1 away loss in Achna at Ethnikos Achnas who ended up being relegated. Nonetheless, Omonoia won their next four, and did not lose again until late November at Apollonas in Limassol, only drawing twice in the interim. Omonoia took over first place for good in December. Once the calendar flipped to 2026, Omonoia would only lose one more time, a loss in the Nicosia Derby to blood rival APOEL in late February. In the playoffs, Omonoia won 8 games, only drawing twice.

Perhaps chief among the factors that led to Omonoia’s championship this season, was the return of Henning Berg as manager. The Norwegian manager previously led Omonoia between 2019-2022. Berg led Omonoia to an unofficial championship in 2020, in which Omonoia finished in first place, and were afforded the rights of the Cypriot champion by UEFA, but were controversially denied an official championship by the Cyprus FA, as the season was not completed due to the coronavirus. The championship he led them to in 2021 did count. However, he was sacked in 2022 after Omonoia finished outside the top 6 and outside the playoffs. Hiring him back three years later for this season made some question if he could recapture the same magic, and time has answered that question with a resounding yes. Simos Tarapoulouzis also returned as Team Coordinator.

On the pitch, Omonoia’s most prolific offseason acquisition was Belgian-born Moroccan striker Ryan Mmaee. Mmaee not only led the team, but ran away with the scoring title for the whole league, scoring 25 goals. Second on the team, and also in the league, was Willy Semedo with 17 goals. Ewandro Costa scored 7 goals, Muamer Tankovic had 6, Senou Coulibaly and Tasos Chatzigiovanis had 5 each, Angelos Neophytou had 4, as did Stevan Jovetic, Captain Ioannis Kousoulos, Nikolas Panayiotou and Mihlali Mayambela struck thrice, Panayiotis Andreou and Evangelos Andreou scored twice, and Stefan Simic, Mateo Maric, Giannis Masouras, Carel Eiting and Novica Erakovic also managed to find the back of the net in league play this season. Omonoia scored 88 goals and only gave up 24. Fabiano who’s been with the club since 2019 and the undisputed first-choice keeper since 2020 turned in another strong season in goal. Francis Uzoho and Charalambos Kyriakidis split time in goal when he missed some time due to injury.

While this article focuses on Omonoia’s performance in domestic action, Omonoia’s next challenge will come in the summer when they attempt to qualify for the UEFA Champions League for the first time in club history. Greek defender Giannis Masouras and third-string goalkeeper Charalambos Kyriakidis are leaving. Fabiano isn’t, but he’s also 38, and the club will need to think about their future in goal, he turns 39 in February next season.

And while this roster ran away with the Cypriot league, are they built to get into the world’s finest club competition? They acquitted themselves decently well in the UEFA Conference League, getting into the knockout rounds for the second time in as many seasons. Will owner Stavros Papastavrou sink some money into becoming Champions League worthy, replacing the departures with equal or better arrivals? These are all things that remain to be seen over the next month or so. Nonetheless, the 2025-2026 was one Omonoia and its fanbase will always look back on with fondness.

OMONOIA 2025-2026 CYPRIOT CHAMPIONS

GOALKEEPERS: 40. Fabiano, 23. Francis Uzoho, 98. Charalambos Kyriakidis, 78. Pantelis Michail

DEFENDERS: 2. Alpha Diounkou, 3. Fotis Kitsos, 5. Senou Coulibaly, 17. Saad Agouzoul, 21. Giannis Masouras, 21. Giannis Masouras, 27. Stefan Simic, 28. Moses Odubajo, 29. Jure Balkovec, 30. Nikolas Panayiotou, 82. Andreas Christou, 90. Christos Konstantinidis

MIDFIELDERS: 6. Carel Eiting, 11. Ewandro Costa, 14. Mateo Maric, 22. Muamer Tankovic, 31. Ioannis Kousoulos(Captain), 33. Mateusz Musialowski, 44. Novica Erakovic, 74. Panayiotis Andreou

FORWARDS: 7. Willy Semedo, 8. Stevan Jovetic, 10. Tasos Chatziogiovanis, 18. Mihlali Mayambela, 19. Ryan Mmaee, 20. Evangelos Andreou, 85. Angelos Neophytou, 91. Konstantinos Panagi

Andrew Mantzas

Twitter: @MantzasSport