Greece and Cyprus return to lock horns on Cypriot soil 55 years after historic premiere

When the men’s national teams of Cyprus and Greece take to the court on Saturday night (August 13) for a CEV EuroVolley 2023 qualifying match, Volleyball historians and long-time fans will most probably recall memories of a similar, historic fixture held back in 1967. A friendly match between Greece and Cyprus took place 55 years ago to coincide with the very first international fixture contested by a Cypriot national team in the sport.

It all started with a visit paid by Mr Konstantinos Aslanidis, the then Secretary of Sports in Greece, to Cyprus who, while touring the island, promoted further cooperation between the two countries specifically in the development of sports.

The Cypriot men’s national team formed towards the end of the summer of 1967 – and they eventually played a friendly match with Greece, with their opponents returning from a tour to Israel and preparing for participation in the Mediterranean Games as well as for their maiden European Championship appearance.

Team Greece travelled to Cyprus on August 26 – and the following day they played a much anticipated friendly match against the home team. A crowd of some 3,000 people filled the stands of the arena to witness such a key milestone in the history of Cyprus Volleyball. Greece eventually stormed to a 3-0 victory (15-1, 15-11, 15-5) and left little chance to the rather inexperienced Cypriot team.

One of the players composing the Cypriot roster – Kostas Schizas – is still very much involved in Volleyball and is the medical doctor appointed for the home match with Greece on Saturday night.   

Now let’s go back to 1967 and that first international match played by Cyprus. After claiming a 3-0 victory, Greece decided to entertain the fans even further, they split their roster into two – with six players on each side of the net due to play one extra set. However, with one of their players injured, Cyprus’ Fotos Hadjihampis eventually took to the court as well. The fans then enjoyed another set of two evenly matched teams.

Memories from those early days of competitive Volleyball will be vivid on Saturday night when Cyprus attempt to make up for the 0-3 loss they suffered at the hands of Greece earlier this week in Athens.

Many thanks to Mr George Stefanidis for contributing to this story.