AE Kouklion ( el, Αθλητική Ένωση Κουκλιων) was a

Cypriot Cypriot (in older sources often "Cypriote") refers to someone or something of, from, or related to the country of Cyprus. * Cypriot people, or of Cypriot descent; this includes: **Armenian Cypriots **Greek Cypriots **Maronite Cypriots **Turkish C ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team based in

Kouklia Kouklia ( el, Κούκλια, tr, Kukla) is a village in the Paphos District, about east from the city of Paphos on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. The village is built in the area of "Palaepaphos" ( el, Παλαίπαφος) (Old Paphos), ...

Paphos District Paphos District ( el, Επαρχία Πάφου, tr, Baf kazası) is one of the six districts of Cyprus and it is situated in the western part of Cyprus. Its main town and Capital (political), capital is Paphos. The entire district is controlle ...

. It was founded on 20 October 1968 and was dissolved on 9 June 2014, in order to be merged with

AEP Paphos Athletic Union Paphos , nickname = Πάφος , founded = 2000 , dissolved = 29 July 2014 , ground = Pafiako Stadium,Pafos, Cyprus, capacity = 9,394 , chairman = Christos Glykis20/5/12-31/12/13 , manager = Andreas Polydorou , league = Cyp ...

and create a new team,

Pafos FC Pafos FC ( el, Πάφος FC) is a Cypriot football club based in Paphos. The club was created in 2014, by the merger of the two biggest teams of Paphos, AEP Paphos and AEK Kouklia. They play their home games at the Stelios Kyriakides Stadium, ...

History

AEK was started by young people from Kouklia, Paphos to get young people involved in sports and away from

drug A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via insuffla ...

s and other harmful habits. In Paphos, there wasn't a regional league back then, so the team played friendly games with teams from other areas around Paphos. In 1971, the Football Federation of Rural Clubs of Paphos (POASP) was founded. AEK participated in the federation's competitions from 1973 to 2006, winning many championships and cups. In 2006, AEK became champions in the 1st division of POASP and subsequently secured the promotion to Cypriot 5th Division (membership championship), enabling its entry into the

Cyprus Football Federation The Cyprus Football Association (CFA; el, Κυπριακή Ομοσπονδία Ποδοσφαίρου (ΚΟΠ), Kypriakí Omospondía Podosfaírou (KOP)) is the governing body of football in Cyprus and is based in Nicosia. It organizes the footb ...

(CFA) and the

Cypriot Fourth Division The Cypriot Fourth Division ( el, Τέταρτη Κατηγορία) was the fourth tier association football, football league competition in Cyprus, ran by the Cyprus Football Association. Each year, the top finishing teams of the league were prom ...

. In its inaugural participation, the team secured a 2nd-place finish and earned promotion to the 3rd division. AEK remained in this division for five consecutive seasons, finishing 9th in the 2007-08 season, 7th in 2008-09, and 6th in 2009-10. During this period, AEK reached the final of the

Cypriot Cup for lower divisions The Cypriot Cup for lower divisions is a domestic cup for the teams who participate in the Cypriot Third Division and in the STOK Elite Division (ex Fourth Division). Format It was created in the 2008–09 season by Cyprus Football Associatio ...

, but was defeated by Chalkaronas Idaliou (1–0). In the 2010-11 season, AEK again finished in 6th place. However, in the 2011-12 season, AEK won the 3rd division, securing promotion to the 2nd division. Despite this success, AEK faced disappointment in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

of the Cypriot Cup for lower divisions, losing to

Digenis Akritas Morphou Digenis Akritas Morphou ( el, Διγενής Ακρίτας Μόρφου) is a Cypriot sports club from Morphou, founded on 23 April 1931.

with a score of 2–1. Following this season, AEK rose to the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

in 2012-13 season by securing 2nd place in the Second division. In the 2013-14 season, AEK participated in the First Division. They finished 12th and were relegated back to the Second Division, narrowly missing out on staying in the First Division by just 2 points.

Paphos FC

Following the end of the 2013–14 season, talks commenced between the officials of the AEK Kouklion and

regarding the merger of the two clubs. The results of the talks were as following: a) The dissolution of AEP, which, burdened by debts, faced continual point deductions and had been demoted to the B2 group of the Second Division with the risk of further relegations. No formal merger attempt was made to avoid transferring AEP's debts to the new group, a scenario undesirable to both sides.https://web.archive.org/web/20151031004440/http://sportnetcy.com/podosfero/%CE%B2-%CE%BA%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%B7%CE%B3%CE%BF%CF%81%CE%AF%CE%B1/%CE%B1%CE%B5%CF%80%CE%B1%CF%86%CE%BF%CF%82/17740-%CF%80%CE%B1%CF%86%CE%BF%CF%83-fc-%CF%85%CF%80%CE%BF%CE%BC%CE%BF%CE%BD%CE%AE-%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B9-%CE%B5%CF%80%CE%B9%CE%BC%CE%BF%CE%BD%CE%AE-%CE%BA%CE%B1%CE%B9-%CE%BD%CE%AD%CE%B1-%CE%B4%CF%85%CE%BD%CE%B1%CE%BC%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AE.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook Assets of AEP, such as pitches and buildings, would be transferred to the new team. b) The rebranding of AEK Kouklion as

(incorporating AEP) to establish a team representing the entirety of Paphos city and

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

, garnering support from fans and stakeholders of both AEP and Paphos at large. On June 9, 2014, both groups separately approved the outlined plans, followed by the inaugural gathering of supporters of the new entity at the AEP building on June 10, 2014, attended by political and football figures of Paphos. Christakis Kaiser, the president of AEK Kouklion, assumed the presidency of Paphos FC.

League history

The following table shows the progress of the team in time (for those seasons found data).

Honours

* Cypriot Third Division: 1 :: 2011–12 * Cypriot Second Division: ::Runner-up:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

: ::Runner-up: (2) 2009–10, 2011–12

Managers

Demetris Ioannou Demetris Ioannou () born December 8, 1968, is a former international Cypriot football defender and currently a football manager. Career He started his career in 1990 from Apollon Limassol and then followed six successful seasons in Anorthosi ...

(22 June 2013 – 8 April 2014) *Stavros Fitidis (8 April 2014–)

References

External links

*
Profile at CFA
{{Cypriot First Division Defunct football clubs in Cyprus Association football clubs established in 1968 1968 establishments in Cyprus Football clubs in Paphos