Konstantinos Laifis ( gr, Κωνσταντίνος Λαΐφης; born 19 May 1993), sometimes spelt as Constantinos Laifis, is a Cypriot

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays for Belgian First Division A club

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most ...

, and for the Cyprus national team. He previously played in 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 ...

for

Anorthosis Anorthosis Famagusta ( el, Ανόρθωση Αμμοχώστου, translit=Anorthosi Ammochostou), commonly known as Anorthosis in English or Anorthosi in Greek, is a Cypriot football club, part of the Anorthosis Famagusta multi-sport club fo ...

and

Alki Larnaca Alki Larnaca ( el, ΑΛΚΗ Λάρνακας, ''ALKI Larnakas'') was a Cypriot football club based in the town of Larnaca. The club was founded in 1948 and it was dissolved on the 6th of May of 2014 due to financial issues. The club's colours wer ...

. He plays as a

left winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

or at left back.

Early life and career

Laifis was born in

Paralimni Paralimni ( el, Παραλίμνι) is a town within the Famagusta District of Cyprus, situated on the island's east coast. Since the Turkish invasion in 1974, it has increased in size and status, primarily due to the migration of refugees fleei ...

. As a boy, he played tennis to a good standard, and played football for the junior teams of his local club,

Enosis Neon Paralimni Enosis Neon Paralimni Football Club ( el, Ένωση Νέων Παραλιμνίου, ''Enosi Neon Paralimniou'', "Youth Union of Paralimni"), commonly referred to as ENP, is a Cypriot football team from Paralimni. Currently playing in the fi ...

. When he was 16, he took up an apprenticeship with English club

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

's youth academy, together with several other Cypriot players. In his second year, he played increasingly regularly for the under-18 team and scored once as Forest finished second in their section of the

FA Premier Academy League The Premier Academy League (sometimes abbreviated as FAPAL) was the top level of youth football in England before it was to be replaced by a new league proposed by the Elite Player Performance Plan in 2012, which was accepted by the 72 member ...

. He remained with the club into a third year, but returned to Cyprus in late 2011, where he trained with

Anorthosis Famagusta Anorthosis Famagusta ( el, Ανόρθωση Αμμοχώστου, translit=Anorthosi Ammochostou), commonly known as Anorthosis in English or Anorthosi in Greek, is a Cypriot football club, part of the Anorthosis Famagusta multi-sport club fo ...

and then agreed a short-term contract with them. His contract with Forest was cancelled by mutual consent, and he formally signed for Anorthosis in the January 2012 transfer window.

Anorthosis Famagusta

Laifis made his first-team debut for Anorthosis the next month, in their

2011–12 Cypriot Cup The 2011–12 Cypriot Cup was the 70th edition of the Cypriot Cup. A total of 28 clubs entered the competition. It began on 30 November 2011 with the first round and concluded on 16 May 2012 with the final which was held at GSP Stadium. Omonia wo ...

second round second-leg match against

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

club APOP Kinyras, as a 61st-minute substitute for

Vincent Laban Vincent Fabien Laban Bounayre (born 9 September 1984) is a French-born naturalized Cypriot professional footballer who plays as a midfielder. Laban began his career with the reserves of Nantes, where he played for three years before moving to Cy ...

. That was his last competitive appearance until July 2013, when injuries to

Valentinos Sielis Valentinos Sielis ( el, Βαλεντίνος Σιέλης; born 1 March 1990) is a Cypriot professional footballer who plays as a centre back for Busan IPark. In 2014, he signed with AEL. Sielis is a Cypriot international and made his debu ...

and Andreas Avraam left a vacancy at left back for pre-season friendlies. Laifis performed well enough to be given a place in the starting eleven for the second leg of the

second qualifying round The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each ...

match against Allsvenskan club Gefle. He played the full 90 minutes as Anorthosis let slip a 3–0 lead from the first leg and were eliminated 4–3 on aggregate.

Alki Larnaca

Laifis was loaned to

early in the 2013–14 season. He made 15 appearances, scoring once, in First Division matches, before returning to Anorthosis in late January 2014.

Return to Anorthosis

Laifis made 10 First Division appearances in what remained of the 2013–14 season, and continued as a first-team regular, with 24 league appearances in the following season and 29 in 2015–16.

Olympiacos and Standard Liège

In June 2016, Laifis signed for Superleague Greece club

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

. He said "When Olympiacos makes a move, there is nothing else in a player's mind. It was the best thing for my career. I didn't even have to think twice. I am joining Greece's greatest club." A week later, they loaned him to Belgian First Division A club

for two years with an option to purchase. After half season in

, the Cypriot defender is one of the most remarkable players till now. In Italy, Sky Sports reports that Laifis is in the viewfinder of three clubs:

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fol ...

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

and

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

. Three clubs added to the list that already contained

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

and other German clubs. His agent had just declared that the defender felt very good at Belgium and that he could not say more about a possible return to the

. ''"I have not organized his loan to Standard, but the relations between the two clubs are excellent and the Olympiakos is watching him closely."'' On 1 July 2018, after two successful seasons in Belgian First Division A, Olympiakos sold the international Cypriot defender to

on a fee estimated to €1.5 million. Laifis signed a three year contract with the Belgian club.

International career

Laifis represented Cyprus internationally at all under-age levels. He helped the under-19 team reach the elite qualification round of the 2012 European championships, and made his first appearance for the under-21s in March 2013, when he played the first half of a 2–0 defeat to

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

in a qualifier for the 2015 European under-21 championships. He played the whole of their next qualifier, a 3–0 win at home to

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, and retained his place for a friendly in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

. He made his senior debut on 16 November 2014 in a UEFA Euro 2016 qualifier against

Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...

. Cyprus won 5–0.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Cyprus' goal tally first.''

Club statistics

References

External links

Laifis' profile
at Anorthosis website

at UEFA website {{DEFAULTSORT:Laifis, Constantinos 1993 births Living people Association football midfielders Cypriot footballers Cyprus under-21 international footballers Cyprus international footballers Enosis Neon Paralimni FC players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Anorthosis Famagusta F.C. players Alki Larnaca FC players Olympiacos F.C. players Standard Liège players Cypriot First Division players Belgian Pro League players Expatriate footballers in Belgium Cypriot expatriate footballers People from Paralimni