“At some point, men’s teams should be obliged to have a women’s first division club,” Laurent Fassotte, who won multiple titles both as assistant and head coach of Apollon Ladies between 2021 and 2025, tells en.philenews.
“If they develop the academies in Cyprus, then in a few years, when all these young girls from 12 to 16 are able to play in first division, it [the standard of football] will be, much, much better.”
Fassotte, who played as a centre back for AEL Limassol between 2007-2009, is now the manager SKN St. Pölten Frauen, one of the top teams in the ÖFB Frauen Bundesliga, the highest level women’s football league in Austria. On Saturday, they play their final match of the Bundesliga season, and if they beat Austria Wien, they will be crowned champions.
He joined in October 2025, leaving Apollon in the process, which he describes as a “difficult decision and a mix of emotions”.
But having now been involved in women’s football for the last five years, he has developed a real passion for a side to the game that is still lagging behind in terms of investment and infrastructure needed to take it to the next level.
Off the back of the UEFA Women’s Champions League final between Barcelona and Lyon, a spotlight has been put on the women’s side of the game. And in Cyprus, it raises the question: how far behind are the teams here and is there enough investment being made to see them progress?
“In my squad of 25 I have five players studying,” Fassotte says. “I have another three that are at university studying for medicine, which shows that education in women’s football is especially important, because at the moment, it is not easy to make a living from it.
“So at the beginning, they have to take football as more of a hobby, but when you see the evolution of the big clubs in England and Spain, they invest a lot in the women’s team, but it’s coming from the men’s club.
“Here in Austria, the men’s team (of SK) is a small club (second division, as opposed to the women’s team being one of the strongest outfits in the first division) so we don’t get the same level of as the other big clubs from Austria. But we still compete; we’ve played in the Champions League league phase, putting us in Europe’s top 18 teams.
“In Cyprus it is different. You have one club like Lakatamia FC, who don’t depend on a men’s club, so they are fighting alone, and it’s not easy, and you have Omonia and Aris, they try to invest, but it’s quite a big difference compared to men’s football.”
This view is echoed by Marilena Georgiou, who plays for Apollon Ladies and the Cyprus national team. She won multiple titles during Fassotte’s tenure and has just won a league and cup double. She feels strongly about the fact there are only five women’s teams in the Cypriot league.
“It’s very important to us [that the number increases] because it’s difficult when you play the same team every few weeks and they are all generally of the same quality. With a couple teams this year, the level was better, but the Cyprus Football Association (CFA) has to invest more money so we can have more teams. There’s also still room for improvement in areas such as investment facilities, media coverage and support for young players.
Attendance and TV coverage
“One big problem is we don’t have enough people who come to see the games, because we play every Sunday at 11am, which makes it very difficult for people to attend.
“We don’t play Saturday, only Sunday, at 11 o’clock, and for a lot of people, it is very difficult for people to come and see the game at that time.”
Georgiou also points to the lack of TV coverage and promotion for women’s football in Cyprus and believes that this, as well as the inconvenient kick off times, is potentially preventing young women from the exposure they need to be attracted to pursuing a career in professional football.
But even if they do make it, the sad truth is that it is highly unlikely that they can make a living from it. Georgiou spent several years in Leeds during her late teens and early 20s, studying sport exercise science, to keep her career options open. And now, even as a key player for Apollon and Cyprus, football alone isn’t enough.
“I work as a secretary in a legal firm so I work in the morning and then after I go to the training,” she says.
“I’m not the only person that works. You can see that with another four or five players, they work now, so it is difficult to compare Cyprus with England. I don’t believe that the professional players in England have jobs other than football.”
She is not wrong. Chelsea’s striker Sam Kerr, for example, earns an estimated £466,000 per year. Kerr is the highest-paid player in a much bigger country, but the comparison is still stark.
However, the recent cup final between Apollon and Aris was arguably a step in the right direction – Georgiou certainly reflects on it very fondly, and not only because her side secured the double with a 2-1 win.
“We played at the Alphamega stadium and we had 2,500 people watching. The atmosphere was amazing and the motivation was different, so that [getting more people to watch] is very important for us.
“If you play on a bad pitch, with not many people watching, it’s difficult to play [your best] football.”
It’s clear that women’s football in Cyprus has not been invested in enough. The fact that two of most successful players and managers in recent times are saying the same thing, and are even asking for more competition, says it all.
When you look at the male teams in Cyprus, you have to wonder whether the funds are being shared fairly. In the summer of 2021, a major foreign ownership and investment group took over Aris, and soon after, they won the league title.
Under Russian businessman Roman Dubov’s leadership, Pafos FC has been transformed into one of Cyprus’ most ambitious clubs, combining international expertise with a clear long-term vision, including huge signings such as David Luiz. That strategy delivered the 2024-25 Cyprus League title and they almost progressed to the knockout stages of this year’s Champions League.
What about their women’s team?
Pafos do not have a senior women’s first team competing in the top-flight Cyprus Women’s First Division.
In fact, many major men’s league contenders, including AEL Limassol, APOEL, and Anorthosis, completely lack a senior women’s team.
Change is clearly needed, but it won’t happen overnight.
