AEK Larnaca v West Ham United
UEFA Europa Conference League round of 16 first leg, AEK Arena – Georgios Karapatakis, Thursday 9 March 2023, 7.45pm EET (5.45pm GMT)
West Ham United’s European tour resumes on Thursday evening when the Irons make their first-ever visit to Cyprus.
The Hammers topped UEFA Europa Conference League Group B with a record six wins out of six back in November, defeating Silkeborg of Denmark, RSC Anderlecht of Belgium and FSCB of Romania home and away to collect 18 perfect points – becoming the first club in the competition’s two-year history to do so.
Having topped their group, David Moyes' side was spared the need to contest the knockout play-off round, which saw the eight teams which finished second in their Europa Conference League groups paired with the eight who finished third in their UEFA Europe League groups, and went straight into the round of 16.
Among them was AEK Larnaca, who overcame Dnipro-1 of Ukraine 1-0 on aggregate to reach this stage, so the Hammers will travel 2,000 miles from London to the port city on the south east coast of Cyprus, the island situated in the far east of the Mediterranean Sea.
There, the Irons will take on AEK at the 8,058-seater AEK Arena – Georgios Karapatakis, cheered on by 1,600 supporters, with thousands expected to fly to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the sunshine, Cypriot food and drink and temperatures of around 21C (70F).
AEK will be no pushovers, though. José Luis Oltra’s side finished the 26-match Cypriot First Division regular season in second place with 18 wins and 57 points and have real hope of going one better than last season, when they finished as runners-up, and winning their first-ever title in the Championship round.
Larnaca have played 14 matches in Europe this season, competed in all three major competitions – UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League – and scored victories over Partizan, Dnipro-1 and Dynamo Kyiv.
Tickets...
For information about how to purchase match tickets, click here.
Each ticketholder will be required to fill in a European Travel Form detailing travel plans, time of arrival in Cyprus, and any accommodation details. Click here to access the form.
Once you have purchased your ticket and completed the European Travel Form, your ticket will be forwarded to you by email from Tuesday 7 March.
On arrival at AEK Arena, ticketholders will be asked to present their ticket and photographic identification in the form of a physical Passport. Copies will not be accepted under any circumstances.
Non-compliance or failure to present an original document showing photographic identification of the original purchaser, matching the name on the ticket, will result in entry into AEK Arena being refused.
Tickets are strictly for personal use only, cannot be resold and are non-transferable.
Travel...
If you are going to Thursday’s match, in all likelihood you will have already booked your flights and accommodation in Cyprus.
From Larnaca International Airport, a taxi should take no more than 15 minutes to reach the city centre. The fare is €9.63 between 6am-8.30pm and €11.59 between 8.30pm-6am.
Alternatively, bus lines 407, 417, 418, 419, 425 and 429 take longer, but cost just €1.50 for Adults and €0.75 for Children.
Ticket holders will be able to use a free shuttle bus service from outside The Meeting Pub, 90 Athene Avenue, on Larnaca Beach Front, to AEK Arena and return after the final whistle.
Supporters not wishing to use the shuttle service can take a taxi from Kolonaki Taxi, located just north of The Meeting Pub on Larnaca Beach Front.
Supporters who are driving their own vehicles can park at the North side of the stadium, adjacent to the away turnstiles.
How to Follow...
Thursday's tie will be broadcast live in the UK by BT Sport 3, with kick-off at 5.45pm GMT.
You can also follow the action via our live blog on whufc.com and our app and across our social media channels. We will also have highlights and exclusive reaction for you after the final whistle.
Team News...
West Ham United quintet Maxwel Cornet (calf/illness), Łukasz Fabiański (eye socket), Vladimír Coufal (heel), Thilo Kehrer (illness) and Michail Antonio (leg) all missed Saturday’s Premier League defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion.
For AEK Larnaca, two of their five-strong Spanish contingent, former Valladolid left-back Ángel García and former Girona and Alavés defensive midfielder Pere Pons, are suspended and will miss the first leg.
Opposition...
AEK Larnaca was formed just 29 years ago by the merger of two historically successful clubs, Pezoporikos and EPA Larnaca.
Founded in 1924, Pezoporikos were twice Cypriot champions and once Cypriot Cup winners while EPA were founded two years later and went on to win three Cypriot titles and five Cypriot Cups.
Each competed in Europe on three occasions, too, although they failed to win any of the 20 matches they contested in the European Cup, UEFA Cup or European Cup Winners’ Cup.
While AEK have yet to be crowned champions of Cyprus, the new club has enjoyed two Cypriot Cup successes, won 30 matches in European competition and reached the UEFA Europa League group stage on three occasions.
In truth, AEK’s success since the merger has been concentrated over the last decade, with five second-place finishes in the Cypriot First Division and Cypriot Cup and Super Cup wins over Apollon Limassol and APOEL respectively in 2018.
That decade has seen AEK take on a decidedly Spanish air, with a succession of head coaches heading across the Mediterranean Sea to settle on the island.
Following Thomas Christiansen – a Dane who played for Barcelona and Spain’s U21 side and later managed Leeds United – no fewer than six Spaniards have held the role. One, Imanol Idiakez, led AEK to the Cypriot Cup in 2018, while current head coach José Luis Oltra managed over 650 matches in his home country before being appointed in June last year.
Five clubs – AEK, Apollon, Nicosia-based pair APOEL and Omonia and Anorthosis Famagusta – have dominated football on the island for decades and, with those five runners-up finishes in the previous eight seasons, Oltra will be desperately hoping their title drought will come to an end this term.
There is a decent chance of that, too, with AEK recovering from a slow start to storm to the top of the table. With a place in the Championship round for the top six clubs already assured, Larnaca hosted Enosis Neon Paralimni – the club who play in Claret and Blue after being donated two sets of West Ham United kit by Bobby Moore in the 1960s – in their final regular-season game!
AEK’s squad, like many of Cyprus’s leading clubs, is a multinational one, with players drawn from all over Europe – from 12 different countries. While those players’ names may not be instantly recognisable to West Ham United supporters, the likes of Spaniard Ángel García, Bosnian Hrvoje Miličević, Hungarian Ádám Gyurcsó, Israeli Omri Altman and North Macedonian Ivan Trickovski are household names at the AEK Arena
Win the Cypriot First Division, UEFA Europa Conference League, or both, and they will be heroes – albeit not quite as heroic as Admiral Kimon, who appears on the club’s crest, having died while defending the city from the Persians in 450 BC.
Match information…
For the first time in the UEFA Europa Conference League, video assistant refereeing (VAR) will be used in all matches from the knockout play-off round through to the final.
Each manager can name up to 12 substitutes, of whom five can be used on three occasions (plus half-time). There are no additional ‘concussion substitutes’ available in UEFA Club Competition.
A player will receive a one-match suspension if they receive three cautions. Angelo Ogbonna and Flynn Downes are both currently on two yellow cards in the UEFA Europa Conference League and a third caution in the round of 16 would lead to a one-match suspension from the next match in the competition.
The 2022/23 UECL final will be hosted at Slavia Prague’s Fortuna Arena in the Czech Republic on 7 June.
Previous Meetings...
Well, seeing as this is our first-ever visit to Cyprus, West Ham United have naturally never played at AEK Arena previously.
AEK Larnaca themselves moved into their new home in the same year that West Ham moved to London Stadium, 2016, and it is named in honour of George Karapatakis, the father of AEK’s President Andros Karapatakis.
Among the clubs who have visited in European competitions since then were League of Ireland clubs Cork City and Dundalk, German side Bayer Leverkusen and Belgian outfit Gent. This season, AEK Arena has welcomed Midtjylland of Denmark, Partizan of Serbia, Dnipro-1 and Dynamo Kyiv of Ukraine, French side Rennes and Turkish club Fenerbahçe.
West Ham United will be AEK’s first-ever English opponents.
Match Officials...
Referee: Espen Eskås (NOR)
Assistant Referees: Jan Erik Engan (NOR) & Isaak Elias Bashevkin (NOR)
Fourth Official: Kristoffer Hagenes (NOR)
VAR: Rob Dieperink (NED)
Assistant VAR: Jeroen Maschot (NED)
Thursday’s referee is 34-year-old Norwegian Espen Eskås.
Born in Oslo in June 1988, Eskås has refereed over 300 matches in his career, including 142 in Norway’s Eliteserien and 93 in his home country’s second tier.
He refereed the 2019 Norwegian Cup final, which saw Viking overcome Haugesund 1-0 at the Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo.
At European level, Eskås refereed his first UEFA Champions League tie in October 2022, when he was the man in the middle for RB Leipzig’s 3-1 group-stage win over Celtic in Germany.
He has also controlled two FIFA World Cup qualifiers, one UEFA European Championship qualifier, one UEFA Nations League tie, six international friendlies and 15 other European club matches.
