While West Ham United have never faced Cypriot opposition before, the Irons do have a number of links with the Mediterranean island
Michalis Konstantinou - The record-breaking trialist
In the summer of 2008, West Ham United took a centre-forward on trial.
The 30-year-old was not just any old trialist, though. He was Michalis Konstantinou, a striker who had starred in Greek football and was on his way to becoming the Cyprus men’s national team’s all-time leading goalscorer.
Born in 1978 in Deryneia near Paralimni on Cyprus’s east coast, Konstantinou spent his early footballing years in his home country, winning the Cypriot First Division, Cup and Super Cup with Omonia Nicosia before being transferred to Greek side Iraklis Thessaloniki in 1997.
After four seasons in northern Greece, he moved to Athens giants Panathinaikos in 2001 for an £8million fee. After impressing in green and white and winning the Greek Super League and Cup double in 2004, his contract expired and he crossed the capital to fierce rivals Olympiacos the following year.
There, Konstantinou became a medal-winning machine, adding three Super League titles, two Greek Cups and one Greek Super Cup and scoring a number of important goals in domestic and European competition.
At the age of 30, the forward sought a big move abroad to experience a different level of competition, and so his trial at West Ham came about.
On 2 August 2008, Konstantinou was included in a West Ham squad that travelled to nearby Grays Athletic to take on the Blue Square Premier League side.
Also included in the squad were Lee Bowyer, who was himself returning after several months out injured, Matty Etherington and Jack Collison, with the remainder made up of young professionals aside from one familiar name on the substitutes’ bench – 46-year-old goalkeeper coach Ludek Miklosko!
The Cypriot, who had scored a Champions League goal at the Nou Camp against Barcelona, was partnered up front by Zavon Hines.
A feisty game attended by 1,371 supporters saw a number of late tackles early on, and the referee spoke to both captains to get the players to settle down.
West Ham won a penalty on 40 minutes but it was Hines and not Konstantinou who took it and scored. Grays levelled before half-time.
The trialist was replaced at the break, having failed to make much of an impact or, it turned out, earn a contract from manager Gianfranco Zola. To add to West Ham’s misery, Grays scored a last-minute winner.
Unable to secure a deal overseas, Konstantinou returned to Iraklis Thessaloniki before, halfway through the 2008/09 season, he returned to Cyprus and played out his career there with Omonia Nicosia, Anothosis Famagusta and AEL Limassol, before retiring in 2014.
By then, he had also retired from international football in 2012, having scored a national record 32 goals in 85 caps, including strikes against Portugal, Switzerland, Czech Republic and the Republic of Ireland.
Marios Achilleos - From Nicosia to Upton Park
Marios Achilleos was born in Nicosia, Cyprus in September 1956 and lived there for the first four years of his life before his family moved to England.
A forward, Achilleos joined West Ham United in 1972 and made his Claret and Blue debut on 12 August 1972 in the South East Counties Division Two Cup at home to Chelsea.
He made one appearance for the Senior South East Counties League side on 24 March 1973, but it was in the Junior section that Achilleos featured far more frequently. He played in 23 Junior League and Cup games and two in the Junior section of the London Youth Cup and by the end of the season he was a member of the teams that were successful in winning both the SECL Division Two Cup and the London Cup.
The following season, 1973/74, he appeared in the first four games played by the SECL Senior side and was offered an apprenticeship, but the offer was declined as his family had been granted immigration by Canada.
Manager Ron Greenwood was sorry to see him leave and provided a reference letter which helped Achilleos find a football club in Toronto.
He went on to play for his newly adopted country three times at U20 level in 1974, starting CONCACAF U-20 ties against Cuba (2-2), Dominican Republic (5-0) and Bermuda (4-1).
Yilmaz Orhan - Indoor soccer star
Yilmaz Orhan was born in March 1955 in Nicosia, Cyprus, but is now based in Las Vegas.
And it is no surprise the forward now lives in the United States, seeing as he spend the vast majority of his professional career in the country.
After moving to London to live with his grandmother while still a schoolboy, Orhan was spotted by former West Ham player Terry Matthews while playing for Aveley.
After impressing Ron Greenwood and John Lyall, Orhan made his First Division debut for West Ham 1-0 home win over Queens Park Rangers in January 1976, aged 20.
The striker went on to make eight league appearances, and featured in one League Cup tie, but did not find the net in Claret and Blue.
In 1977, with his opportunities limited in east London, Orhan moved thousands of miles to Hawaii, where he played for the islands' short-lived North American Soccer League (NASL) team.
From there, he went on a nomadic journey across the United States, playing for NASL clubs Houston Hurricane and San Diego Sockers before moving indoors, literally, to Major Indoor Soccer League clubs Hartford Hellions, St. Louis Steamers, Buffalo Stallions, Kansas City Comets, Memphis Americans, Las Vegas Americans, Baltimore Blast, Pittsburgh Spirit, Kansas City Comets for a second time, Louisville Thunder and finally, in 1987, Milwaukee Wave.
In nine seasons, he scored well over 200 goals, before moving to Las Vegas and finding a job on the world-famous Strip. Now, aged 68, he is still playing football in the city!
Look out for an in-depth interview with West Ham United's first player of Turkish-Cypriot origin in the lead-up to the second leg on whufc.com and in the Official Programme.
