In recent years, UEFA has forwarded dozens of reports through the Cyprus Football Association concerning suspicious football matches, where there were strong indications of betting-related manipulation. And yet, to this day, Cyprus has not recorded a single conviction for match fixing.
The only case that ever reached the courts was heard by the Larnaca Criminal Court and involved the former president of Ayia Napa FC, Dimitris Masias, and referee Andreas Konstantinou. The case concerned the Othellos–Ayia Napa match played in February 2020. The key prosecution witness was then Othellos Athienou president Vasilis Kafataris. He ultimately chose not to testify. In the absence of witness testimony, the case collapsed.
Kafataris had initially reported to the police that Masias offered him €10,000 to deliberately lose the match in favour of Ayia Napa. He also claimed Masias threatened that, if he refused, he would “fix” the referee, and allegedly sought help from an Othellos player whose agent he was. However, when the case came before the court in December 2021, Kafataris declined to testify and refused to recognise the written statement he had previously given to the police.
In an interview with Politis in January 2025, the president of the Cyprus Footballers’ Association, Spyros Neophytides, offered a clear explanation for the absence of convictions. He pointed to the lack of fast-track trials and the failure to guarantee witness anonymity, factors that fundamentally undermine any serious effort to combat match manipulation. He is absolutely right. When witnesses are known by name, it becomes easy for them to face pressure or threats and eventually change their stance, especially in an environment where organised crime has found its way in.
In February 2020, parliament gave the police a powerful legislative tool to tackle match fixing by legalising the interception of telephone communications, while at the same time introducing safeguards to prevent abuse.
Five years later, that legislation remains dormant. This is despite the fact that telecommunications providers have acquired the necessary equipment to allow their systems to connect with police and intelligence service monitoring mechanisms. Responsibility now lies with the new justice minister, Kostas Fytiris, to demand answers as to why this law has not been implemented for five years.
There are only two possible explanations for the absence of convictions for match fixing in Cyprus. Either such practices do not exist on this so-called island of saints and those who claim otherwise are living in a fantasy world, or there is no political will to identify and hold accountable those behind these fixed matches who became millionaires in the process.
Personally, I choose the second explanation, until proven otherwise.