 Papavasiliou in 2015 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Nikodemus Papavasiliou | ||
| Date of birth | (1970-08-31)31 August 1970 (age 55) | ||
| Place of birth | Limassol, Cyprus | ||
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) | ||
| Position | Midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Al Ittihad (manager) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Apollon Limassol | |||
| Arsenal | |||
| –1987 | Oldham Athletic | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1988–1993 | OFI | 75 | (2) |
| 1993–1994 | Newcastle United | 7 | (0) |
| 1994–1995 | OFI | 12 | (0) |
| 1996–2000 | Apollon Limassol | 74 | (24) |
| 2000–2002 | Anorthosis Famagusta | 16 | (2) |
| 2001–2002 | →Enosis Neon Paralimni (loan) | 11 | (2) |
| 2002 | →Olympiakos Nicosia (loan) | 0 | (0) |
| 2002–2003 | APOEL | 14 | (0) |
| International career | |||
| Cyprus U−16 | 8 | (2) | |
| Cyprus U−21 | 28 | (8) | |
| 1990–1999 | Cyprus | 38 | (7) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2006–2007 | APEP Pitsilia | ||
| 2008–2009 | Olympiakos Nicosia | ||
| 2009–2009 | OFI | ||
| 2009–2010 | Olympiakos Nicosia | ||
| 2010–2011 | Doxa Katokopia | ||
| 2011–2012 | Enosis Neon Paralimni | ||
| 2012–2012 | Olympiakos Nicosia | ||
| 2012–2013 | Apollon Limassol | ||
| 2014–2015 | Ermis Aradippou | ||
| 2015–2016 | Slovan Bratislava | ||
| 2018–2019 | Ergotelis | ||
| 2019–2020 | Panionios | ||
| 2020–2021 | Wadi Degla | ||
| 2021–2022 | Nea Salamis Famagusta | ||
| 2022–2023 | Ghazl El Mahalla | ||
| 2023-2024 | National Bank of Egypt | ||
| 2024-2025 | Al Ittihad | ||
| 2025- | Ghazl El Mahalla | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Nikodimos "Nikki" Papavasiliou (Greek:Νικόδημος Παπαβασιλείου; born 31 August 1970) is a Cypriotfootballmanager and formerinternationalmidfielder. Aside from playing and managing, Papavasiliou's background includes scouting and Academy management. He was the first Greek Cypriot to play in theFA Premier League.
Papavasiliou began his pro football career in 1988 with GreekAlpha Ethniki clubOFI, having arrived from England nd the youth teams ofOldham Athletic andArsenal. He spent five years with theCretan top-tier side during its "golden years", establishing himself as anattacking midfielder under coachEugène Gerards. In August 1993, Papavasiliou was transferred toNewcastle United for £120,000 signing a two-year contract and thus becoming the first Cypriot to play in theFA Premier League.[1] He made his Newcastle debut againstTottenham on 14 August 1993. He went on to play for two seasons at the club before returning to OFI in 1994.[citation needed]
He returned to Cyprus in 1996 signing forFirst Division clubApollon Limassol, where he stayed four years. In 2000, Papavasiliou was acquired byAnorthosis Famagusta, but after playing with them through the2000–01 season, he was subsequently loaned out toEnosis Neon Paralimni andOlympiakos Nicosia.[2] He then moved toAPOEL, where he played his final season, opting to retire his playing career in 2003.[2]
Papavasiliou has representedCyprus for 9 years during 1990–1999, making a total of 38 national caps and scoring five goals.[3][4]
Papavasiliou holds the EnglishUEFA A Licence and also theUEFA Pro Licence.[5] He began his managerial career in Cyprus, first atAPE Pitsilia in the2006–07 Cypriot Second Division and then moving toOlympiakos Nicosia, who had recently been relegated to the Second Division after many decades in the top flight. Papavasiliou led theGreen−Blacks throughout their2007–08 campaign, but missed out on promotion in the final match of the competition, in which his side was defeated 2–1 by fellow promotion contendersNea Salamis, who thus finished in the promotion zone and left Olympiakos in fourth place.[6]
In the summer of 2009, Papavasiliou returned to Greece and the team where he made his name as a player, OFI, where he was paired up with former OFI teammateMyron Sifakis to lead the club during its2009–10 Beta Ethniki campaign.[7] He returned to Cyprus and Olympiakos Nicosia, this time completing the club's comeback to the First Division after securing third place in the2009–10 campaign. He left the club in the summer of 2010 and spent the next six months managingDoxa Katokopia until January 2011, and then one year atEnosis Neon Paralimni, whom he led to an all-time best fifth-place finish in the First Division in 2011. In February 2012, Papavasiliou was hired as manager of Olympiakos Nicosia for the third time in his managerial career.[8]
In September 2012, Papavasiliou reached an agreement withApollon Limassol, for whom he had played from 1996 to 2000, and mutually terminated his contract with Olympiakos to complete the move.[9] He did not manage to finish the season with the club, as he was sacked in March 2013, after a 9–6–6 record.[10] In September 2014, he was appointed manager ofErmis Aradippou, after secured a presticious top 6.[11]
On 21 August 2015 Papavasiliou was hired as manager ofSlovak First Football League sideSlovan Bratislava, whom he led to the2016 Slovak Cup Final.[12] He finished theseason in second place behind double-winnersAS Trenčín, boasting an impressive .64 win ratio. His second season with the club came to an abrupt end however, as he was fired after the third game of the2016–17 season[13]
In May 2018, Papavasiliou was appointed manager ofGreek Football League sideErgotelis.[14] He managed to lead the club to its firstGreek Cup Quarter-finals since 1986 during his first season as club manager.[15] His work did not go unnoticed and in September 2019 he was offered the head coach position of strugglingSuper League sidePanionios. Papavasiliou thus terminated his contract withErgotelis, accepting the bid and thus making hisSuper League managerial debut.[16]
| Team | From | To | Record | Ref. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| APEP Pitsilia | 1 July 2006 | 30 June 2007 | 30 | 11 | 5 | 14 | 036.7 | |
| Olympiakos | 1 July 2008 | 30 June 2009 | 28 | 14 | 6 | 8 | 050.0 | |
| OFI | 1 July 2009 | 2 November 2009 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 033.3 | |
| Olympiakos | 3 November 2009 | 30 June 2010 | 19 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 042.1 | |
| Doxa Katokopia | 1 July 2010 | 13 January 2011 | 19 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 026.3 | |
| Enosis Neon Paralimni | 18 January 2011 | 9 January 2012 | 28 | 10 | 6 | 12 | 035.7 | |
| Olympiakos | 28 February 2012 | 20 September 2012 | 14 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 042.9 | |
| Apollon Limassol | 21 September 2012 | 5 March 2013 | 23 | 11 | 6 | 6 | 047.8 | |
| Ermis Aradippou | 8 September 2014 | 2 February 2015 | 18 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 050.0 | |
| Slovan Bratislava | 23 August 2015 | 1 August 2016 | 45 | 23 | 15 | 7 | 051.1 | |
| Ergotelis | 1 July 2018 | 1 September 2019 | 38 | 18 | 8 | 12 | 047.4 | |
| Panionios | 3 September 2019 | 20 February 2020 | 26 | 6 | 6 | 14 | 023.1 | |
| Wadi Degla | 21 February 2020 | 21 January 2021 | 25 | 6 | 9 | 10 | 024.0 | |
| Nea Salamis Famagusta | 9 July 2021 | 31 January 2022 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 000.0 | |
| Ghazl El Mahalla | 13 September 2022 | 8 January 2023 | 12 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 041.7 | |
| Total | 335 | 135 | 84 | 116 | 040.3 | — | ||
Papavasiliou has accumulated substantial experience and expertise in scouting, and Academy management, having worked as a scout forFA Premier League clubsBolton Wanderers andNewcastle United. He is also the owner of Nikki Football Academy in Cyprus.[5]