Efstathios "Stathis" Aloneftis ( el, Ευστάθιος "Στάθης" Αλωνεύτης; born 29 March 1983) is a Cypriot international footballer. He is a winger who tends to play on the left wing, highly regarded for his speed and technique.

Club career

Omonia Nicosia

Born in

Nicosia Nicosia ( ; el, Λευκωσία, Lefkosía ; tr, Lefkoşa ; hy, Նիկոսիա, romanized: ''Nikosia''; Cypriot Arabic: Nikusiya) is the largest city, capital, and seat of government of Cyprus. It is located near the centre of the Mesaor ...

, Cyprus, Aloneftis began his professional career playing for Omonia, making his first appearance for the senior squad during the 2000–01 season however his real talent became apparent during 2003–04. His successes with Omonia include one championship (

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

), one

super cup A super cup is a competition, usually but not exclusively in association football, which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competitions during the prev ...

(2001) and one

cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, c ...

in 2005.

Larissa

He then moved to the Greek club

Larissa Larissa (; el, Λάρισα, , ) is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly region in Greece. It is the fifth-most populous city in Greece with a population of 144,651 according to the 2011 census. It is also capital of the Larissa regiona ...

on 22 June 2005, for a transfer fee of CYP £136,000. The 2006–07 season was good for Aloneftis and in January 2007 he went on trial to Queens Park Rangers, but no move was materialised. At the end of the same season he played with his team in the

Cup final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football ev ...

, where he was in the starting lineup and his team beat 2–1

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

and won the Cup.

Energie Cottbus

On 31 May 2007, German side Energie Cottbus announced the signing of Aloneftis on free transfer under the

Bosman ruling ''Union Royale Belge des Sociétés de Football Association ASBL v Jean-Marc Bosman'' (1995) C-415/93 (known as the Bosman ruling) is a 1995 European Court of Justice decision concerning freedom of movement for workers, freedom of association ...

, making him the first Cypriot to compete in the Bundesliga.

Return to Omonia

On 28 June 2008, he returned to Omonia and signed a five-year contract. He helped the club to win one championship (

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

), two cups (

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

) and one

(2010). He mutually terminated his contract with the club on 1 June 2012.

APOEL

On 8 June 2012, Aloneftis signed a three-year contract with APOEL. At the end of the season, he became a champion after helping APOEL to win the

2012–13 Cypriot First Division The 2012–13 Cypriot First Division was the 74th season of the Cypriot top-level football league. It began on 1 September 2012 and ended on 19 May 2013. AEL Limassol were the defending champions. APOEL won the championship two matchweeks before ...

. During the 2013–14 season, he appeared in five

2013–14 UEFA Europa League group stage The group stage of the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League was played from 19 September to 12 December 2013. A total of 48 teams competed in the group stage. Draw The draw was held on 30 August 2013, 13:00 CEST (UTC+2), at the Grimaldi Forum, Monaco. Th ...

matches for APOEL and managed to win all the titles in Cyprus, the Cypriot League, the Cypriot Cup and the Cypriot Super Cup. On 26 August 2014, Aloneftis came on as a 61st-minute substitute and three minutes later he scored the third goal in APOEL's 4–0 triumph over Aalborg BK for the UEFA Champions League play-off round, helping his team reach to the group stage of the UEFA Champions League. Aloneftis appeared in five group stage matches in APOEL's

2014–15 UEFA Champions League The 2014–15 UEFA Champions League was the 60th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 23rd season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. The final was pl ...

campaign. In the 2014–15 season, he managed to add two more titles to his collection, as APOEL won again both the Cypriot championship and the

. On 2 March 2017, Aloneftis signed a one-year contract extension with APOEL, running until 31 May 2018.

International career

Aloneftis is a regular pick for the Cyprus national football team. He is capped 60 times and scored 10 goals. He made his national team debut on 30 March 2005 against

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

in a

2006 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification competition was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation – the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South Americ ...

match. He scored his first goal on 7 September 2005 against

in a

International goals

:''Scores and results list Cyprus' goal tally first.''

Honours

; Omonia * Cypriot First Division: 2002–03, 2009–10 * Cypriot Cup: 2004–05,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, 2011–12 * Cypriot Super Cup: 2003, 2010 ;

* Greek Cup: 2006–07 ; APOEL * Cypriot First Division:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19 * Cypriot Cup: 2013–14, 2014–15 * Cypriot Super Cup: 2013

References

External links

APOEL official profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aloneftis, Efstathios 1983 births Living people Cypriot footballers Association football midfielders AC Omonia players Athlitiki Enosi Larissa F.C. players FC Energie Cottbus players APOEL FC players Sportspeople from Nicosia Cypriot First Division players Super League Greece players Bundesliga players Cypriot expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Cyprus international footballers