Nicholas Ioannou ( gr, Νικόλας Ιωάννου; born 10 November 1995) is a Cypriot professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a defender for

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

club

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label=Comasco dialect, Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and ...

and the Cyprus national team.

Club career

Youth career

Ioannou joined Manchester United youth academy at the age of 11. He played at the Marveld Tournament with the under-15 team in June 2010 held at Netherlands. This was followed by his participation in

Manchester United Premier Cup The Manchester United Premier Cup is a global youth football tournament that was established by Nike in 1993. History The tournament was established by Nike in 1993 as the Nike Premier Cup and featured 624 teams from 15 European countries. Th ...

. His form earned him a two-year scholarship in June 2012. But it is also reported that Manchester United was reluctant to give him a full-time contract. He made his debut in

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

against

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

aged 16. While playing in

Milk Cup SuperCupNI, formerly called the Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament and the Dale Farm Milk Cup, is an international youth football tournament held annually in Northern Ireland. The cup matches are mainly played in the North Coast area of ...

, he was injured which drove him out of action for most of the 2012–13 season. In his last match for the reserves, he captained the team against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

. He also appeared in three

2013–14 UEFA Youth League The 2013–14 UEFA Youth League was the first season of the UEFA Youth League, a European youth club football competition organised by UEFA. It was contested by the under-19 youth teams of the 32 clubs qualified for the group stage of the 2013–14 ...

group stage matches with the under-19 team.

APOEL

After being released by

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, he signed a three-year contract with

APOEL APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...

on 24 April 2014. On joining the club, Ioannou commented: "My main aim is to win trophies of course, but obviously I need to start playing. APOEL play in big competitions – Champions League and

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

– so hopefully I can get a few games." He made his official debut against Finnish club HJK on 30 July 2014, in APOEL's 2–2 away draw for the third qualifying round of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

. On 5 November 2014, aged 18, he made his first

group stage appearance, playing the full 90 minutes in APOEL's 0–1 defeat against Paris Saint-Germain at

Parc des Princes Parc des Princes () is an all-seater stadium, all-seater Association football, football stadium in Paris, France, in the south-west of the French capital, inside the 16th arrondissement of Paris, 16th arrondissement, near the Stade Jean-Bouin ...

. In his first season at APOEL, Ioannou appeared only in seven matches in all competitions, but he managed to win the

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

, as his team won both the Cypriot championship and the

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, clay, ...

. On 3 June 2016, Ioannou signed a three-year contract extension until 31 May 2019, but a few months later, on 13 March 2017, he signed a further two-year contract extension with APOEL, running until 31 May 2021. Following his successful 2016–17 season with APOEL, Ioannou awarded the "Young Player of the season" award by Cyprus Football Association.

Nottingham Forest

On 25 September 2020, Ioannou returned to England, joining

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

side

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

for an undisclosed fee. He made his debut for Forest on 3 October 2020 in a 2–1 defeat to

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

. On 8 January 2021, Ioannou was loaned to

Greek Super League The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

side

Aris Aris or ARIS may refer to: People * Aris (surname) Given name * Aris Alexandrou, Greek writer * Aris Brimanis, ice hockey player * Aris Christofellis, Greek male soprano * Aris Gavelas, Greek sprinter * Aris Howard, Former President of the Jamai ...

until the end of the season. On 5 July 2021, it was announced Ioannou had joined

side

on a season-long loan deal.

Como

On 27 July 2022, Ioannou joined

on a permanent deal for a contact until June 2025.

International career

Being an English-Cypriot, Ioannou is eligible to represent the national teams of both the countries. In 2012, he had been capped by Cyprus U19. He made his Cyprus U21 debut on 5 September 2014, coming on as a 70th-minute substitute in a UEFA European U-21 Championship

qualifying Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

match against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. He received his first senior Cyprus national team call-up at the age of 18, being an unused substitute for

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

in the

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

on 27 May 2014. He made his debut for

in 2017.

Career statistics

Club statistics

International

International goals

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

Honours

Club

;

* Cypriot First Division: 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19 *

Cypriot Cup The Cypriot Cup () is the main cup competition in Cypriot football, run by the Cyprus Football Association (CFA). It began in 1934, the same season with the Cypriot Championship. It is the second most important competition for Cypriot club team ...

: 2014–15

Individual

*Young player of the Season (

): 2016–17

Personal life

Ioannou's father (

Demetris Ioannou Demetris Ioannou () born December 8, 1968, is a former international Cypriot football defender and currently a football manager. Career He started his career in 1990 from Apollon Limassol and then followed six successful seasons in Anorthosi ...

) is a former Cypriot international captain. His elder brother is Michael Ioannou, who is a Cypriot youth international. He attended St George's RC High School in Walkden, Greater Manchester, during his time at the

Manchester United academy Manchester United Football Club Under-21s is the most senior of Manchester United's youth teams and the club's former reserve team. They play in the Premier League 2, the highest tier of the Professional Development League. The team is effectiv ...

References

External links

APOEL official profile

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ioannou, Nicholas 1995 births Living people Sportspeople from Limassol Cypriot footballers Association football defenders APOEL FC players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Aris Thessaloniki F.C. players Como 1907 players Cypriot First Division players English Football League players Super League Greece players Serie B players Cyprus youth international footballers Cyprus international footballers Cypriot expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in Italy Cypriot expatriate sportspeople in England Cypriot expatriate sportspeople in Greece Cypriot expatriate sportspeople in Italy