HISTORY
- No UEFA competition matches have been played between these two teams.
- Eintracht Frankfurt have not played against a club from Cyprus so far.
- APOEL FC can take comfort from being the only Cypriot club ever to have beaten German opponents.
- APOEL's 12 meetings with German teams have ended W1 D1 L10 (W1 D0 L5 at home).
- Their 2-1 victory against Berliner FC Dynamo in the first round of the 1980/81 European Champion Clubs' Cup remains the only victory for a Cypriot club in 38 meetings with German opponents, with the overall record of Cypriot sides against German teams a rather daunting W1 D5 L32.
SEASON
- APOEL were reinstated into the UEFA Europa League after being drawn to replace Fenerbahçe SK following the Turkish club's exclusion from the 2013/14 UEFA competitions.
- They have not won in seven European games, and their 0-0 draw against Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC on matchday one was their fifth stalemate in that seven-match spell.
- Back in Europe for the first time since failing to make it through the 2006/07 UEFA Cup group stage, Eintracht are unbeaten in six continental fixtures – three draws followed by three wins.
- Match experience: Eintracht's current squad totals 162 UEFA competition games (17 goals) while the Cypriot side covered 539 (37 goals).
- Most experienced players are Tranquillo Barnetta (40 appearances) and Vaclav Kadlec (37). APOEL's Constantinos Charalambides is on 70 and goalkeeper Dionisios Chiotis on 64 UEFA competition appearances.
- SGE manager Armin Veh can look back at 25 UEFA matches as a coach, Paulo Sérgio is on 5.
- APOEL have played 5 games in their domestic league so far (7 points), Eintracht won 2, drew 2 and lost 3 (8 points).
- Eintracht's Václav Kadlec scored the first goal of the 2013/14 UEFA Europa League group stage, a calm finish from inside the area four minutes into his side's 3-0 matchday one win against FC Girondins de Bordeaux.
- Eintracht's on-loan Croatian striker Srdjan Lakić celebrates his 30th birthday on 2 October, the eve of the game against APOEL.
- APOEL midfielders Stathis Aloneftis and Constantinos Charalambides spent the 2007/08 season in Germany with FC Energie Cottbus and FC Carl Zeiss Jena respectively.
SGE legends - after winning the 1980 UEFA Cup
ON THIS DAY
34 years ago when Eintracht won the UEFA Cup in 1979/80 they played the preliminary rounds on precisely the dates of their upcoming Group F matches. A good omen? Way to go but interesting to look at the matches back then.
On Thursday 34 years back they played at home against Aberdeen FC on 03-10-1979. It was the return leg after a 1-1 away where Bum Kun Cha had scored the lone goal for SGE. This time Eintracht’s all-time heroes such as Grabowski, Pezzey, Nickel and Körbel grabbed a 1-0 win against the Scots with Hölzenbein scoring. They proceeded to the next round against Dinamo Bukarest while Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen men were out.
The schedule then and now:
19-09-1979 Aberdeen FC – Eintracht 1-1
19-09-2013 Eintracht – Bordeaux 3-0
03-10-1979 Eintracht – Aberdeen FC 1-0
03-10-2013 APOEL - Eintracht ?-?
24-10-1979 Dinamo Bukarest – Eintracht 2-0
24-10-2013 Eintracht – Maccabi ?-?
07-11-1979 Eintracht - Dinamo Bukarest 3-0 a.e.t.
07-11-2013 Maccabi – Eintracht ?-?
28-11-1979 Eintracht – Feyenoord 4-1
28-11-2013 Bordeaux – Eintracht ?-?
12-12-1979 Feyenoord – Eintracht 1-0
12-12-2013 Eintracht – APOEL ?-?
Sources: uefa.com, eintracht.de
