Bavaria’s CL opponent in portrait
© Imago
What do Konrad Laimer (28) and Pafos FC have in common? The flexibly usable professional of FC Bayern has a market value of 25 million euros, while the Cypriot club has a squad value of – rounded – also 25 million euros. The balance of power is clear before the encounter in the league of the Champions League. On the one hand the little unknown representative, on the other side the German record champion and royal class title carrier from 2001, 2013 and 2020. Who is this Pafos FC exactly? Who do the Munichers deal with on Tuesday evening (9 p.m.)? Transfer market explains!
Nikos Sofis, Area Manager Greece, says: “It is a very carefully planned and implemented project that was not created overnight.” The TM expert explains: “It took a few years to roll, but the club is now in the middle of the development phase. Your transfers and strategy are carefully thought out-nothing that you do just happens. You also have a very well developed infrastructure and organization in ‘European style’, which is not common in Cyprus. Keep up and reach an international place. “
Pafos FC was founded in 2014, after a merger of the local associations AE Paphos and AEK Kouklia. With Sergey Lomakin and Roman Dubov, there have been two Russian investors who control the association since 2017. The former is co-founder of the discount single chain Fix Price, second was born in Hungary, has British citizenship and has connections to the real estate sector, among other things. “Chrisraou7”, TM data scout for Cyprus, explains: “In the first three to four years of their commitment, there were not only a few, but many critical voices compared to Russian investments in Pafos FC. Many Cypriot fans and media feared that they were only here in the short term and left it unsuccessfully after a few years.”
In the beginning the success was long in coming, further investments in the squad, but also to the academy and the U19 team carried fruit. Many foreign talents came with potential, there is a high -quality training center for Cypriot conditions. The next milestone is the investment in a new arena that is urgently needed, after all, the international games are held in the home of Aris Limassol and not in the Stelios-Kyriakidis Stadium that offers space for less than 10,000 spectators.
This season, the club celebrates its Champions League premiere after it was enough for the round of 16 in the Conference League last year-in the league there was a 0: 1 against German representative 1. FC Heidenheim on October 24, 2024. In addition to FC Bayern, Olympiacos were or are Piraeus (0-0), Cairat Almaty, Villarreal, Monaco, Juventus, Chelsea and Slavia Prague. Only Qarabağ Ağdam (24.8 million) and Cairat Almaty (12.7 million) have an even lower squad value in competition than Pafos. The investments, coupled with a clever transfer policy, promoted the club from the subclass to the top of Cyprus with the first championship 2025.
Pafos FC: Mimovic must not, David Luiz should take responsibility
While the at the beginning of Laimer is to be located in the lower midfield with his taxation in the Bavaria internal ranking, Ognjen Mimovic can call himself the most valuable player at Pafos FC with 3.5 million euros. The right -back recently came loan from Fenerbahce, and TSG Hoffenheim is said to have been presented with an offer for the 21 -year -old Serbs. However, he is out of the question for the duel with Bayern: Mimovic is not registered for the premier class after his late transfer. With center forwarder Landry Dimata (market value: 2.5 million) it has to judge the second most valuable in the team. The 28-year-old Belgian is also new and was hired by Samsunspor for 750,000 euros. The very big sums of Pafos have not yet been an issue. The most expensive access in club history is Ivica Ivusic (27, now at Hajduk Split) with a transfer fee of 2 million euros.
The best-known name in the team, which is very international with 15 different nations, is different: 57-time Brazilian national defender David Luiz, now 38 years old. And like a relic from a time when Pafos FC of players with larger sound, but they had already had their zenith behind them. The veteran came from his homeland in August, free of charge from Fortaleza. A surprising transfer, because previous experiments such as Bakary Sako (6 games 2019/20) and Sam Hutchinson (6 games 2020/21) had failed. David Luiz’s transfer, which should be valuable, especially in the Champions League, caused a sensation on social media.
David Luiz in the Seleção jersey, here at 1: 7 in the 2014 World Cup final against Germany
Chief Scout Vaz explained the strategy and the main focus of Pafo FC
Rodolfo Vaz has been chief scout at Pafos FC since July 2021, previously the 48-year-old worked as a sports director at Vitória Setúbal and as a football director at Apoel Nikosia. “We have built up and developed a modern scouting department, combined comprehensive data analyzes with traditional live observations. Our approach is to combine the most modern methods of football with classic scouting principles and thus create a balanced and highly effective process,” Vaz gives an insight into the approach in Pafos FC.
The Portuguese emphasizes the belief in the globalization of football and says that one does not focus exclusively on a single market. “However, there are certain markets in which players adapt to Cypriot football faster and more effectively.” VAZ explains: “Our main focus is on the identification of emerging talents and players who have not yet fully exploited their potential for one reason. We attach great importance to offering these players the right platform to restart or push their career and at the same time strengthen our team with quality and ambition.”
And how was that with the transfer of Altstar David Luiz? The defender who has seen everything in world football, including as a captain, the 1: 7-chicken against Germany in the 2014 World Cup semi-final in Brazil. “The case of David Luiz is something very special,” says Pafos bosscout Vaz. “I have known him since he came to Benfica as a very young player, and have followed his career carefully. Interestingly and rather by chance, he and our CEO Roman Dubov have been in London (at Chelsea; editor) since David’s time), and his advisor has also been very close to our CEO. In recent years we have talked about it several times, and one day one day for Pafos, and in This summer the right prerequisites have finally arisen. “
Trainer Carcedo worked for a long time alongside Emery
The arrival of Juan Carlos Carcedo caused crucial impulses on the square. The 52-year-old Spaniard took over the coaching office in the summer of 2023 and brought plenty of expertise: Carcedo was a co-trainer of Unai Emery at his stations Arsenal, PSG, FC Sevilla, Spartak Moscow, Valencia and Almería. The national cup victory was only celebrated in 2024, and a year later the championship with a seven point lead.
The Pafos FC team is considered to be physically strong, fast and combative, with a solid match plan and a tall, organized defensive, which also wants to make life as difficult as possible to the Bavaria attack by Tormaschine Harry Kane. At the same time, there is no shortage of fast players for counter football. In the Champions League qualification, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Dynamo Kyiv and Red Star Belgrade were cleared, and the Pafos FC was not impressed by the opponent and the atmosphere for a royal class start in Piraeus-despite a little more than one-hour outnumber. The Munich is therefore expecting an opponent who, despite the low squad value – 25.4 million to EUR 905 million – is by no means stopping by.