The Italian sports director has been in Cyprus since December 2023: “I immediately understood that something important could be built. First I struggled to convince the players to come here, today those who arrive don’t want to go away anymore”
In Cyprus there is a holiday town that unites clubs and foreigners under a single topic: the ball. Pafo is a dot located on an island that until eleven years ago was exclusively a tourist destination. Today, in those parts, they sing the Champions’ anthem and from September the Pafos will play the group stage for the first time ever, conquered via the playoffs. The club, also winner of the first Cypriot championship in its history last May, has 21 foreign players in the squad (including David Luiz), a Russian property and a modern sports center. One of the architects of this feat is Cristiano Giaretta, 57 -year -old from Vicentino, sports director of Pafos. After a career between Italy, Bulgaria and England, he has been working behind the scenes for a year and a half and it is he who guides this young reality towards success, revealing all the secrets.
Let’s start with the celebrations.
“Eh, it was not an easy night (laughs, editor’s note). We did the small hours. This morning I was clogged with messages and I received several phone calls from agents”.
“They proposed me players, some from Serie A. I cannot make them names: but so to speak, players ‘to the Cutrone’ would be perfect for us. The revenues have increased clearly: we are a club born eleven years ago, Popo until then was a tourist destination. Now we are a reality recognized throughout Europe even at the football level, the Russian owners are ambitious”.
In short, a dream that comes true …
“It is so. It seemed an unthinkable goal. In the city they did not stop singing and celebrating last night, we for superstition had not organized anything. I think we will do it on the weekend. After Serie A, Serie B, Premier, Championship, Europe and Conference League, I lacked the music of the Champions League. Tel Aviv, Dynamo Kiev and Red Star “.
Where does this dream start from?
“I arrived in Pafo on December 15, 2023, leaving the Watford and a potential premier league. Since I visited the club for the first time I understood that they could be put in solid foundations to build something important: I believed the Champions League since we won the Cypriot championship for the first time last May”.
Now you have a European dimension, also to attract players. David Luiz was the first, how was the negotiation born?
“First of all, we were looking for a central defender. We have always had an eye for those ‘famous’ players who could also bring visibility to our club. David is one of these: he has 23 million followers on Instagram and certainly made the Pafos a better known club. It is not yet in a condition and therefore has not returned to the Champions League list. We want to build a team of stickers.
Now all that remains is to try another company: center the playoffs in the groups.
“However it goes, it will be all to be earned. To build something important you have to go from the defeats, so we do not put ourselves limits. We will play in Cyprus against clubs with more than one hundred years of history. We, with the new property, are seven years behind”.
Cristiano, free wheel tells us what kind of reality is Pafos?
“We have a avant -garde sports center, built four years ago. There are three natural grass fields that are maintained in perfect condition thanks to our team of gardeners. We also have the gym, a barbecue, our offices, Padel, Futsal and Beach Soccer fields. In short, we have a complete structure where the players, together with families, can pass their free days. We will shortly expand the sports center with three other fields, so to have three other fields, Five in natural grass, plus a restaurant and a medical clinic.
Is the missing piece the stadium?
“Yes, that’s what we are missing to become bigger and bigger. Here in Cyprus there are complicated bureaucratic issues, but for some time we have been working on it and, between two summers, they should start the work for the new stadium: here too there is a nice project behind it. The idea is to have a modern 10 thousand places system”.
You have 21 foreigners in the squad, but on the nursery it aims strong.
“We invest a lot in young people. We have all the categories starting from the Under 9 up to the Under 19, where we have already won three championships in a row, last year also the national cup. The club is very competitive in this sense. We work a lot with foreigners: Brazilians, Croatians, Portuguese … We are trying to grow even Cypriot players: it seems that in a couple of years you get to impose on the teams to play with at least one footballer with at least one footballer local.
Choice of players: algorithms or scouting?
“I have a scout team that works closely with me. Two of these work here in Pafo, the others live in their nations of origin, whether it is South America or Europe. We rely so much on data, both physical and technical, but only as a support. I believe very in some parameters, especially the athletic ones: the speed in the distances or the peak that a attacking exterior can reach me. A selection of the video of some players of any nationality, let’s make a list and screen up to create a sort of short list.
Why did you choose Cyprus?
“I have an international mentality. I have been out of Italy for seven to eight years. After Ascoli, I went to Bulgaria, to the CSKA Sofia, I made four years to Watford, now I am two at Pafos. It intrigued the project behind this company: the Russian owners have made me an excellent impression, the structures also. And then I add, the quality of life”.
“In Pafo you live very well. It is a holiday town, in great expansion: there are villas on the sea and a nature that frames. There are tourists of all kinds, English, Russians and even Italians. It is a coveted island, the cost of living is normal, the food is healthy and quality. Families, moreover, spend the days outside with the sun. At the beginning I was struggling to convince the players to move to Pafo, time they didn’t want to leave anymore. ”
How is your typical day?
“In my daily life I market all year round. I never stop being in contact with the world, with my staff, I do not stop looking players, to offer our same players to the market and so on. I do weekly meetings with the medical and technical staff, as well as with the players who maybe play less and are not completely enthusiastic. I spend my days at the sports center every day of the week: I arrive at 9 in the morning. Do the role of the sports director well, you must always be in touch: team, coaches, agents and prosecutors “.
How do Cypriot football live?
“They live it with passion and tension, especially among the fans of the big names such as the Apoel or the nicosia omon where they fill their stages with 20 thousand people. Instead, at the stadium they come to eight thousand. A nice step forward if you think that until recently the Pafos was followed by very few hundreds of people. Here the week is full of football: there are radio, social and social newspapers.
Any talent to recommend for Europe?
“We have many teams. I have already caught from Europe I. Domingos Quina comes from Udinese, Ken Sema from Watford, Derrick Luckssen has grown in Holland between Az and PSV … two or three can play quietly in Serie A, not in the big but in medium -level teams. Sema, to make them an example, played owner at Udinese and had requests from Atalanta. Like that of the Aris Limassol, also Russi, as well as Apoel and Lamonia “.
Foreign players, but also coaches.
“We on the bench we have Juan Carlo Carcedo, Spanish who worked for 15 years with Unai Emery. He lived in a staff of important teams, such as PSG, Arsenal and Seville. In Cyprus you have to come to understand, otherwise one thinks that we are behind everything. It is not so, I assure him”.
What kind of football ideology is there among the fans: ‘player’ or ‘results’?
“The Pafos had never won anything. Up to now we have raised two trophies (national cup and championship, editor’s note) and people did not wait more, therefore it is a great prestige. Then, there is also an identity of good football in which we believe and that we think of showing off, between possession and high blood pressure. Against the Aris, a game that delivered the championship last May, we won 4-0 thanks to an exciting game. Of great race, and here I return to the speech of athletic data, an important element in the choice of the final player “.
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