Pafos FC: A Decade from Obscurity to Champions League

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00:00Now, we begin our Champions League profiles with Paphos FC from the small town of Paphos

00:06on Cyprus' western shore, a young club which has only existed for a decade. That's right,

00:1110 years it took to go from non-existence to stepping into the arena with Europe's elite.

00:19On the shores where Aphrodite is said to have risen from the waves,

00:23a new story of birth is unfolding, not of gods, but of a football club.

00:33Paphos FC is rising from the island sands into Europe's grand stage.

00:39Paphos in many ways is your typical sleepy Mediterranean town. It's almost noon right now

00:44and the streets are pretty much empty. But Paphos FC didn't sleepwalk their way into the Champions

00:49League. They won their domestic league here last year, then went on to beat big names in European

00:54football, teams like Red Star Belgrade, Dinamo Kiev and Maccabee Tel Aviv to qualify for the Champions

01:01League. The club's rapid rise to success has been so quick, the infrastructure hasn't been able to

01:07keep up. Paphos FC play here at Stelios Kiryakides Stadium. Humble grounds, it hosts less than 10,000

01:15fans. So that means it doesn't even meet UEFA's champion league requirements to host any matches.

01:21So when Europe's elite like Bayern Munich come into town to play here, they're going to have to play

01:25at a completely different stadium about an hour down the road in the neighboring city of Limassol.

01:33Giannis Sokratos could care less about all that. He's been there from the very start.

01:39I was a kid. I never dreamed about that from the second division, first division,

01:45again second division. So it's a dream that came true. We are not very big. We are making step by step

01:55to be a very top team. No matter what happens from here, Paphos has already etched its name in history.

02:04This island known better for beaches and its food than its football will now stand shoulder to shoulder

02:09with Europe's elite.