Former midfielder Costas Kaiafas has been unveiled as the new coach of Omonia following a meeting with club chairman Doros Serafim late on Wednesday night.
Kaiafas, who like his father enjoyed a long and successful career at the Nicosia club in the past, has left his post at Alki with immediate effect to join Omonia who have been left without a coach following the exit of Spanish boss Miguel Lotina last month.
Temporary coaches Nehad Starovlach, Alex Caceres and Fangio Boyce will remain at the club but working under 39-year-old Kaiafas who scored 68 goals in 347 appearances for the Nicosia Greens between 1991 and 2009, making him the club’s fifth most capped player. He spent the last two years of his playing career at Alki before being appointed head coach at the struggling Larnaca club last year.
An announcement by the Nicosia club confirmed that ex-skipper Kaiafas “will take charge of the team until the end of the season” along with former teammate and Alki assistant boss Akis Ioakim.
Speaking to Super Sport FM yesterday, Omonia press officer Andreas Demetriou described Kaiafas as a man “with the soul of Omonia”.
Fifth place Omonia face fourth place Ermis Aradippou in the big game on Sunday.
“Kaiafas was born out of this club,” said Demetriou. “He has the soul of Omonia and nobody can question his commitment to this club. Both he and his assistant know what is required of them here and they know what this club is all about.
“They are both hungry to succeed and they are determined to do whatever is necessary despite the enormous demands of the job. The only message they put forward to the players was ‘work and more work’.”
Omonia are experiencing one of the worst patches in their history with the club currently over €10 million in debt and in danger of missing out on European football next season because they are under the watchful eye of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play committee.
To make matters worse, the club is also underperforming on the pitch and sacked their previous coach, former Villareal and Celta Vigo boss Lotina, just 37 days after he was brought in to replace Toni Savevski.
The club’s supporters also heaped pressure on former chairman Stelios Mylonas to step down and he was replaced by Serafim, who returned for a second stint as head of the club, just this month.
As a player, fan-favourite Kaiafas won three league titles and four Cyprus Cups while he was also voted player of the year back in 2003. His father Sotiris, a UEFA golden boot winner back in 1976, is likewise considered a legend at the club