Anorthosis Famagusta (), commonly known as Anorthosis in English or Anorthosi in Greek, is a Cypriot football club, part of the Anorthosis Famagusta multi-sport club founded in 1911 in Varosha, Famagusta.
Anorthosis was one of the founding clubs of the Cyprus Football Association in 1934. After the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, they were forced to relocate to Larnaca where they now play their home matches at the Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium. The club's original stadium, GSE, has been abandoned since 1974 and is in poor condition.
One of the most successful clubs in Cypriot football, Anorthosis have won 13 National Championships, 11 cups and 6 super cups. Anorthosis is one of three Cypriot clubs never to have been relegated to the second division, was the first Cypriot club to participate in the Champions League group stage, and the first Cypriot club to qualify for the Europa Conference League group stage.
History
The early years
Anorthosis Famagusta was founded on 30 January 1911. In the early years the club was not focused on sports but mainly national, spiritual, cultural and social activities. In 1928 it began to develop sporting activities. However, the young men of the club had been active in football much earlier. In the early 1920s they had formed a team with the name "Football Club of Greeks of Varosha" (POEV, ). In 1929, POEV officially joined Anorthosis and its players, all of whom were also members of Anorthosis, formed the club's first football team.
1930s
In 1930–31, Anorthosis participated in and won the first Famagusta provincial football tournament, organised by Evagoras Gymnastic Club (G.S.E.).
In 1932, Anorthosis participated in the first island-wide tournament, the city championship (), which was organised by Pezoporikos Larnaca and used a knock-out system. The second city championship was organised by APOEL in 1933. 8 teams participated, however it was controversial with several teams making complaints about the integrity of their matches, while Anorthosis and Poseidon Limassol withdrew from participation. The third edition was organised by AEL, with Anorthosis finishing in sixth place.
The fourth tournament was due to be organised by Anorthosis. However, after the announcement of a championship in Nicosia by Trust (to celebrate the tenth anniversary of its foundation), and a resulting dispute between the two clubs, as well as other issues on which there were disagreements (Olympiakos Nicosia and Aris Limassol raised the issue of players freely moving from one club to another), the clubs decided to create an authority which would be responsible for organising the championships. Thus, on 23 September 1934, the Cyprus Football Association was established, with Anorthosis and 7 other clubs as the founding members.
In 1934–35 the first official Cypriot Championship was held by the CFA. Anorthosis played their home games at the G.S.E. and finished in 5th place. The Cypriot Cup was also held for the first time where Anorthosis were eliminated by Trust in the semi-finals. In 1935–36, Anorthosis finished in 7th place in the 8 team championship, followed by finishing in bottom position in 1936–37. In 1937 the club ceased the operation of its football department due to financial difficulties, and was removed from the CFA. During the following years, the G.S.E. was closed under the control of the British Army.
1940s
After the team had disbanded in 1937, its players had joined other teams, mainly EPA and Pezoporikos. In 1945 the club decided to re-establish the football team. Several of the former players rejoined Anorthosis as well as some new players. Anorthosis joined the Cypriot Second Division for the 1945–46 season; at the time, the Second Division also included reserve teams of the First Division clubs. Anorthosis would face the reserve team of APOEL in a two-leg final to determine the champion. In the first match, APOEL won 5–3 while the second match was a 1–1 draw. The B team of APOEL won the championship, but Anorthosis were promoted to the First Division because APOEL were not allowed to be represented by multiple teams in the same division. Additionally, the CFA wanted to promote Anorthosis because there were no other First Division clubs from Famagusta at the time.
Anorthosis reached the final of the 1946–47 Cypriot Cup. They would lose 4–1 to APOEL.