Cyprus football association denounces “offensive” allegations

The Cyprus Football Association (CFA) on Thursday has strongly denied what it called “offensive claims” moved by the former chairman of the sports ethics committee Andreas Papacharalambous during the House ethics committee on Wednesday.

MPs attending the committee heard a wide range of claims made by Papacharalambous, who raised questions as to how Cyprus investigates shady practices in sports.

His concerns centred on how the red notices sent by the European football body (Uefa) to Cyprus are handled, while there were also accusations that the CFA covered for teams when faced with accusations of match fixing. MPs also heard reports of bizarre scores and highly improbable outcomes.

On Thursday, the CFA, whose representatives also attended the committee on Wednesday, rejected the claims made by Papacharalambous.

“We attended the committee out of respect for parliament,” it said. “However, we strongly reject the offensive references and allegations directed at both us and Uefa which were made during yesterday’s session.”

The CFA also added that, as a football authority, it has no intention of getting involved in political discussions or confrontations “that serve ulterior motives, as it is not its role or mission.”

“Over the years we constantly demonstrated our respect towards all the state institutions and bodies,” the statement continued.

“In the same spirit, we will provide all the information requested during yesterday’s House committee meeting, which will prove that the statements that were made bear no relation to reality.

“We would have done so yesterday if we had known that this would be the subject of discussion,” the CFA statement concluded.

Papacharalambous was also reported as saying that he did not report the case earlier as Anastasiades’ immunity was not set to be lifted.

He further stated the ethics committee had been fundamentally unable to do its job as it was created without being able to make decisions, since the needed regulations were lacking. He added that six requests had been sent to the justice ministry, but this led nowhere, offering that any case which may be brought to court will be dropped.

But in a lengthy statement released on Wednesday – just hours prior to the meeting, which he was not invited to attend – the former president denounced the claims.