London Cypriot football team New Salamis to fold
London Cypriot football team New Salamis FC have announced that their first team will cease its operations at the end of the current season.
The club said that it had taken the “difficult” decision after “careful consideration of various factors, including financial challenges and structural limitations”.
They said they expressed their “deepest gratitude to all former and current players, coaching staff, and administrative personnel who have been part of the New Salamis family throughout the years.”
“Your dedication, passion, and unwavering commitment to the club have been the driving force behind our successes and cherished memories,” they added.
They said that “while the club is coming to an end, it is a subject of immense pride the team have steered away from relegation so comfortably, whilst giving young players the opportunity to continue the New Salamis legacy as they head onto promising careers in the game.”
In this regard, they said, “we remain immensely proud of the legacy we have built together and the profound impact the club has had on the local community and beyond.”
They added that the club’s youth teams will continue to play and “thrive and represent the spirit of the club.”
“It brings us great joy to see the youth continuing to embrace the values and traditions of New Salamis FC, ensuring that the legacy of the club lives on through future generations,” they said.
New Salamis FC was founded in 1971 by London-based Cypriot fans of Nea Salamina.
They initially played in the Kopa League, in which British Cypriot clubs compete, but later transferred to mainstream football and rose through the English non-league system in the late 2010s and early 2020s, reaching as high as the eighth-tier Isthmian League North Division.
New Salamis FC are the second London Cypriot team to fold in the space of a month, with St Panteleimon FC having folded with immediate effect in March.
The club’s chairman George Frangeskou had said that at the level at which they were competing, “and with no home ground to call our own, the financial demands required to meet the criteria are unattainable, unsustainable, and beyond our scope.”
He thanked everyone who had supported the club since it was formed in 2015, and the club’s players past and present for “creating some of the most cherished memories imaginable and a success story we hope inspires others.”
As Frangeskou explained, St Panteleimon FC had been founded as “a church team put together to help those less fortunate who have experienced difficulties and hardship in their young lives.”
The objective, he said, was “to provide a footballing platform for them to come together, interact, and find a common goal through football towards more positive, new beginnings.”
Similarly to New Salamis FC, the club rose through the English non-league system, reaching as high as the ninth-tier Spartan South Midlands Premier Division, winning four league titles and three league cups along the way.
They were top of the division when the 2019/20 season was voided due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Closing his announcement, Frangeskou said “adios, amigos!”