Andreas Charitou

Cypriot retired football goalkeeper

Andreas Charitou
Personal information

Full name	Andreas Charitou
Date of birth	(1961-12-29) 29 December 1961 (age 62)
Place of birth	Lythrodontas, Nicosia
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Youth career
	Elia Lythrodonta
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1979–1981	Adonis Idaliou
1981–1999	Omonia	369^[1]	(0)
International career
1984–1991	Cyprus	16	(0)
Managerial career
2000–2007	Omonia (goalkeeping coach)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Andreas Charitou (Greek: Ανδρέας Χαρίτου, born 29 December 1961) is a Cypriot retired football goalkeeper who played the majority of his career for Omonia Nicosia.

International career

Charitou made his debut for Cyprus in a September 1984 friendly match against Greece and earned a total of 15 caps, scoring no goals. His final international was a November 1991 Euro Championship qualifier against the Soviet Union.^[2]

De Kuip bomb incident

In a Euro 1988 qualifier on 28 October 1987, in Rotterdam,^[3] a homemade bomb made of fireworks in a tennisball^[4] exploded close to Charitou in the early stages of the game.^[5] He was subsequently stretchered off and replaced, and the Cypriot players left the field in protest and refused to continue playing.

After much pressure from the Dutch team, Luxembourg referee Roger Philippi decided the game could continue. The match ended 8–0 with John Bosman establishing a Netherlands national team record of five goals in one game, but UEFA decided that the match was invalid and Cyprus were awarded a 0–3 victory instead, giving Greece the opportunity to qualify; the Dutch successfully appealed, with Dr. Greep stating that Charitou was not actually injured, which resulted in a replay in Amsterdam. Holland duly qualified and won the 1988 Euro Championships.^[6]

Honours

Club

AC Omonia
- Cypriot Championship (7): 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1986–87, 1988–89, 1992–93
- Cypriot Cup (5): 1981–82, 1982–83, 1987–88, 1990–91, 1993–94
- Stylianakis Shield (7): 1981, 1982, 1983, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991

Individual

CFA Moral Footballer of the Year (1): 1987
1998 Fair Play Ambassador of Cyprus Sports Organization

References

^ ΧΑΡΙΤΟΥ ΑΝΔΡΕΑΣ (in Greek). AC Omonia. 11 September 2018. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
^ Intl career stats - EU-Football
^ Report - UEFA
^ Een bomgooier en vele andere dwazen - BN De Stem (in Dutch)
^ Opnieuw in beeld: Vuurwerkbom hindert Nederlands elftal - Nederlands Dagblad (in Dutch)
^ ’Bommengooier van Oss’: Ik wilde gewoon een harde knal - Trouw (in Dutch)