AEK Larnaca
UEFA Europa Conference League round of 16 first leg, AEK Arena – Georgios Karapatakis, Larnaca, Cyprus, Thursday 9 March 2023, 7.45pm EET (5.45pm GMT)
West Ham United and the Club’s loyal supporters are off to Cyprus for the first time this week.
The Hammers travel 2,000 miles from London to Larnaca, a port city on the south east coast of the island situated in the far east of the Mediterranean Sea.
There, the Irons will take on AEK in a UEFA Europa Conference League round of 16 first-leg tie at the 8,058-seater AEK Arena – Georgios Karapatakis on Thursday evening.
The English side will be cheered on by 1,600 supporters, with thousands expected to fly to soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the sunshine, Cypriot food and drink and temperatures of around 21C (70F).
AEK will be no pushovers, though. José Luis Oltra’s side finished the 26-match Cypriot First Division regular season with 18 wins and 57 points and have real hope of going one better than last season, when they finished as runners-up, and winning their first-ever title in the Championship round.
Larnaca have played 14 matches in Europe this season, competed in all three major competitions – UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League – and scored victories over Partizan, Dnipro-1 and Dynamo Kyiv.
Tickets…
For information about how to purchase match tickets, click here.
Each ticketholder will be required to fill in a European Travel Form detailing travel plans, time of arrival in Cyprus, and any accommodation details. Click here to access the form.
Once you have purchased your ticket and completed the European Travel Form, your ticket will be forwarded to you by email from Tuesday 7 March.
On arrival at AEK Arena, ticketholders will be asked to present their ticket and photographic identification in the form of a physical Passport. Copies will not be accepted under any circumstances.
Non-compliance or failure to present an original document showing photographic identification of the original purchaser, matching the name on the ticket, will result in entry into AEK Arena being refused.
Tickets are strictly for personal use only, cannot be resold and are non-transferable.
How to get there…
If you are going to Thursday’s match, in all likelihood you will have already booked your flights and accommodation in Cyprus.
From Larnaca International Airport, a taxi should take no more than 15 minutes to reach the city centre. The fare is €9.63 between 6am-8.30pm and €11.59 between 8.30pm-6am.
Alternatively, bus lines 407, 417, 418, 419, 425 and 429 take longer, but cost just €1.50 for Adults and €0.75 for Children.
Ticket holders will be able to use a free shuttle bus service from outside The Meeting Pub, 90 Athene Avenue, on Larnaca Beach Front, to AEK Arena and return after the final whistle.
Supporters not wishing to use the shuttle service can take a taxi from Kolonaki Taxi, located just north of The Meeting Pub on Larnaca Beach Front.
Supporters who are driving their own vehicles can park at the North side of the stadium, adjacent to the away turnstiles.
Where to stay…
Larnaca is a tourist destination and, therefore, is blessed with a wide range of accommodation options.
There are high-end beach resorts and boutique and spa hotels, self-catering apartments and studios, as well as lower-budget hotels with swimming pools and bars, many of them with views of the Mediterranean Sea.
Accommodation options are spread up and down the coast from the centre of Larnaca, with most situated in the area just inland from the popular Finikoudes Beach.
AEK Arena is around three miles inland, directly west of the city centre.
What to do…
Enjoy the sunshine!
West Ham United supporters will no doubt take advantage of the draw by spending time on the beach, by the pool and in the dozens of bars and restaurants Larnaca has to offer.
If you are travelling, be sure to sample some of the delicious Cypriot cuisine in one of the many tavernas in town, with dishes such as fasolaki (French beans cooked in red wine with lamb) and louvi me lahana (black-eyed peas with chard) particularly popular.
For those who like a bit of history, the Church of Saint Lazarus is the burial site of Lazarus, who Jesus rose from the dead according to a miracle recounted in the Gospel of St John in the Bible. Hala Sultan Tekke is a Muslim holy site situated on the west bank of the Larnaca Salt Lake.
Larnaca Castle houses a museum displaying antiques, artworks and items from Early Christian, Byzantine, and Post Byzantine Cyprus.
For football fans, one unusual place to visit is The House of Platini, a small museum featuring nearly 700 exhibits dedicated to the former France captain Michel Platini. However, it is situated 20 minutes’ drive from the city centre.
What’s happened there before…
Well, seeing as this is our first-ever visit to Cyprus, West Ham United have naturally never played at AEK Arena previously.
AEK Larnaca themselves moved into their new home in the same year that West Ham moved to London Stadium, 2016, and it is named in honour of George Karapatakis, the father of AEK’s President Andros Karapatakis.
Among the clubs who have visited in European competitions since then were League of Ireland clubs Cork City and Dundalk, German side Bayer Leverkusen and Belgian outfit Gent. This season, AEK Arena has welcomed Midtjylland of Denmark, Partizan of Serbia, Dnipro-1 and Dynamo Kyiv of Ukraine, French side Rennes and Turkish club Fenerbahçe.
West Ham United will be AEK’s first-ever English opponents.
