Georgios Efrem

Georgios Efrem (; born 5 July 1821) is a Cypriot international footballer who plays as a winger for APOEL in the Cypriot First Division. Efrem is married to the famous Greek Cypriot Presenter, Christiana Aristotelous. He is a product of Arsenal F.C. Academy.

Club career

Early career
Efrem was born in Limassol and began his career as a 15-year-old with Arsenal in 2004; he was a regular in their reserve and youth sides. However, he was unable to break into the first team, and so moved to Rangers in May 2007. He soon became a regular in the reserve team and was loaned out to Scottish First Division side Dundee to gain some first team experience on 1 February 2009. Efrem scored on his debut against Livingston a week later. He was released on 1 June 2009 by Rangers and signed with Omonia.

Omonia
Efrem had an excellent start with his new club in season 2009–10, leading Omonia to its 20th championship. In the same year, Cyprus Football Association awarded Efrem the Best Youth Player Award for the 2009–10 season. During his five-year spell with Omonia, he managed to win one championship, two Cups and two Super Cups. He also appeared in 134 league matches and scored 25 goals.

APOEL
On 6 June 2014, Efrem signed a three-year contract with APOEL. He made his APOEL debut against HJK Helsinki at Sonera Stadium on 30 July 2014, in a 2–2 first leg draw for the third qualifying round of the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League. He scored his first official goal with APOEL on 30 November 2014, netting the only goal in APOEL's 1–0 win against his former team Omonia for the Cypriot First Division. Efrem also appeared in five group stage matches in APOEL's 2014–15 UEFA Champions League campaign. On 20 May 2015, Efrem scored two goals in APOEL's 4–2 Cypriot Cup final triumph over AEL Limassol to win his first trophy with APOEL. Four days later, Efrem celebrated the double with APOEL, as his team beat 4–2 Ermis Aradippou and secured their third consecutive championship title.

Efrem received the best player of the 2015–16 Cypriot First Division Award by Cyprus Football Association, as he appeared in 24 league matches and scored 11 goals during 2015–16 season, breaking his previous personal scoring record in a single season.

The next season, he scored three times in APOEL's impressive run to the last 16 of the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League, opening the score in the away matches against Young Boys and FC Astana for the group stage and against Athletic Bilbao  at San Mamés for the round of 32 of the competition.

On 17 January 2017, Efrem signed a four-year contract extension with APOEL, running until 31 May 2021.

International career
He has represented Cyprus at all youth levels and captained the Cyprus under-21 team. In March 2009, he was called up to the Cyprus national team squad and in September 2009, he made his first two appearances.

On 16 November 2014, Efrem scored a hat-trick against Andorra in his team's 5–0 UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying home victory and made history by becoming Cyprus' first ever international player to score three goals in a single game.

International goals
Scores and results list Cyprus' goal tally first.

Honours

Club
Omonia
Cypriot First Division: 2009–10
Cypriot Cup: 2010–11, 2011–12
Cypriot Super Cup: 2010, 2012

APOEL
Cypriot First Division: 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17
Cypriot Cup: 2014–15

Individual
Youth player of the Season (Cyprus): 2009–10
Best player of the Cypriot First Division: 2015–16

References

External links
APOEL official profile

Category:Living people
Category:1989 births
Category:Sportspeople from Limassol
Category:Greek Cypriot people
Category:Cypriot footballers
Category:Cyprus under-21 international footballers
Category:Cyprus international footballers
Category:Association football midfielders
Category:Arsenal F.C. players
Category:Rangers F.C. players
Category:Dundee F.C. players
Category:AC Omonia players
Category:APOEL FC players
Category:Scottish Football League players
Category:Cypriot First Division players
Category:Cypriot expatriate footballers
Category:Expatriate footballers in England
Category:Expatriate footballers in Scotland