World War 1 Christmas truce marked in Cyprus Football Match!

AN UNUSUAL football match took place on Tuesday in the capital, Nicosia with players from both the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities taking part.

Organised by the British High Commission, the match commemorated 100 years since the World War One Christmas truce.

Under the slogan "Football Remembers” Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots braved the rainy weather and joined forces against an "international” team made up mainly of UN personnel, at a football pitch in the buffer zone, close to the Ledra Palace check point.

The Cypriot team consisted of Greek and Turkish Cypriot negotiators Andreas Mavroyiannis and Ergun Olgun, Semsi Oyuncu, Hasan Sencar, Sertac Yalcin, Huseyin Ekmekci, Ibrahim Diran, Michael Seraphim, Andreas Koulendis, Lambros Lambrou, Mustafa Zurnacilar, Kemal Koseoglu, Huseyin Ercen, Mehmet Kandilli, Halil Cimendag and Ertan Aligullu.

Several thousand events have been held across the UK and in some foreign locations to mark the Christmas truce football match as part of Football Remembers Week.

Every team in the Premier League and Football League have marked the centenary of World War One at recent matches.

Credit: Famagusta Gazette