Omonoia midfielder Tahsin Ozler has been called up to the Cyprus national U-19 football team in a historic first for a Turkish Cypriot player.
Ozler, 18, made his debut this season with the shamrock in a cup game against Digenis Ypsona, becoming the first Turkish Cypriot player to feature for the team after 68 years.
Ibrahim Aziz was the last Turkish Cypriot to play for Omonoia in the 1956-1957 season.
The Cyprus Football Association (CFA) started as a bi-communal organisation, with Greek and Turkish Cypriot teams competing together in cup and league games.
However, in 1955, Turkish Cypriot teams started being banned from playing at Greek Cypriot stadiums, therefore they created a separate football governing body, the CTFA, and split from the CFA.
Besides ethnic lines, Cypriot football was briefly separated along ideological lines as well, with left-wing affiliated teams such as Omonoia, Nea Salamina, Alki Larnaca and Orfeas Nicosia competing under a different association than the rest of the Greek Cypriot teams, the Cyprus Amateur Football Federation for five years (1948-1953).
