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* Cyprus club collects first 800,000 euros *
Two goals in three minutes by Gustavo Manduca and Ailton allowed APOEL Nicosia to snatch a 2-1 win over Zenit St Petersburg in its opening Champions League Group G match on Tuesday.
Financially, this is good news for the Cyprus champion as it has collected its first 800,000 euros from defeating Zenit. It is expected to earn just over 12 mln euros from making it to the elite group of Europe’s 32 top football clubs.
Konstantin Zyryanov fired Zenit ahead against the run of play in the 63rd minute with a low shot but the Russians were ahead of the Cypriots for just 10 minutes.
APOEL swiftly rebounded when Manduca levelled after a scramble and Ailton sparked wild celebrations among the 18,000 fans by finding the net just minutes later.
Zenit's Bruno Alves was sent off in the 76th minute.
APOEL coach Ivan Jovanovic said the result exceeded his expectations.
"I would be exaggerating if I said we had high hopes in this group, with these opponents," he told reporters. "But we deserved to win and my players played well."
Zenit FC tried to control the pace of the game but failed. "They were a very fast team," said Zenit coach Luciano Spalletti of APOEL. "Now we have to try to address some issues and do better in the coming games."
EUR 12 MLN BOOST
APOEL will double its income this year from the 10.76 mln euros it expects to cash in from the champion’s crown bonus (200,000 euros), 2nd and 3rd preliminary stage games (260,000 euros), playoffs (2.1 mln) and the Champion’s League qualifier (8.2 mln).
In addition, the Nicosia team will earn television royalties and about 1.2 mln to 1.5 mln from ticket sales in the three home games in the next stage. Tuesday’s home win against Zenit will reward it with a further 800,000 euros and any draw will boost its coffers by another 400,000 euros.
This is the second time in three years that the Cyprus champion has gone through to the eight groups of four teams, having equalised in 2009 with giants Chelsea, Atletico Madrid and FC Porto, earning a bonus of 1.2 mln euros.
However, coach Ivan Jovanovic is confident that he has a strong team including the Brazilian duo of Maduka and Copenhagen transfer Ailton, having cost the Nicosia team a mere 600,000 euros last year.
APOEL’s next games are against Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine on September 28 and FC Porto in Portugal on October 19.
