Image: Graeme Furlong
Former Port Melbourne defender Jacob Eliopoulos will hone his craft on Cypriot soil after signing a one-year deal with league heavyweights APOEL.
Eliopoulos signed to the Sharks from Northcote City this season, where he was promoted to the senior list in 2015. The 19-year-old showed promising signs under Eric Vassiliadis in a tough campaign at JL Murphy Reserve.
APOEL are 25-time winners of the Cypriot First Division, also currently holding four back-to-back titles. The club also holds another prestigious statement in being the only Cypriot outfit to reach the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League.
Eliopoulos admits he was exploring options overseas when APOEL offered the 19-year-old an opportunity to impress via a trial, before signing the young defender.
“When hearing that APOEL were interested in giving me an opportunity I knew I had to jump at it. It’s a big club and it’s a step in the right direction.
“I know it’s going to be an awesome experience and that it will help me grow and develop as a footballer.”
Starting his juniors at Heidelberg, Eliopoulos was at Olympic Village for five years before moving to Bentleigh U20s for a season, then moving to Northcote which Eliopoulos describes as the “turning point for me.”
“I had a couple seasons in the reserves with Alex Gymnopoulos who really helped me develop the basic skills in my game and then was given the opportunity to play first team football in my third year,” he said.
“Northcote are a great club for producing young talented players and my experience there was one to remember.”
While Gymnopoulos worked the magic in the Northcote reserve side, Eliopoulos attributes a vast majority of his mental and physical development to Goran Lozanovski, who gave the youngster his first taste at first team football and subsequently promotion out of the u20s.
“[Lozanovski] has been a big part in my career so far as he was the first coach to have faith in me and play me in the first team,” he said.
“He has developed me mentally and physically and was a big part in making my decision to leave Northcote and go to port which I believe benefited me greatly.”
Playing his senior football at clubs at the battling end of the NPL table, Eliopoulos faced relegation scares in his last two seasons with both Port Melbourne and Northcote, though he admits the battles have had a positive outcome on his composure and confidence as a player – experiences he hopes will hold him in good stead at APOEL.
“My last two seasons I have been in some sort of position where we are pressured to win games in order to stay in the league,” the 19-year-old stated.
“This has helped me become more confident under pressure and to realise that pressure is a good thing and brings out the best in players.
“[This season] was definitely a roller coaster season at Port Melbourne, we had a great start to the season but just couldn’t continue to get the results we wanted.
“Even though it was a tough season it did help me step up and become a leader on the field, we have a fairly young team and I thought that it helped me grow and mature more.”