The first rival of Vojvodina at the start of the qualification for the Conference League is – APOEL from Nicosia.

The club in question was founded in 1926, and plays at the GSP stadium with a capacity of 22,859 seats.

APOEL has even been the champion of Cyprus 28 times, which is a record number in the championship there, but the last time the champion was in the 2018/19 season. It is also the record holder in the Cypriot National Cup with 21 cups, and along the way it also has 14 trophies in the Super Cup.

As for the performances in competitions under the auspices of UEFA, APOEL experienced its golden age only in this century, more precisely since the 2009/10 season when it first qualified for the group stage of the Champions League under the baton of Serbian coach Ivan Jovanović. In the 2009/10 season, it played in a group with Chelsea, Porto and Atletico Madrid and finished as the third-placed team.

The greatest success in the history of the club was achieved in the 2011/12 season, when it also reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League with the Serbian expert. APOEL went to the round of 16 as the group leader ahead of Porto, Shakhtar and Zenit. In the round of 16, it eliminated the French Lyon after a better performance of penalties, as both matches ended with a score of 1-0. Real Madrid stopped them in the quarter-finals, in Cyprus it was 0-3, and at Santiago Bernabeu – 5-2.

APOEL was later a regular participant in European competitions, as it played in the group stage of the Europa League in the 2013/14 seasons, while it also played in the same competition after being relegated from the Champions League in the 2015/16, 2016/17, 2018/19 and 2019/20 seasons.

As for the current team, the Portuguese Ricardo Sa Pinto is on the bench, known to the local public as the former coach of Red Star in 2013. He succeeded Vladan Milojević on the bench, who dropped the title at the end of the season and left it to Aris from Limassol. Sa Pinto arrived as a coach with a wealth of experience, having led OFI, Atromitos, Belenenses, Al Fateh, Standard Liège, Legia Warsaw, Braga, Vasco De Gama, Gaziantep, Moreirense and Estegal and never stayed at any club for more than one season. He arrived at APOEL ten days ago and his European debut awaits him against Vojvodina.