APOEL, the ultimate minnow

• by Soccer America , Mar 26, 2012

[MONEY MATTERS] It is considered the biggest match to be ever played on Cyprus. Six thousand fans descended on Nicosia's GSP Stadium on Friday to snap up the last 300 tickets for Tuesday's APOEL-Real Madrid match at the 23,000-seat stadium. By most financial measures, the game will be a mismatch, but APOEL has all season confounded the experts. For a financial comparison between the two teams ...

APOEL: $287,000, the Cypriot club's average player salary.
Real Madrid: $7.4 million, the Spanish club's average player salary last year, the second highest in the world behind only Barcelona's

APOEL: $13 million, the Cypriot club's annual budget, the smallest of any team left in the Champions League.
Real Madrid: $654 million, La Liga leader's budget, the largest of any club in the world.

APOEL: $120,000, money spent on Portuguese midfielder Helder Sousa, its lone acquisition on the 2011 summer transfer market.
Real Madrid: $73 million, money Merengues paid on their "modest" spending spree on the 2011 summer transfer market.

APOEL: $934,000, money spent on Brazilian signing Ailton from FC Copenhagen, the most money the Cypriot club has paid for a player.
Real Madrid: $130 million, money spent to buy Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009, a world record transfer fee.