The Cyprus Football Association is assembling material for a formal complaint to UEFA over Barcelona’s plan to run a youth camp inside the Turkish-occupied northern part of the island, on the grounds that the Spanish club’s own website files the venue under “Northern Cyprus”, a designation recognised only by Turkey.

The Lefkosa Camp is scheduled to run at Near East University in northern Nicosia across two September sessions, from 7 to 11 September and 16 to 20 September, and is open to players aged 6 to 18. Licensed coaches from Spain are to deliver the sessions using Barça Academy methodology.

Cyprus goes to UEFA over the wording

The Cyprus Football Association said in a statement carried by Cyprus Mail that it is examining the matter, “given the political and legal sensitivity of a major European football club holding an organized sporting activity in the north”.

According to Greek reporting on the CFA’s next move, the governing body is now gathering evidence for a submission to UEFA over the “Northern Cyprus” label on Barça Academy pages, while the Cypriot government has opened diplomatic channels aimed at getting the camp cancelled.

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The far-right National People’s Front (ELAM) has also called the camp “unthinkable” and urged both Madrid and Nicosia to intervene.

Nea Salamina invokes ‘Més que un club’

Nea Salamina Ammochostos, a club founded in Famagusta in 1948 and forced from the city by the Turkish invasion of 1974, has written directly to Barcelona to protest.

The letter, signed by club president Pari Andreou and reported by Politis, invokes Barcelona’s own “Més que un club” motto and asks the Catalan side to cancel the camp and drop references that would normalise the occupation. Nea Salamina still plays its home matches away from Famagusta, having remained in exile for more than half a century.

Üstel: ‘We will not bow to this mentality’

Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister Ünal Üstel framed the objections as an attempt to isolate his community.

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“Such an approach can neither build trust nor create a new future in Cyprus. We did not bow to this mentality yesterday, and we will not bow to it today,” Üstel said in comments carried by Hürriyet Daily News.

Turkish Cypriot President Tufan Erhürman argued that the campaign to block the event was designed to restrict Turkish Cypriots’ contacts with the international community.

Near East University’s public relations director Özer Turan told the same outlet the programme was “a nonpolitical sporting event open to everyone, not only Turkish participants”, and said preparations were “proceeding as planned”.

Barcelona has not publicly commented. The first Lefkosa Camp session is scheduled to begin on Monday, 7 September, at Near East University in northern Nicosia.

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