This will be just the third fixture played between a Greek and Cypriot side in European Cup/UEFA Champions League history, following PAOK Salonika v Omonia Nicosia in 1976-77 (first round, two legs) and Panathinaikos v Anorthosis Famagusta in 2008-09 (group stage, home and away).

Olympiakos will face off against a Cypriot side in major European competition for the first time since 2016-17, when they were beaten home and away by APOEL Nicosia in the UEFA Europa League group stage.

Pafos will be the eighth Cypriot team to appear in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League, and first since APOEL Nicosia in the 2017-18 edition (eliminated in the group stage).

Since a run of three wins in a row between September and November 2015, Olympiakos have lost 16 of their last 20 games in the UEFA Champions League (W2 D2) – among all teams to play 100+ games in the European Cup/Champions League since 1955/56, only Sporting CP (52%) have lost a higher ratio of their matches than the Greek side (51.9%, 81 defeats in 156 games).

Prior to 2025-26, the only previous major European competition campaign for Pafos came last season in the UEFA Conference League. They won five of their 10 games in the tournament (D2 L3), and were eliminated in the last 16 by Swedish side Djurgården (3-1 on aggregate).

José Luis Mendilibar has managed two games in the UEFA Champions League previously, drawing both with Sevilla in the 2023/24 group stage, against Lens and PSV. He’ll be the third Spaniard to manage Olympiakos in the competition, along with Ernesto Valverde and Míchel.

Since the start of the 2023-24 season, the player with the most goals scored in major European competition is Olympiakos forward Ayoub El Kaabi (21 goals in 23 appearances). In this period, he has netted 10 goals in 14 games in the UEFA Europa League and 11 goals in nine outings in the Conference League.

Mislav Orsic has averaged a goal every other game in his UEFA Champions League career, scoring six goals in 12 appearances (all for former club Dinamo Zagreb).

Olympiakos forward Mehdi Taremi averaged the most high-intensity pressures per 90 of any player in the UEFA Champions League last season (76 – min. 500 minutes played). Indeed, he was one of only two players to make 100+ in a league phase match last term (102 v Manchester City), along with Julián Alvarez (108 v Bayer Leverkusen).

Mislav Orsic is one of only 10 players in UEFA Champions League history (since 1992-93) to score a hat-trick on his debut in the competition. Indeed, since he did so for Dinamo Zagreb in September 2019 (v Atalanta), only one other player has managed to do so (Ajax’s Sébastien Haller v Sporting CP in September 2021).