23-year-old Australian Jacob Eliopoulos knows this better than most. The defender has spent the past four years playing in Cyprus.

But at the moment, like the rest of the world, he is at a crossroads. With football shutdown because of the coronavirus, he has been left in limbo.

Eliopoulos and his club ASIL Lysi were mounting a promotion challenge to get into the Cypriot First Division. After 20 rounds they were on 19 points, 11 behind league leaders Karmiotissa.

Eliopoulos had been central in ASIL Lysi ‘s charge in 2019/2020. But that is now all on hold until the action resumes, whenever that is.

“It’s a bit frustrating, but what do you do,” he told FTBL.

“The season had been pretty good. The team was looking to get promoted to the first league. We started off pretty well and then in the last few games we dropped off a little bit. We’re still in contention but now with all this happening it’s fallen out the window. I

"It wasn’t meant to be, but hopefully there’s another path for me.”

The centre back has dealt with setbacks before. Growing up in Melbourne, Eliopoulos came through the ranks of Heidelberg United and Bentleigh Greens.

He debuted in the NPL Victoria as a teenager with Northcote City.

“At 16 I made my first-team debut. The coach was Goran Lozanovski, I had a good relationship with him,” he explained.

“He gave me my senior debut and I’ve never looked back since.”

Eliopoulos knocked back a spot with Melbourne City’s youth team to stay with Northcote.

“I was training with Melbourne City in the NPL 2,” he said.

“They offered me a contract. Looking back at it I probably should have stayed, but I wanted to play NPL 1 at the time. I was young and I thought if I could play against men and at a better quality of football it would develop myself more.

“I’m not sure it was the best decision to make, but I’m not regretting it now.”

After three years with Northcote Eliopoulos eventually moved on to Port Melbourne. It was from there in 2016 where he was spotted and headed to Cyrpus on trial.

“I was 19 at the time. I had a few good seasons in the NPL and then got a phone call from an agent who knew APOEL were looking for a defender,” he said.

APOEL are the biggest club in Cyprus. They have won 28 national league titles and are the only Cypriot club to have reached the knockout stages of both the UEFA Champions League and the Europa League.

“They said it's in the youth team but if you do well there’s an opportunity to go into the first-team. So I thought I’d come over for a trial. I had a two-week trial, I did really well, scored in my first game.

“And the coach said we want to sign you. So I had to get my Greek passport sorted then I signed a deal with the youth team. I played every game, I did really well in the youth team.

“Then in January I started training with the first-team. The coach Thomas Christiansen was impressed with me. I was on the bench for the first-team five times, during their Europa Cup run.

“But I had a constant issue with my groin. I was breaking down a bit. I was diagnosed with osteitis pubis. So I had to just stop doing anything. I was two months out and that put me behind the eight ball.”

Injury cruelled Eliopoulos’s chance of a breakthrough at the Cypriot giants, and he ended up departing APOEL in August 2017.

“At the end of the season I was waiting to see if they were going to offer me a new deal,” he said.

“Then the coach got sacked and I didn’t really have a manager at the time. My youth team coach left the club as well and I didn’t really have a connection at the club anymore.

“It was my first time in this situation and I didn’t really know how to deal with it. I was left wondering what to do. I just knew I needed to play games, as I was 20. You can’t just be playing in youth teams.

“So I offered to come to the second division and get as many games as I could. I did that, played a full season with PAEEK and from there I signed with ASIL Lysi. Had a good season last year and this year we were trying to get promoted.”

A centre back by trade, Eliopoulos’ time in Europe have seen him deployed in defensive midfield and as a right back as well.

“I’m a defender but I’ve played a lot of midfield this season. It’s been good to develop my game,” he said.

Eliopoulos admits when he first arrived at APOEL from the Victorian NPL it was hard to adapt. But after four years he is well-adjusted.

“It was a bit of a culture shock coming to Cyrpus at first because it’s all about football,” he said.

“They’re crazy here for football, the fans. It was a really good experience being at APOEL and training with high-quality players. It was a shock to the system.

“But it just made me realize that a few weeks in any team and you can adapt really easy to it. At the start it might seem scary and never-wracking, but after a few weeks you get into the rhythm of things and adjust to the intensity.

“Cyprus is a beautiful country. It’s been awesome. It’s very laid-back. The weather is amazing. The football is really good. It’s professional, we’re training every day even in the second league.

“A lot of people don’t understand the quality here. It’s surprising, because I wasn’t expecting the second league to be this professional. Compared to Australia, it’s a big jump. But it’s a lot more cut-throat in Europe.

“You’re always competing with your teammates for contracts. There’s friends, but on the field there’s no friends.”

Eliopoulos is now plotting his next move and waiting for the season to resume.

His professional career has been a merry-go-round, but the defender has learned to roll with the punches and still come up swinging.

“I take the positives from it because I was with such a big club at the time and then it all sort of all came crashing time,” he said.

“But I knew I could play at that level. But sometimes you have to do the hard yards as well. I think I’ve done that the last three seasons now.

“I’ve had three good years, but it’s just finding that one coach or one agent who believes in you and puts his faith in you to sign you. I’m sure when that comes they won’t be disappointed.

“Now I just have to wait to see what happens and then I can organize myself for the next season and see what’s available.”