Cypriot League leaders APOEL play the first leg of the Round of 32 Europa league tie against LA Liga side Athletic Bilbao on February 16.

Eliopoulos signed with Cyprus’s biggest club from the Victorian NPL, and while he didn’t play last week, the former Northcote City youngster is not a ruling out a professional European debut.

“It was good to get noticed by the coach and sit on the bench, potentially If I do well you never what could happen,” he said.

After plying his trade in the second tier of Australian football Eliopoulos is stunned at the progress he has made in his first season in Europe.

“It’s gone quick,” he said. “I have been here for about six months.  It’s a surprise getting called up into the first team squad, it’s happened really quickly.

“The first team coach has been watching a few of my games and last week I got called up to the first team to train and the coach liked what he saw so I was included in the match day squad for the game.”

“I’ve been playing every game for the youth. I’ve been playing 90 minutes and  I haven’t missed a game and now I’m being noticed. But slowly, slowly I must work my way into the first team and stay there and see what happens from there.”

It was Eliopoulos’s performances in the Victorian NPL that caught the attention of scouts from Greece and Cyprus and the 20-year-old said that experience was invaluable.

 “It all started from my time at Port Melbourne really,” he said “Before that I was at Northcote City for three years and I was playing in the first team. I won the best and fairest for Port Melbourne last year and it was good to win at that age.”

After only experiencing a semi-professional environment, Eliopoulos said being part of Apoel had been an eye-opening experience.

 “It’s the biggest club in Cyprus they are very well known,” he said. “It’s where everyone who plays in Cyprus wants to be. They are very professional, I’ve never really experienced anything like it.  You get looked after with the food, the changing sheds and all that stuff. Staying at a hotel before a game was also something different for me.”