Tommy Oar's Champions League dream crushed

Australian attacker Tommy Oar has been left out of APOEL Nicosia's Champions League 25-man squad for the upcoming tournament.

The Cyprus club are set to face Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Tottenham Hotspur in the group stages, but new coach Giorgos Donis has opted to rule out Oar's participation after making several attacking signings before the end of the transfer window.

Donis took the head coaching rule in late July after the dismissal of Dutch coach Mario Been, who signed Oar a month earlier.

The former Brisbane Roar winger played a crucial part in APOEL's run to Champions League but was noticeably excluded from the squad that achieved qualification in the second-leg against Czech side Slavia Prague.

Oar explained his anguish at Donis' decision to crush his dream but vowed to work hard to get back into the coach's plans.

"Obviously, I'm just devastated. It was a childhood dream," Oar told The World Game.

"I have never played in the Champions League and I was looking forward to playing on such a big stage.

"But these setbacks are part of football so I just have to prove the coach wrong by performing in the domestic league.

"The coach has not told me specifically why he left me out. Since we qualified he made a lot of signings especially in the front third.

"I have a three-year contract and I will do all I can to help APOEL win the championship and hopefully prove they made the wrong decision to drop me from Europe."

The Cypriots begin their domestic league campaign away at Nea Salamis on Sunday (AEST).