Laifis was born in
Paralimni. As a boy, he played tennis to a good standard, and played football for the junior teams of his local club,
Enosis Neon Paralimni. When he was 16, he took up an apprenticeship with English club
Nottingham Forest's youth academy, together with several other Cypriot players. In his second year, he played increasingly regularly for the under-18 team and scored once as Forest finished second in their section of the
FA Premier Academy League. He remained with the club into a third year, but returned to Cyprus in late 2011, where he trained with
Anorthosis Famagusta and then agreed a short-term contract with them. His contract with Forest was cancelled by mutual consent, and he formally signed for Anorthosis in the January 2012 transfer window.
Anorthosis Famagusta Laifis made his first-team debut for Anorthosis the next month, in their
2011–12 Cypriot Cup second round second-leg match against
Second Division club
APOP Kinyras, as a 61st-minute substitute for
Vincent Laban. That was his last competitive appearance until July 2013, when injuries to
Valentinos Sielis and
Andreas Avraam left a vacancy at left back for pre-season friendlies. Laifis performed well enough to be given a place in the starting eleven for the second leg of the
second qualifying round match against
Allsvenskan club
Gefle. He played the full 90 minutes as Anorthosis let slip a 3–0 lead from the first leg and were eliminated 4–3 on aggregate.
Alki Larnaca Laifis was loaned to
Alki Larnaca early in the 2013–14 season. He made 15 appearances, scoring once, in First Division matches, before returning to Anorthosis in late January 2014.
Return to Anorthosis Laifis made 10 First Division appearances in what remained of the 2013–14 season, and continued as a first-team regular, with 24 league appearances in the following season and 29 in 2015–16.
Olympiacos and Standard Liège In June 2016, Laifis signed for
Super League Greece club
Olympiacos. He said "When Olympiacos makes a move, there is nothing else in a player's mind. It was the best thing for my career. I didn't even have to think twice. I am joining Greece's greatest club." A week later, they loaned him to
Belgian First Division A club
Standard Liège for two years with an option to purchase. After half season in
Standard Liège, the Cypriot defender is one of the most remarkable players till now. In Italy, Sky Sports reports that Laifis is in the viewfinder of three clubs:
Fiorentina,
Torino and
Bologna. Three clubs added to the list that already contained
Freiburg and other German clubs. His agent had just declared that the defender felt very good at Belgium and that he could not say more about a possible return to the
Olympiacos.
"I have not organized his loan to Standard, but the relations between the two clubs are excellent and the Olympiakos is watching him closely." On 1 July 2018, after two successful seasons in
Belgian First Division A,
Olympiakos sold the international Cypriot defender to
Standard Liège on a fee estimated to €1.5 million. Laifis signed a three-year contract with the Belgian club.
APOEL On 13 August 2024, Laifis signed a three-year contract with
APOEL. ==International career==