Colony’s full membership must still be ratified by congress as Spain expresses direct opposition to move.
The Uefa Executive Committee on Monday provisionally admitted the
Gibraltar Football Association as a member of the continental governing
body.
The decision follows a Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling last year stating Uefa must consider allowing the tiny British colony to become the 54th member of the organization.
Gibraltar’s admission must be ratified at the XXXVII Uefa Congress in London next May. However, history does not bode well for Gibraltar’s chances of hosting full international matches at the 5,000-seater Victoria Stadium:
A similar motion put to the 2007 Uefa Congress in Dusseldorf was voted down by 48 to 4 – only the UK home nations were in favor of the proposal.
Gibraltar was ceded to the UK in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht but Spain persistently tries to claim sovereignty over the colony.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman said that Spain would oppose Gibraltar’s accession to Uefa “with all legal means available.”
A spokesman for Spain’s Foreign Ministry has said Madrid will continue to oppose Gibraltar’s membership of Uefa “with all available judicial means.”
UPDATE
By h.b. - Oct 2, 2012 - 10:05 PM
Spain is against the Gibraltar membership of UEFA
The decision follows a Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling last year stating Uefa must consider allowing the tiny British colony to become the 54th member of the organization.
Gibraltar’s admission must be ratified at the XXXVII Uefa Congress in London next May. However, history does not bode well for Gibraltar’s chances of hosting full international matches at the 5,000-seater Victoria Stadium:
A similar motion put to the 2007 Uefa Congress in Dusseldorf was voted down by 48 to 4 – only the UK home nations were in favor of the proposal.
Gibraltar was ceded to the UK in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht but Spain persistently tries to claim sovereignty over the colony.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman said that Spain would oppose Gibraltar’s accession to Uefa “with all legal means available.”
A spokesman for Spain’s Foreign Ministry has said Madrid will continue to oppose Gibraltar’s membership of Uefa “with all available judicial means.”
UPDATE
By h.b. - Oct 2, 2012 - 10:05 PM
Spain is against the Gibraltar membership of UEFA
Gibraltar has accused Spain of ‘mixing sport with politics’. It
comes as UEFA has accepted Gibraltar as a provisional member of the
organisation.
Spanish minister for Education, Culture and Sport, José Ignacio Wert, said today that would wait to see of the provisional membership became a definitive acceptance, and then the minister that will go done all judicial roads necessary to ensure Gibraltar is not accepted a full member of UEFA.
Spanish minister for Education, Culture and Sport, José Ignacio Wert, said today that would wait to see of the provisional membership became a definitive acceptance, and then the minister that will go done all judicial roads necessary to ensure Gibraltar is not accepted a full member of UEFA.
