The Gibraltar national football team represents Gibraltar in men's international football competitions, and is controlled by the Gibraltar Football Association. Gibraltar applied for full Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) membership and was accepted by the UEFA Congress in May 2013. It can therefore compete in the UEFA European Championship starting with the 2016 tournament for which the team competed in UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying Group D. On 13 May 2016, Gibraltar became a member of FIFA at the governing body's 66th Congress which was held in Mexico City. Gibraltar is the second smallest UEFA member in terms of population (only San Marino has a smaller population) and the smallest in terms of area.
Despite not being an island, Gibraltar set up its first official side for the football competition at the 1993 Island Games and has been a regular in the tournament, winning the 2007 edition.
History
Pre-UEFA Gibraltar's first unofficial national match took place against Jersey in the 1993 Island Games in the Isle of Wight, although the team had previously played friendlies versus professional and amateur clubs. The result was a 2–1 loss for the Gibraltarians. Gibraltar's largest unofficial win was 19–0 versus Sark, in Saint Martin, Guernsey, whilst their largest unofficial loss was 5–0 versus Greenland – an autonomous region of Denmark – which also took part on the Isle of Wight, in Freshwater.
Foundation The history of the Gibraltar national football side can be traced back to April 1923, when it travelled to Spain to play club side Sevilla in a friendly; two games were played and Gibraltar lost both 2–0 and 5–0. The side also managed a draw with Real Madrid in 1949.
Island Games Before joining UEFA, Gibraltar competed in numerous football competitions, most regularly in the Island Games.
The first competition the team entered was the 1993 Island Games, despite Gibraltar not being an island. Gibraltar lost all of its matches, scoring only one goal and finishing in last place.
They had much more success in the 1995 Island Games, which they hosted. Despite losing their opening game against Greenland, Gibraltar bounced back to record their first competitive win, against the Isle of Man. Another victory over Anglesey saw Gibraltar finish second in the group, ahead of Anglesey only on goal difference, and qualify for the semi-finals. There, they beat Jersey 1–0, before losing the final to the Isle of Wight by the same scoreline.
In the 1997 Island Games, two wins and two losses in the group stage, followed by a defeat to Shetland in a playoff, saw Gibraltar finish 6th out of 9 teams. Another poor performance in 1999 saw them finish 11th.
Island Games results improved slightly in 2001, as they came 5th, and in 2003 Gibraltar recorded their biggest win ever, defeating Sark 19–0. Other good results against Greenland and Orkney saw them finish 6th out of 12. Despite these minor successes, Gibraltar did not enter the 2005 tournament.
A football team represented Gibraltar at the 2015 edition of the games even after Gibraltar was accepted by UEFA. However, the squad was a development team composed of under-19s and over-aged players with no first team senior squad members taking part. The team was coached by John Moreno.
FIFI "Wild Cup" In early summer 2006, Gibraltar participated in the 2006 FIFI Wild Cup where it was ranked 3rd. The tournament was an alternative World Cup for non-FIFA members, which was only held once. In Gibraltar's opening match, they drew 1–1 with the hosts, the 'Republic of St. Pauli', before beating Tibet 5–0 in their second group game to qualify for the semi-finals. There they lost 2–0 to eventual champions Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus - following Gibraltar's games against Cyprus in 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification games in 2017, Gibraltar achieved a rare feat of playing both Cypriot national teams. In the third place playoff, Gibraltar had a rematch against St. Pauli. This time Gibraltar were able to defeat the hosts, to finish in third place out of the six teams.
2008 Four Nations In 2008, Gibraltar accepted an invitation to participate in The Four Nations Tournament, the most prominent senior football tournament that Gibraltar had ever participated in. The 2008 Four Nations Tournament, won by England C, was played in North Wales, and was contested between Wales Semi-Pro, England C, Scotland B and guest nation Gibraltar after Northern Ireland decided not to take part. Though Gibraltar eventually finished bottom of the group, they pushed tournament winners England C close.
UEFA acceptance
Gibraltar first applied for UEFA membership in 1999 but was rejected because of intense opposition from Spain. Spain's opposition stemmed not only from claiming ownership of the territory but from fear that Gibraltar's acceptance would set a precedent that would inspire the separatist Basque national football team and Catalan national football teams to apply for UEFA membership as well. The issue was voted on again in 2007 but only three member nations (England, Scotland and Wales) supported Gibraltar's bid after Spain threatened to withdraw Spanish teams from all UEFA competitions. UEFA then established rules, which were introduced following pressure from Spain, restricting membership to sovereign states recognised as such by the United Nations. The Gibraltar FA then went to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2007 and again in 2011 after an appeal and it was ruled that Gibraltar could not be refused membership because the sovereignty rules were not established until after Gibraltar's 1999 and 2007 applications. At this time, Gibraltar was named a provisional member of UEFA and was granted permission to enter national teams in under-17 and under-19 tournaments for the first time.
The GFA was accepted as a full UEFA member by resolution of the UEFA Congress held in London on 24 May 2013, with only Spain and Belarus opposed. This meant Gibraltar became the smallest UEFA member by population, behind San Marino, then Liechtenstein and the Faroe Islands. As a result of the vote, the Gibraltar national team became eligible to enter the qualification tournaments for UEFA's premier national team competition, the European Championship. The first such opportunity was the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign, which would kick off in September 2014. Following the examples of Armenia–Azerbaijan and Russia–Georgia, it was confirmed that Gibraltar and Spain would be kept apart in qualifying groups.
After being accepted into UEFA, the GFA outlined adjusted eligibility criteria for the selection of players for the national squad. To be eligible, a player must be a British passport holder who was born in Gibraltar, or has Gibraltarian parents or grandparents, or has attended school for five years locally. Former Manchester United, Derby County, Southampton and Stoke City defender Danny Higginbotham, whose uncle Allen Bula was the team manager, was eligible to be called up because of this criterion adjustment. On 18 September 2013, Higginbotham announced that he agreed in "principle" to play for Gibraltar. Recruiting of English-born players by manager Allen Bula was unpopular with some fans, and in 2015 Bula's successor Jeff Wood said he would use more home-based players and develop local talent while still searching for eligible players elsewhere.
Gibraltar's first official international match was a 0–0 friendly draw against Slovakia, on 19 November 2013 at the Estadio Algarve in Portugal. On 23 February 2014, Gibraltar was drawn in Group D for the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying alongside Germany, Poland, Georgia, Republic of Ireland and Scotland. Initially, Gibraltar were drawn into the same group as Spain for the tournament but the previous decision to keep the two teams apart in qualifying rounds was upheld and Gibraltar was immediately moved into another group. This was their first time participating in an official European competition. In June 2014, Gibraltar recorded their first ever victory under UEFA with a 1–0 win against Malta, the goal coming from Kyle Casciaro.
Euro 2016 qualifying On 7 September 2014, Gibraltar played their first competitive match – a UEFA Euro 2016 qualifier against Poland. Despite coming into the game with optimism and excitement, they were still massive underdogs and although the half time score was only 1–0 to Poland, it ended 7–0. On 11 October 2014, they were defeated once again by 7–0, this time by Republic of Ireland, in their second Euro 2016 qualifier. In their third match, they were beaten for the third time by Georgia 3–0.
On 29 March 2015, Gibraltar scored their first ever goal in a full international competitive match. Lee Casciaro scored against Scotland at Hampden Park, Glasgow during the first half to level the match at 1–1. However, Scotland went on to win 6–1. In July 2015, Englishman Jeff Wood was appointed manager, succeeding caretaker Dave Wilson who took over from Gibraltar's first manager Allen Bula in March 2015. Gibraltar could not repeat their performance of scoring a goal in the next two matches; losing 7–0 away against Germany and 4–0 against Republic of Ireland. On 7 September 2015, Jake Gosling scored Gibraltar's second-ever competitive goal; netting a late consolation goal as his team was defeated 8–1 by Poland. Gibraltar finished its maiden qualifying campaign last in its group with zero points. With a 0–6 defeat to Scotland in the final match of qualifying, Gibraltar allowed 56 total goals throughout qualification, surpassing San Marino's previous record of 53 in a 10-match qualification process.
FIFA membership Having been granted UEFA membership, the GFA aimed to become a full FIFA member in time to participate in qualifiers for the upcoming 2018 World Cup. On 26 September 2014, it was announced that Gibraltar's application for FIFA membership had been denied, on the grounds that Gibraltar was not an independent country, and therefore ineligible for FIFA membership, despite multiple non-independent countries already being FIFA members. The Gibraltar Football Association announced that it planned to once again appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the same process by which they had successfully gained UEFA membership in 2013. CAS heard Gibraltar's case on 21 May 2015, at which point no time frame for a verdict was announced. A ruling was announced on 2 May 2016, nearly a year after the CAS heard Gibraltar's case. As part of the ruling, FIFA was ordered to transmit Gibraltar's application for membership to the FIFA congress which was set to take place the following week in Mexico City. Additionally, FIFA was ordered to take "all necessary steps to admit the Gibraltar Football Association as a full member of FIFA without delay." In FIFA's official statement regarding the ruling, the organization said that it expected to discuss the matter at the upcoming congress and discuss a course of action, including potentially altering the congress agenda to submit Gibraltar's application for membership.
On 13 May 2016, Gibraltar was accepted as a member of FIFA with a vote of 172 to 12 in favour. Gibraltar became FIFA's 211th member immediately after Kosovo was voted member 210.
Since FIFA membership Gibraltar participated in World Cup qualifiers for the first time for the 2018 edition. As Gibraltar were granted FIFA membership after the qualification draw had already taken place, they were belatedly added to Group H alongside Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Greece, Estonia and Cyprus. On 6 September 2016, Liam Walker scored Gibraltar's first World Cup qualifying goal in a 1–4 defeat to Greece. Gibraltar finished bottom of Group H, losing all of their matches with a record of 3 goals scored for 47 conceded.