Gibraltar Football Association

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Founded	1895
FIFA affiliation	Not Affiliated
UEFA affiliation	Not Affiliated
President Joseph Nunez
Coach Albert Buhagiar

The Gibraltar Football Association (GFA) was formed as the Gibraltar Civilian Football Association in 1895, changing to its current name in later years. It is one of the oldest football associations in the world.

The GFA was formed as an increasing number of football clubs were coming into existence in Gibraltar, and the association was designed to bring some form of organisation to the game there. Between the association's formation and 1907 the only football competition in Gibraltar was the Merchant's Cup. However, in 1907 the GFA established a league to complement the existing cup competition.

By 1901 the GFA had established a representative "national" team, competing against military teams. This representative team continued to play down the years, their highlight probably being a draw against Real Madrid in 1949.

The GFA affiliated with The Football Association in 1909, but is currently trying to become a full member of UEFA so that its national team can compete in the European Football Championship and the Football World Cup. This attempt has met with the fierce opposition of the Spanish Football Federation.

In August 2006, the highest sporting court in Europe (TAS) ruled that Gibraltar had to be allowed as a full UEFA and FIFA member. No protest was possible against this decision, which meant that Gibraltar was now likely to join UEFA. It should be noted that current FIFA and UEFA members include several federations which cannot be said to represent independent nations, such as Puerto Rico, Chinese Taipei (which is only recognized by 24 countries and not by the United Nations), and the Faroe Islands.

On 8th December 2006, it was announced that Gibraltar had become a provisional member of UEFA. On the 26th of January 2007 in the UEFA Congress held in Dusseldorf, Germany, Gibraltar's application to become a full member of UEFA was rejected, 45 votes against to 3 votes in favour. The 3 favourable votes came from England, Scotland and Wales. (4 votes were undecided).^[1]

This was after intense lobbying of the member nations by the Spanish Football Federation president Angel Maria Villar to vote against the inclusion of Gibraltar on the grounds that the Spanish government claimed Gibraltar as Spanish. He admitted it was a political issue and referred to the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713. It is expected that Gibraltar will resort to further legal action to try and put right what it sees as an injustice.