By Andrew Warshaw
May 24 – Gibraltar officially became the 54th member of UEFA today when delegates voted at their annual congress to give the tiny British colony full membership – with the Euro 2016 qualifying competition expected to be its first major tournament.
Announcing that a “vast majority” of its members approved Gibraltar’s application, UEFA president Michel Platini did not give the actual voting numbers though Spain, one of UEFA’s biggest and most influential members, is known to have been in fierce opposition.
With the issue of Gibraltar so sensitive, Platini later made it clear that it would be kept apart from Spain in World Cup and European Championship draws, just as Armenia and Azerbaijan have been subsequent to being paired together in Euro 2008 qualifiers but refusing to play.
“Obviously Gibraltar will not play against Spain,” Platini said. “It was the same setup with Armenia and Azerbaijan. We aneed to try and pre-empt a situation where this could happen again.”
“This is an historic moment,” said Gibraltar FA president Gareth Latin. “It’s a momentous occasion for football in Gibraltar and means we can now begin the next chapter.”
Gibraltar had been knocking on UEFA’s door for years after winning a ruling at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that its application should be considered. Gibraltar, which has a population of 28,000, will become UEFA’s smallest national team, behind San Marino, Liechtenstein and the Faroe Islands.
UEFA vice-president Senes Erzik, chairman of UEFA’s national associations committee, made it clear, however, that because UEFA statutes had been changed, other non-United Nations territories would not be permitted to follow Gibraltar’s stance in the future. “This is a very specific case,” Erzik told delegates. “It relates to an application made by Gibraltar back in 1999 under a previous version of the UEFA statutes.”
In other decisions, it was confirmed that from 2015-16, the winners of the Europa League would qualify automatically for the Champions League, beefing up UEFA’s second club competition.
Congress also adopted unanimously strict new measures to combat racism, including 10-match bans and stadium closures.
And the withdrawal of Portugal’s Fernando Gomes from the executive committee elections meant there was no need for a ballot, with nine candidates having put their names forward for eight spots.
Newly elected members, by acclamation, were therefore England’s David Gill, former chief executive of Manchester United, and German federation president Wolfgang Niersbach. Re-elected to the exco were Giancarlo Abete (Italy), Allan Hansen (Denmark), Frantisek Laurinc (Slovakia), Marios Lefkaritis (Cyprus), Avraham Luzon (Israel) and Michael Van Praag (Holland).
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