Gibraltar national football team

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Gibraltar Gibraltar
Shirt badge/Association crest
Association Gibraltar Football Association
Confederation UEFA (Europe)
Head coach Allen Bula
Asst coach Aaron Edwards
Captain Roy Chipolina
Most caps Lee Casciaro
Top scorer Jonny Sharples
Home stadium Victoria Stadium, Gibraltar
FIFA code GIB (not official)
First colours
Second colours
First international
Gibraltar Gibraltar 1–2 Jersey 
(Isle of Wight; 4 July 1993)
Biggest win
Gibraltar Gibraltar 19–0 Sark 
(Guernsey; 29 June 2003)
Biggest defeat
 Greenland 5–0 Gibraltar Gibraltar
(Isle of Wight; 6 July 1993)

The Gibraltar national football team represents Gibraltar in football competitions and is controlled by the Gibraltar Football Association. It is not yet a full member of FIFA and is therefore not eligible to enter the World Cup. However, Gibraltar applied for full UEFA membership and was accepted by the UEFA Board in May 2013 and can therefore compete in the UEFA European Championship beginning with the 2016 edition of the tournament. With a population of 30,000 Gibraltar is the smallest UEFA member in terms of population[1][2]

Contents

History [edit]

Foundation [edit]

The history of the Gibraltarian 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.[3] The side also managed a draw with Real Madrid in 1949.

Entering the Island Games [edit]

The first competition the team entered was the 1993 Island Games. 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.

2006 FIFI Wild Cup [edit]

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. 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.

First Island Games victory, 2008 Four Nations [edit]

In 2007, Gibraltar won the Island Games for the 1st time, beating Rhodes by 4–0.

In 2008 Gibraltar accepted an invitation to participate in The Four Nations Tournament, the most prominent senior football tournament that Gibraltar has 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.

Into UEFA competition [edit]

After the vote at the UEFA congress held in London on 24 May 2013, the GFA was accepted as a full UEFA member, with no votes against and no abstentions registered. 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 Euros). The first such opportunity would be the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign, which runs from September 2014 to November 2015. Following the example of Armenia and Azerbaijan, it was confirmed that Gibraltar and Spain would be kept apart in qualifying groups.[2]

Records [edit]

UEFA European Football Championship [edit]

Year Round Position MP W D L GF GA
France 2016 TBD
Total 0/1 - 0 0 0 0 0 0

Island Games record [edit]

Year Round Position GP W D L GS GA
Isle of Wight 1993 7th Place Match 8 4 0 0 4 1 9
Gibraltar 1995 Runners-Up 2 5 4 0 1 5 3
Jersey 1997 5th Place Match 6 5 2 0 3 13 8
Gotland 1999 11th Place Match 11 4 1 0 3 9 11
Isle of Man 2001 5th Place Match 5 4 3 0 1 7 2
Guernsey 2003 5th Place Match 6 5 3 0 2 29 5
Rhodes 2007 Champions 1 4 3 1 0 9 2
Åland Islands 2009 9th Place Match 9 4 2 1 1 12 3
Isle of Wight 2011 5th Place Match 5 3 2 0 1 14 7
Total 8/11 1 Title 38 20 2 16 99 50
*Gold background colour indicates that the tournament was won. Red border colour indicates tournament was held on home soil.

Wild Cup record [edit]

Year Round Position GP W D L GS GA
Hamburg 2006 3rd Place Playoff 3 4 2 1 1 8 4
Total 1/1 0 Titles 4 2 1 1 8 4

Four Nations Tournament record [edit]

Year Round Position GP W D L GS GA
Wales 2008 Group 4 3 0 0 3 4 11
Total 1/1 0 Titles 3 0 0 3 4 11

Honours [edit]

  • Winners (1): 2007
  • Runners-up (1): 1995

Selected Internationals opponents [edit]

  • Recent Games:
    •  Gibraltar 3-0 Faroe Islands  - Gibraltar, 11 March 2011
    •  Gibraltar 3–1 England C England – Gibraltar, 15 November 2011 [4]
    •  Gibraltar 2-0 Isle of Man  - Gibraltar, 28 June 2012
    •  Gibraltar 2-1 Jersey  - Gibraltar, 30 June 2012
  • Fixtures against club sides
    •  Gibraltar 1–2 Rochdale England – Gibraltar – 10 July 2011 [5]
    •  Gibraltar 2–1 Bury England – Gibraltar – 8 January 2012 [6]
    •  Gibraltar 4-0 Portsmouth England – Gibraltar – 20 July 2012
    •  Gibraltar 3-1 Notts County England – Gibraltar – 31 July 2012
Opponents Matches Win Draw Loss GF GA
 Åland Islands 1 0 0 1 1 2
 Ynys Môn 4 1 0 3 3 6
England England C 2 1 1 0 3 2
 Faroe Islands 1 1 0 0 3 0
 Frøya 3 3 0 0 17 1
 Greenland 4 2 0 2 7 7
 Guernsey 1 0 1 0 0 0
 Isle of Man 2 2 0 0 3 1
 Rhodes 2 2 0 0 6 0
 Isle of Wight 4 2 0 2 6 3
 Jersey 7 1 1 5 8 15
 Madeira 1 0 0 1 0 2
 Minorca 1 1 0 0 2 1
 Monaco 2 1 1 0 6 2
 Orkney 2 2 0 0 9 1
 Northern Cyprus 1 0 0 1 0 2
 Sark 1 1 0 0 19 0
Scotland Scotland Semi-Pro 1 0 0 1 2 4
 Shetland 4 1 0 3 5 6
 Tibet 1 1 0 0 5 0
Wales Wales Semi-Pro 1 0 0 1 2 6

Name [edit]

Under the official FIFA Trigramme, The Gibraltarian national team’s name is abbreviated as GIB, which is also the country's code

Kit [edit]

The Gibraltarian national team kits is currently produced by German sport company Adidas, It is all-white with red details to reflect the colours of the Gibraltarian national flag.

2010-12 Home kit
2010-12 Away kit
2010-12 GK kit

Current squad [edit]

The following 23 players have been selected for the Gibraltar Senior Festival Cup in 2010.[7]

0#0 Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
Goalkeepers
1 1GK Jordan Perez (1978-12-21) 21 December 1978 (age 34) Gibraltar Lincoln
18 1GK Eduardo Jones (1977-02-17) 17 February 1977 (age 36) Gibraltar Gibraltar United
21 1GK Kevin de los Santos (1987-06-08) 8 June 1987 (age 25) Gibraltar Glacis United
Defenders
3 2DF Sean Mascarenhas (1987-06-20) 20 June 1987 (age 25) Gibraltar Laguna
5 2DF Joseph Chipolina (1991-04-30) 30 April 1991 (age 22) Spain Balompédica Linense
7 2DF Shea Breakspear (1978-12-17) 17 December 1978 (age 34) Gibraltar Lincoln
13 2DF Ryan Casciaro (1984-12-17) 17 December 1984 (age 28) Gibraltar Lincoln
14 2DF Brendon Perez (1987-01-31) 31 January 1987 (age 26) Gibraltar Glacis United
15 2DF Peter Moreno (1992-01-08) 8 January 1992 (age 21) Gibraltar Glacis United
22 2DF Jean Carlos García (1979-08-15) 15 August 1979 (age 33) Spain Atlético Zabal
Midfielders
2 3MF Kyle Casciaro (1977-10-21) 21 October 1977 (age 35) Gibraltar Lincoln
4 3MF Christian Sanchez (1980-08-07) 7 August 1980 (age 32) Gibraltar Lincoln
6 3MF Andy Hernandez (1979-06-29) 29 June 1979 (age 33) Gibraltar Manchester United (Gibraltar)
10 3MF Colin Ramirez (1989-01-08) 8 January 1989 (age 24) Gibraltar Lincoln
12 3MF Jerry Aguilera (1992-01-25) 25 January 1992 (age 21) Gibraltar St Joseph's
19 3MF Al Greene (1985-02-20) 20 February 1985 (age 28) Gibraltar Glacis United
23 3MF Liam Walker 13 April 1988 (age 24) England Portsmouth
24 3MF Brian Perez (1982-09-11) 11 September 1982 (age 30) Gibraltar Lincoln
Strikers
8 4FW John-Paul Duarte (1981-09-04) 4 September 1981 (age 31) Gibraltar Manchester United (Gibraltar)
9 4FW Douglas Balloqui (1983-08-14) 14 August 1983 (age 29) Gibraltar Lincoln
11 4FW Robert Guilling (1983-07-26) 26 July 1983 (age 29) Gibraltar Lincoln
16 4FW Jeremy Lopez (1982-10-31) 31 October 1982 (age 30) Gibraltar Manchester United (Gibraltar)
17 4FW Walter Popolizio (1981-06-29) 29 June 1981 (age 31) Gibraltar Gibraltar United
20 4FW Charlie Serdeña (1984-01-30) 30 January 1984 (age 29) Gibraltar Manchester United (Gibraltar)

Kit Providers [edit]

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ Montague, James (22 May 2013). "Gibraltar Moves Closer to Soccer Independence". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 May 2013. 
  2. ^ a b "Gibraltar given full Uefa membership at London Congress". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 May 2013. 
  3. ^ Stokkermans, Karel. "Gibraltar – List of International Matches". RSSSF. Retrieved 29 June 2007.  Text "cite news" ignored (help)
  4. ^ www.gibraltarnft.com
  5. ^ www.chronicle.gi
  6. ^ www.gibraltarnft.com
  7. ^ http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=131150886916085&v=info

External links [edit]