25 May 2013

Gibraltar admitted as UEFA member

6:14 am on 25 May 2013

Gibraltar has finally been accepted as a member of European football's governing body UEFA, allowing their national team and clubs to enter to take part in international competition.

UEFA's annual Congress voted in favour of a motion to allow the tiny British colony, which has a population of around 28,000, to become its 54th member.

Gibraltar, which was granted provisional membership last October, first applied for UEFA membership in 1999 but had faced fierce opposition from Spain - which claims sovereignty over the territory, at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula.

Gibraltar's case was strengthened in 2011 by a Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling that UEFA has to consider its membership.