# 2023–24 Gibraltar Football League

The 2023–24 Gibraltar Football League season is the fifth season of the Gibraltar Football League in Gibraltar (and second under its current name), and the 125th season of football on the territory overall. The league began on 16 September 2023. Lincoln Red Imps are the reigning champions, winning their third successive title in April 2023. Due to the league's fall down the UEFA coefficient rankings, this season only 2 teams qualified for the UEFA Conference League.
The winners (Lincoln Red Imps, their sixth consecutive title win and twenty-eighth overall) qualified for the 2024–25 UEFA Champions League first qualifying round. The runners-up (St Joseph's) and third-placed team (FCB Magpies) qualified for the 2024–25 UEFA Conference League first qualifying round.

## Format

The 2023–24 season sees a change in the format of the GFL. Instead of playing one round of fixtures before splitting, teams will instead play each other twice for a total of 20 games this season. After the second round of games, the top 6 enter the GFL Championship Group, where each team plays each other once to decide the league champion. However, the Challenge Group has been scrapped.

## Controversy

In November 2023, it was reported that Lynx were planning to report the Gibraltar Football Association to UEFA and FIFA after it was revealed that Lincoln Red Imps had fielded an ineligible player (believed to be Ibrahim Ayew) in their opening league match, which Lincoln won 3-2. The GFA's ruling was that though the player was suspended, Lincoln would not be punished for the mistake. This was despite the fact that Mons Calpe had been punished for a similar infraction the previous season. This led to complaints of bias and corruption within the GFA which formed the basis of the Lynx complaint.
Lynx subsequently finished 7th in the league, missing out on the Championship Group by a single point.

## Teams

The following clubs compete in the 2023–24 season.
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| Team | Manager | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Club sponsor | 2022–23 |
| FCB Magpies | Nathan Rooney | Paco Zúñiga | Macron | Chestertons | 3rd |
| College 1975 | Leo Vela | Jamie-Luke McCarthy | Joma | | 10th |
| Europa | Michele Di Piedi | Antonio Bello | Kappa | Situs Construction | 2nd |
| Europa Point | Ryan McCarthy (interim) | Martin Falkeborn | Custimoo | Bull Casino | 11th |
| Glacis United | Claudio Racino | Julio Bado | Macron | LOBO | 6th |
| Lincoln Red Imps | Javi Muñoz | Roy Chipolina | Givova | Damex | 1st |
| Lions Gibraltar | Adrian Parral | Antonio Cintas | Macron | | 9th |
| Lynx | Albert Parody | Jesse Victory | Joma | Grupo Casais | 4th |
| Manchester 62 | Jamie McDonough | Ethan Santos | Joma | Concussion Legacy Foundation | 8th |
| Mons Calpe | Juan Marí Sánchez | Christian Fraiz | Givova | FanPlay 365 | 7th |
| St Joseph's | Abraham Paz | Juanma González | Legea | | 5th |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
| FCB Magpies | Nathan Rooney | Resigned | 17 May 2023 | Pre-season | Alfonso Cortijo | 1 June 2023 |
| Manchester 62 | Jamie McDonough | Appointed assistant coach | 31 May 2023 | Pre-season | Anthony Limbrick | 20 June 2023 |
| Europa Point | Garry Lowe | Signed by Bruno's Magpies | 6 July 2023 | Pre-season | Dalibor Savic | 12 July 2023 |
| Glacis United | Michele Di Piedi | Sacked | 16 August 2023 | Pre-season | Claudio Racino | 1 September 2023 |
| Europa | Miguel Ángel Berlanga | Mutual consent | 25 August 2023 | Pre-season | Mario Pérez | 25 August 2023 |
| FCB Magpies | Alfonso Cortijo | Promoted to Director | 1 September 2023 | Pre-season | Nathan Rooney | 1 September 2023 |
| Mons Calpe | David Guti | Sacked | 2 October 2023 | 8th | Juan Marí Sánchez | 3 October 2023 |
| Manchester 62 | Anthony Limbrick | Resigned | 23 November 2023 | 6th | Allen Bula (caretaker) | 3 December 2023 |
| Europa | Mario Pérez | Sacked | 6 December 2023 | 10th | Ángel Espinosa (caretaker) | 6 December 2023 |
| Manchester 62 | Allen Bula | End of caretaker spell | 14 December 2023 | 4th | Jamie McDonough | 15 December 2023 |
| Europa | Ángel Espinosa | End of caretaker spell | 1 January 2024 | 10th | Michele Di Piedi | 1 January 2024 |
| College 1975 | Luis Manuel Blanco | Resigned | 17 February 2024 | 10th | Leo Vela | 18 February 2024 |
| Europa Point | Dalibor Savic | End of contract | 30 April 2024 | 6th | Ryan McCarthy (interim) | 1 May 2024 |

## Regular season

During the regular season, each team faced each other twice (once at home at once away), before the league is split into two (with only the top six teams advancing to the GFL Championship Group).

### League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Lincoln Red Imps | 20 | 17 | 1 | 2 | 63 | 12 | +51 | 52 | Qualification for the GFL Championship Group |
| 2 | St Joseph's | 20 | 16 | 2 | 2 | 49 | 15 | +34 | 50 | Qualification for the GFL Championship Group |
| 3 | FCB Magpies | 20 | 13 | 3 | 4 | 52 | 28 | +24 | 42 | Qualification for the GFL Championship Group |
| 4 | Mons Calpe | 20 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 31 | 28 | +3 | 29 | Qualification for the GFL Championship Group |
| 5 | Manchester 62 | 20 | 9 | 1 | 10 | 39 | 41 | −2 | 28 | Qualification for the GFL Championship Group |
| 6 | Europa Point | 20 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 27 | 22 | +5 | 28 | Qualification for the GFL Championship Group |
| 7 | Lynx | 20 | 8 | 3 | 9 | 29 | 31 | −2 | 27 | |
| 8 | Europa | 20 | 6 | 2 | 12 | 25 | 34 | −9 | 20 | |
| 9 | Glacis United | 20 | 5 | 1 | 14 | 21 | 47 | −26 | 16 | |
| 10 | Lions Gibraltar | 20 | 3 | 4 | 13 | 16 | 50 | −34 | 13 | |
| 11 | College 1975 | 20 | 3 | 2 | 15 | 21 | 65 | −44 | 11 | |
* ↑ Teams play each other twice (20 matches), before the top six teams advance to the GFL Championship Group.

### Results

| Home \ Away | FCB | COL | EFC | EPO | GLA | LIN | LGI | LYN | MAN | MON | SJO |
| FCB Magpies | — | 7–2 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 2–4 |
| College 1975 | 2–6 | — | 2–3 | 0–5 | 1–1 | 0–6 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 2–4 | 1–3 | 0–3 |
| Europa | 4–3 | 0–3 | — | 0–1 | 3–2 | 1–4 | 1–2 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 0–1 |
| Europa Point | 0–1 | 4–0 | 1–0 | — | 2–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–5 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Glacis United | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 3–1 | — | 2–8 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–3 |
| Lincoln Red Imps | 3–0 | 7–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 3–1 | — | 2–0 | 3–2 | 5–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 |
| Lions Gibraltar | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–5 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 0–2 | — | 0–4 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–5 |
| Lynx | 1–0 | 2–3 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–3 | 4–1 | — | 1–3 | 2–1 | 1–2 |
| Manchester 62 | 1–5 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 5–0 | 0–7 | 7–0 | 5–1 | — | 1–2 | 0–3 |
| Mons Calpe | 2–4 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 5–1 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | — | 1–1 |
| St Joseph's | 2–2 | 4–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 1–2 | — |

## GFL Championship Group

The top six teams from the regular season contest the GFL Championship Group to decide the league champion. Results from the regular season were carried over into this round.

### League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Lincoln Red Imps (C) | 25 | 21 | 2 | 2 | 86 | 15 | +71 | 65 | Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round |
| 2 | St Joseph's | 25 | 20 | 3 | 2 | 62 | 16 | +46 | 63 | Qualification for the Conference League first qualifying round |
| 3 | FCB Magpies | 25 | 14 | 4 | 7 | 55 | 36 | +19 | 46 | Qualification for the Conference League first qualifying round |
| 4 | Europa Point | 25 | 10 | 5 | 10 | 32 | 31 | +1 | 35 | |
| 5 | Mons Calpe | 25 | 9 | 6 | 10 | 37 | 39 | −2 | 33 | |
| 6 | Manchester 62 | 25 | 9 | 2 | 14 | 44 | 64 | −20 | 29 | |
* ↑ The 2023–24 Rock Cup winners also qualified for the Conference League first qualifying round. Since the cup winners (Lincoln Red Imps) qualified based on league position, the Conference League spot was passed to the third-placed team.

### Results

| Home \ Away | FCB | EPO | LIN | MAN | MON | SJO |
| FCB Magpies | — | — | 0–3 | 3–1 | — | — |
| Europa Point | 0–0 | — | — | — | — | 0–3 |
| Lincoln Red Imps | — | 4–0 | — | — | 5–1 | — |
| Manchester 62 | — | 1–3 | 1–10 | — | — | 0–5 |
| Mons Calpe | 2–0 | 1–2 | — | 2–2 | — | 0–2 |
| St Joseph's | 2–0 | — | 1–1 | — | — | — |

## Season statistics
### Scoring
#### Top scorers

As of 12 May 2024.
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Juanfri | Lincoln Red Imps | 17 |
| 2 | Hugo Jesslén | Europa Point | 16 |
| 3 | Pablo Rodríguez | St Joseph's | 15 |
| 4 | Connor Flynn-Gillespie | Lynx | 14 |
| 5 | Labra | Europa | 12 |
| 6 | Víctor Villacañas | Lincoln Red Imps | 10 |
| 7 | Aldair Ruiz | Manchester 62 | 9 |
| 8 | Facu Álvarez | FCB Magpies | 8 |
| 8 | Seba Díaz | FCB Magpies | 8 |
| 8 | José Giráldez | FCB Magpies | 8 |
| 8 | Tjay De Barr | Lincoln Red Imps | 8 |
| 8 | Ahmed Salam | Manchester 62 | 8 |
| 8 | Hugo Bartkowiak | Mons Calpe | 8 |
* ↑ Includes 4 goals for College 1975.

#### Hat-tricks

| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
| Manny Duku | Manchester 62 | Lions Gibraltar | 7–0 (H) | 5 November 2023 |
| Hugo Jesslén$^4$ | Europa Point | College 1975 | 5–0 (A) | 25 November 2023 |
| Seba Díaz | FCB Magpies | Glacis United | 3–0 (H) | 8 December 2023 |
| Labra$^4$ | Europa | Lions Gibraltar | 5–0 (A) | 16 December 2023 |
| Juanfri | Lincoln Red Imps | College 1975 | 7–0 (H) | 17 December 2023 |
| Connor Flynn-Gillespie | Lynx | Lions Gibraltar | 4–0 (A) | 28 January 2024 |
| Facu Álvarez | FCB Magpies | College 1975 | 7–2 (H) | 17 February 2024 |
| Juanfri$^4$ | Lincoln Red Imps | Manchester 62 | 10–1 (A) | 21 April 2024 |
| Manuel Caballero | St Joseph's | Manchester 62 | 5–0 (A) | 3 May 2024 |

### Clean sheets

| Rank | Player | Club | Clean sheets |
| 1 | Bradley Banda | St Joseph's | 13 |
| 2 | Nauzet Santana | Lincoln Red Imps | 11 |
| 3 | Johannes Ström | Europa Point | 9 |
| 4 | Christian Lopez | FCB Magpies | 5 |
| 4 | Bradley Avellano | Lynx | 5 |
| 6 | Marcos Zappacosta | Europa | 3 |
| 6 | Borja Valadés | Lions Gibraltar | 3 |
| 6 | Daniel Tudela | Mons Calpe | 3 |
| 9 | Walid Birrou | Glacis United | 2 |
| 9 | Dayle Coleing | Lincoln Red Imps | 2 |
| 9 | Fernando Canto | Manchester 62 | 2 |
| 9 | Alan Martin | Manchester 62 | 2 |
| 9 | Christian Fraiz | Mons Calpe | 2 |