page_title: Victoria Stadium (Gibraltar)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Victoria Stadium (Gibraltar) / History
caption_attribution_description: English: View of Victoria Stadium West Stands
context_page_description: Victoria Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Gibraltar. It is currently used mostly for football matches, but also hosts the annual Gibraltar Music Festival. It is located close to Gibraltar Airport just off Winston Churchill Avenue. It was named after the wife of Gibraltarian philanthropist John Mackintosh.
  Despite initial plans to replace the stadium in the 2010s, the Gibraltar Football Association purchased the stadium from the Government of Gibraltar in April 2017 in order to improve and renovate it.
context_section_description: Victoria Stadium was constructed at the foot of the Rock of Gibraltar and next to Gibraltar Airport in the North District. It was first opened in 1926 as a British military sports ground. In 1970, the stadium was rebuilt by the Royal Engineers as a sports ground for use by both the military forces and the civilian population of Gibraltar. In 1991, the Government of Gibraltar financed improvements of Victoria Stadium's pitch and athletics track.
  The construction of the stadium was controversial as it was built on the disputed isthmus between Gibraltar and Spain. When the Gibraltar Football Association applied for membership of UEFA in 2007, Spanish-led opposition caused FIFA officials to look at the wording of the Treaty of Utrecht which ceded Gibraltar to the United Kingdom in 1713. In it, they claimed that there was a loophole in the treaty which they claimed  violated FIFA regulations in that the national stadium had to be built on undisputed land. As Victoria Stadium was built on the isthmus which was not mentioned in the Treaty of Utrecht but ceded later and this fact was pointed out to UEFA members, Gibraltar's application was voted by UEFA's member associations to be rejected. Only the Home Nations of England, Wales and Scotland voted in favour of them joining.
caption: View of the Victoria Stadium's West stand
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