GibraltarFA TV

The Gibraltar men's national football team represents Gibraltar in international football competitions, and is controlled by the Gibraltar Football Association.
==History==
===Pre-UEFA===
Gibraltar played its first unofficial national match against Jersey at the 1993 Island Games, despite having previously played friendlies against professional and amateur clubs. Gibraltar's largest unofficial win was 19-0 against Sark in Saint Martin, Guernsey, while their largest unofficial loss was 5-0 against Greenland, an autonomous region of Denmark, in Freshwater, Isle of Wight.
====Foundation====
The Gibraltar national football team's history dates back to April 1923, when they played Sevilla in a friendly match in Spain, losing both games 2–0 and 5–0.https://www.rsssf.org/tablesg/gib-intres.html
====Island Games====
Gibraltar played in numerous football competitions before joining UEFA, with their first participation in the 1993 Island Games. Despite not being an island, they lost all matches and finished last. However, they had more success in the 1995 Island Games, where they won their first competitive match against the Isle of Man.
In 2003, Gibraltar achieved their most significant win ever, defeating Sark 19-0.
===UEFA acceptance===
In 1999, Gibraltar applied for UEFA membership, but was rejected due to Spain's opposition. Spain feared Gibraltar's acceptance would set a precedent, inspiring the Basque and Catalan national football teams to apply for UEFA membership.
In 2007, Gibraltar's bid for UEFA competitions was supported by only England, Scotland, and Wales,https://web.archive.org/web/20140301060617/http://sport.stv.tv/blog/265222-from-army-games-to-a-draw-with-real-madrid-a-history-of-gibraltar-football/ following Spain's threat to withdraw Spanish teams. UEFA established rules restricting membership to sovereign states recognized by the United Nations, following pressure from Spain.
Gibraltar became a provisional member of UEFA,https://www.theguardian.com/football/2012/oct/01/gibraltar-football-uefa-provisional-member allowing them to participate in national teams in under-17 and under-19 tournaments for the first time.
The Gibraltar Football Association (GFA) was accepted as a full UEFA member by the UEFA Congress in 2013.https://web.archive.org/web/20150919151354/http://www.uefa.org/about-uefa/organisation/congress/news/newsid=1956133.htmlhttps://web.archive.org/web/20160805105423/http://deportes.elpais.com/deportes/2013/05/24/actualidad/1369397401_770521.html This decision allowed the Gibraltar national team to enter the qualification tournaments for the European Championship, with the first opportunity being the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign in September 2014. Following the success of Armenia-Azerbaijan and Russia-Georgia, Gibraltar and Spain were confirmed to be kept apart in qualifying groups.https://web.archive.org/web/20160118023551/http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22657481
Gibraltar's inaugural international match was a friendly draw against Slovakia on November 19, 2013, at the Estadio Algarve in Portugal.https://web.archive.org/web/20131120085917/http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24961656
Gibraltar was initially drawn into Group D for the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying on 23 February 2014, alongside Germany, Poland, Georgia, Republic of Ireland, and Scotland. However, the decision to keep the two teams apart in qualifying rounds was upheld, causing Gibraltar to be moved into another group, marking their first official European competition.https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/10656522/Gibraltar-moves-group-in-Euro-2016-qualifiers-draw-over-political-tensions.html In June 2014, Gibraltar secured their first UEFA victory with a 1–0 win against Malta, thanks to a goal from Kyle Casciaro.https://web.archive.org/web/20140714152737/http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/27710670
====Euro 2016 qualifying====
On September 7, 2014, Gibraltar played their first competitive match against Poland in a UEFA Euro 2016 qualifier, despite being underdogs.https://web.archive.org/web/20150906211811/http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/sep/02/gibraltar-poland-international Despite a 1-1 halftime score, the game ended 7-0 in favor of Poland.https://web.archive.org/web/20220311184354/https://www.uefa.com/european-qualifiers/match/2013816--gibraltar-vs-poland/postmatch/report/
On March 29, 2015, Gibraltar scored their first international goal in a match against Scotland, with Lee Casciaro's goal in the first half, but Scotland ultimately won 6-1.https://web.archive.org/web/20190405042347/https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/football/32102229 Gibraltar surpassed the record for the most goals allowed in a 10-match qualification process, with 56 goals allowed in the final match against Scotland.https://web.archive.org/web/20151119174111/http://asia.eurosport.com/football/euro-qualification/2016/steven-fletcher-bags-hat-trick-as-scotland-rout-gibraltar_sto4946128/story.shtml
===FIFA membership===
In 2014, Gibraltar's application for FIFA membership was denied due to its ineligibility as an independent country.https://web.archive.org/web/20140927014739/https://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/sep/26/gibraltar-fa-appeal-fifa-cas-membership However, on May 13, 2016, Gibraltar was accepted as a member, becoming FIFA's 211th member, following Kosovo's election as the 210th member.https://web.archive.org/web/20160514130949/http://www.fourfourtwo.com/news/gibraltar-kosovo-granted-fifa-membership-ahead-2018-world-cup-qualifying#:p2F5GQQfzjXulA
====Since FIFA membership====
Gibraltar participated in World Cup qualifiers for the 2018 edition, joining Group H alongside Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Greece, Estonia, and Cyprus.https://web.archive.org/web/20160609202622/http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/news/y=2016/m=6/news=kosovo-and-gibraltar-assigned-to-2018-fifa-world-cup-qualifying-groups-2800709.html Liam Walker scored Gibraltar's first goal in a 1–4 defeat to Greece on September 6, 2016.https://web.archive.org/web/20180531121553/http://chronicle.gi/2016/09/gibraltar-shrugs-off-4-1-defeat-to-make-football-history/ However, they finished bottom of Group H, losing all matches with a record of 3 goals scored for 47 conceded.https://web.archive.org/web/20190406153638/https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/europe/group=276501/index.html
Gibraltar secured their first FIFA member victory in a friendly match against Latvia on 25 March 2018, with Liam Walker's goal, marking their second official victory and first inside Gibraltar.https://web.archive.org/web/20180326202854/https://www.balls.ie/football/gibraltar-second-win-international-football-385868
Gibraltar's first official competitive victory was a 1–0 win against Armenia in the inaugural 2018–19 Nations League on October 13, 2018.https://www.lequipe.fr/Football/Actualites/Premiere-victoire-en-competition-pour-gibraltar-en-armenie/949260
Gibraltar secured promotion to League C in the 2020–21 Nations League by finishing top of their group with two wins and two draws.https://www.lequipe.fr/Football/Actualites/Ligue-des-nations-gibraltar-et-les-iles-feroe-promus-en-ligue-c/1195645 However, In the following 2022-23 edition, they finished bottom of their group, losing each of their five matches, and qualified for the two-legged relegation play-out against Lithuania. Gibraltar lost each leg 0–1, and were relegated back to League D for the 2024–25 edition.
Gibraltar suffered their most significant defeat in their history, losing 0-14 to France during the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifiers on November 18, 2023.
== Stadium ==
The Gibraltar national football team played its home games at Victoria Stadium, the 5,000-seat national stadium, before joining UEFA. Plans were made to replace it with an 8,000-seat Europa Point stadium for UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying.https://archive.today/20130616050026/http://team54.gi/en/ready-uefa/new-stadium/https://web.archive.org/web/20130928011849/http://www.chronicle.gi/headlines_details.php?id=26210https://web.archive.org/web/20130708094251/http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/may/23/gibraltar-uefa-football From 2013 to 2018, the team played competitive home matches at Estádio Algarve in Portugal due to insufficient facilities.
In May 2024, UEFA granted permission for their 2024–25 UEFA Nations League games to be held at the Europa Point Stadium within the Europa Sports Park.https://www.gibraltarfa.com/news/uefa-exceptionally-agrees-to-the-gibraltar-fa-s-request-to-use-the-europa-point-stadium-for-the-2024-nations-league-and-european-club-competition-qualifying-matches-659
==Trivia==
*Gibraltar is the second smallest UEFA member in terms of population (only San Marino has a smaller population) and the smallest in terms of area.https://web.archive.org/web/20160118023551/http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22657481https://web.archive.org/web/20171026151330/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/23/sports/soccer/gibraltar-moves-toward-uefa-membership-as-spain-resists.html?_r=1&
==References==
Category:Users who joined in 2014
Category:Gibraltarian YouTubers
Category:Sports YouTubers