Football: Euros 2024 Ok, so it’s not as if we hadn’t seen this one coming before….

By Ian Felice and Tamara Freyone, Hassans International Law Firm Limited, Gibraltar

Roll back to August 2023. FIFA Women’s World Cup Final in Australia. Spain trumped the English Lionesses by 1-0 in a contest that, perhaps, will always be more remembered for the massive post-match celebration controversy that ensued from “that kiss”.

But it is not as if the pre-match hype had not itself caused (less memorable) controversy. Prior to the final, gambling powerhouse Paddy Power decided to spice things up by circulating a social media post that read “Spain, let’s make it interesting, winner gets Gibraltar”.

Of course, Spain won and did not get Gibraltar, but the infamous post was removed after a flurry of complaints, including those from Fabian Picardo, Gibraltar Chief Minister, who himself tweeted “it may sound funny to you. It’s offensive to the good people of Gibraltar that you should even joke about our homeland”.

It is this sentiment that has driven the Gibraltar Football Association (GFA) complaint to UEFA after rowdy celebrations in Madrid’s famous Plaza de Cibeles following Spain’s 2-1 win over England in the final of the UEFA European Football Championships 2024. Amidst much revelry, two Spanish players, Rodrigo Hernandez Cascante and captain Alvaro Morata led a chant of “Gibraltar es español” (“Gibraltar is Spanish”). The chant was picked up by the crowd and the footage has been widely circulated on all forms of media.

Not lost is the irony that both Rodri and Morata, two of the most talented players on the European champions’ team, ply their trade in the English Premier League. In fact, when Morata reminded Rodri of this fact on video, the audible reply was “I don’t care”.

The GFA complaint letter to UEFA explains why the chant, which, whilst factually inaccurate, voices a sentiment widely shared by the Spanish general public, but which is particularly powerful to the Spanish far-right, is “deeply offensive to Gibraltarians…and to the Gibraltar FA since it implies we should not exist as an independent national member association of UEFA”. The GFA also considered that the conduct of the players was “not only offensive, but also highly inflammatory” bringing “unnecessarily and entirely gratuitously…politics into sport, seemingly for no reason other than to cause offence to the people of Gibraltar”.

Repercussions have quickly followed.

Not only has the GFA reported receiving harassing calls and emails at its headquarters, but the “Gibraltar es español” chant was clearly heard emanating from fans of an Irish club team playing in Gibraltar in their UEFA Conference League qualification matches.

UEFA has taken but 5 days to commence disciplinary proceedings against the Spanish players, charging them with various breaches of the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations, including violations of the basic rules of decent conduct; using sporting events for manifestations of a non-sporting nature; and bringing the sport of football, and UEFA in particular, into disrepute.

The UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body will determine the matter in due course. Similar incidents in the Euros 2024, like the Merih Demiral ultra nationalist salute goal celebration and Mirlind Daku’s own nationalist chanting, have attracted suspensions.

In the meantime, Gibraltar is still not Spanish!

For further information: log onto Hassans’ website at: ‘www.hassans.gi’