10 years of UEFA

It was exactly 10 years ago today that Gibraltar joined European football’s governing body.Speaking to GBC moments after we became the 54th member of UEFA, the Gibraltar Football Association’s president at the time, Gareth Latin, said it was an incredible moment, after 14 years of hard work. It was a memorable day for football players and fans on the Rock.A decade later, the current GFA president, Michael Llamas told GBC it has been a steep learning curve and mistakes have been made along the way - but he believes football on the Rock is in good health. He said the draw against Bulgaria and going up to division C in the Nations League were two of the highlights for the men's national team in recent years.Mr Llamas said the GFA is investing more in youth football, but acknowledged it is of some concern that more of Gibraltar's talented young players are playing in Spain, saying more would need to be done to keep youth in Gibraltar.On building a new category 4 stadium, he said the capacity was just one of many considerations that is being looked at in the round. He said "the project is evolving".Mr Llamas said he fully understands the disappointment of those involved in women’s football at the decision not to send the women’s national team to the Nations League, but said the decision was based for sporting reasons. And he said he is speaking to the Chairwoman of the English FA, Debbie Hewitt, about a partnership that will benefit youth football and women’s football.Speaking at a celebratory dinner at the Mons Calpe Suite at the top of the Rock to mark the 10th anniversary, the Chief Minister said his Government entirely supports women’s football and is sure that any decision that has been made has sought to "enhance" women’s football. He said he expects good things from them, predicting their matches could become “event better” than the men’s.Fabian Picardo said as long as he is Chief Minister, the Government will be committed to delivering a stadium for the GFA at Victoria. He said discussions continue and the process is being refined, expressing the hope that eventually the whole community will be able to support the new stadium project. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.