The British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar is UEFA's newest member, after XXXVII Ordinary UEFA Congress has accepted the application by the Gibraltar Football Association. The decision comes as a blow to Spain, a country that has been opposing the Gibraltarian bid till the end.

Gibraltar had already been given provisional membership last October, after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has ruled that UEFA was forced to consider the Gibraltarian bid.

Immediately after the decision has been taken, Gibraltar FA head Gareth Latin has said the move by UEFA is "historical". He has added that the move comes thanks to the "support of the entire Gibraltarian community". From now onwards, national and club teams from Gibraltar will be allowed to take part in UEFA competitions, including Eurocup and Champions League.

Spanish opposition fails

Spain opposed Gibraltar being acknowledged as a sporting country. Madrid considers Gibraltar to be a colony, despite it is now a highly self-governing country with its own Constitution. The New York Timessaid this week that Spain was even considering "to remove marquee clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona from European competition" if Gibraltar was given UEFA membership.

Sixth non UN member in UEFA

Gibraltar has thus become the sixth non UN country to be admitted into UEFA. The other five are England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Faroe Islands.

UEFA only accepts new members that have already been accepted to the UN (thus, Montenegro is a UEFA member but Kosovo is not). But Gibraltar applied for UEFA membership before the European football association passed this UN requirement, and this is why the CAS ruled in favour of the Gibraltarian position.