Alex Trelinski
TWO members of Spain’s winning Euro 2024 team have been charged by Uefa for ‘extremely provocative’ celebrations when the pair made references to British-ruled Gibraltar.
Captain Alvaro Morata and vice-captain Rodri, who won the player of the tournament award in Germany this month, are in trouble following a complaint by the Gibraltar Football Association (GFA).
Celebrations were taking place in Madrid’s Plaza de Cibeles last week, with tens of thousands of supporters there to cheer the team after their win over England in the final at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin the day before.
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Manchester City’s Rodri was seen chanting ‘Gibraltar is Spanish’, with AC Milan’s Morata encouraging fans to join in the same chant.
Gibraltar has been a British Overseas Territory since the 18th century, with constant spats over sovereignty.
Uefa have charged Morata and Rodri with ‘general principles of conduct, violating 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 GFA filed a complaint over the nature of the chants, noting ‘the extremely provocative and insulting nature of the celebrations around the Spanish Men’s national team winning Euro 2024’ and that ‘football has no place for behaviour of this nature’.
Gibraltar has its own national team and has been a full Uefa member since 2013, with their men’s side ranked 198 in the world.
Uefa’s control, ethics and disciplinary body (CEDB) will make a decision on the issue ‘in due course’.
