Ben Pawlowski
UEFA, European football’s governing body, have handed out one match bans to Alvaro Morata and Rodri after the pair led chants of ‘Gibraltar is Spanish’ during Spain’s Euro 2024 trophy parade.
The suspension will apply for their next match in international competition, which is against Serbia on September 5.
The Gibraltar Football Association (GFA) made a formal complaint to UEFA after Morata, the Spanish captain, and his teammate Rodri orchestrated chants of ‘Gibraltar is Spanish’ in Plaza de Cibeles, Madrid, last month after Spain won Euro 2024 with a 2-1 victory over England.
The GFA, which has been a member of UEFA since 2013, labelled the chants as ‘extremely provocative and insulting’, insisting that ‘football has no place for behaviour of this nature’.
Chief Minister Fabian Picardo was among those to denounce the song as ‘rancid’ and an ‘old trope from the days of General Franco’.
Despite being positioned on a rocky outcrop on the southern tip of the Iberian peninsular, the 2.6 square miles of Gibraltarian territory and its 30,000 residents are British – and have been for over 300 years since the signing of the Treaty of Utrecht which guaranteed that Gibraltar would be British in perpetuity.
UEFA have banned Morata and Rodri ‘for failing to comply with the general principles of conduct, for violating the basic rules of decent conduct, for using sporting events for manifestations of a non-sporting nature and for bringing the sport of football, and UEFA in particular, into disrepute’.
READ MORE: Why is Gibraltar British and not a part of Spain? All you need to know about the Treaty of Utrecht
The GFA welcomed the move, saying they were ‘pleased that UEFA has acknowledged the severity of this incident and has acted accordingly’.
“This decision sends a clear message that football must remain a platform for promoting peace, understanding, and fair play, free from divisive and offensive actions such as the chants”, they added.
