MADRID: While many international sides will trudge back into qualifiers for the 2016 European Championships still suffering from a World Cup hangover, Gibraltar’s players are preparing for the biggest game of their careers to date.
The tiny British Overseas Territory, home to just 30,000 people, face a Poland side spearheaded by Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski in their first ever competitive international today.
Years of campaigning to become a UEFA member was finally rewarded in May 2013 thanks to the Court of Arbitration for Sport despite complaints from neighbours Spain due to the ongoing political row over the sovereignty of Gibraltar.
Plans for an 8,000 capacity new stadium are already in place, but for the meantime with the possibility of games being played on Spanish soil a political no-go, their adopted home for the immediate qualification campaign will be the Estadio Algarve in Faro, Portugal.
That was where they held the top-50 world ranked Slovakia 0-0 in their first match since being welcomed into the UEFA structure in November. Since then coach Allen Bula has seen a mixture of results and performances from his mainly amateur squad.
A 4-1 defeat to the Faroe Islands in March was a sign of how difficult they may find it to compete in a group also comprising world champions Germany, Scotland, Republic of Ireland and Georgia. However, they scored their first full international win with a 1-0 success over Malta in their last outing in June.
AFP
PARIS: UEFA has lifted a partial stadium closure imposed against Paris Saint Germain which would have applied when the French champions host Barcelona in the Champions League this month.
PSG had been ordered to close two sections of their Parc des Princes Stadium as punishment for their supporters’ abuse of disabled Chelsea fans during their Champions League quarter-final match in April.
But European football’s governing body said on Friday that their appeals body had partially upheld PSG’s appeal and instead fined the club 50,000 euros ($64,790).
PSG will host Spanish giants Barcelona on September 30.
The club have also been ordered to make changes at their stadium “in order that people with reduced mobility are better protected,” UEFA said in a statement. AFP
