May 14 - College Europa to Play UEFA Europa League
Following great speculation after the Rock Cup final last week the GFA has officially announced that College Europa FC will represent Gibraltar in UEFA’s Europa League, this season. Initial reports stated that Manchester 62 FC, the league runner’s up would play in the League, however, UEFA’s Europa League rules go against the policy adopted by the GFA, that the League spot would go to the local league’s runner up. UEFA’s rules however state that the domestic cup runner-up qualifies for the UEFA Europa League.
A statement released by the association said, ‘In hindsight, the GFA accepts that this assumption was a mistake and that confirmation from UEFA that this was acceptable should have been sought at the time. The GFA regrets that the matter was only brought to its attention a matter of days before the Rock Cup final itself.
‘The GFA publicly apologises to Manchester 62 FC – our league runners-up and the Club that would have entered the UEFA Europa League under the initial policy adopted by the GFA. The GFA has already agreed a compensation package with Manchester 62 FC and would like to place on public record its gratitude to Manchester 62 FC who – despite being the affected party in this matter – have acted with great dignity throughout and have always sought to seek positive solutions to an entirely regrettable episode.’
