UEFA takes disciplinary action against Spanish players over Gibraltar chants

By Brian Reyes and Stephen Ignacio

UEFA has initiated disciplinary proceedings against two Spanish national players who led chants of “Gibraltar es español” during celebrations in Madrid following Spain’s Euro 2024 win against England.

In a statement on Thursday, UEFA said it had charged team captain Álvaro Morata and midfielder Rodrigo Hernández Cascante with failing to comply with the 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 decision comes just four days after UEFA appointed a UEFA Ethics and Disciplinary Inspector to assess a complaint by the Gibraltar Football Association.

In its complaint last week, the GFA called on UEFA to take “swift and effective action” against what it described as “deeply offensive” and “highly inflammatory” conduct by the Spanish players.

“The UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body will decide on the matter in due course,” UEFA said in a short statement on Tuesday confirming the disciplinary charges.

UEFA took the step after Manchester City midfielder Rodri, who was voted the player of the tournament, and striker Morata, led chants of “Gibraltar es español” at a public celebration in Madrid’s Plaza de Cibeles a day after Spain beat England 2-1 in the Euros 2024 final.

In the complaint to UEFA, GFA president Michael Llamas and General Secretary Ivan Robba said the events in Madrid had been widely circulated across the globe and had led to repercussions on the ground, including emails and phone calls to the GFA “of a harassing nature”.

A few days later, visiting fans from Ireland supporting Shelbourne in their UEFA Conference League match against St Joseph’s chanted “Gibraltar español” during the match.

“In each case, the player’s conduct is not only not in the spirit of sportsmanship, indecent and insulting, but is actively discriminatory on political grounds and/or the grounds of national or ethnic origins,” the GFA letter said.

The players’ conduct was “unprovoked but also extremely provocative and insulting”, and “quite obviously brings the game of football into disrepute”, it added.

“There is clearly no place in football for behaviour of this nature.”

On Tuesday, the GFA welcomed UEFA’s decision to open formal disciplinary proceedings against Rodri and Morata.

“The Gibraltar FA welcomes the announcement today that UEFA has decided to open formal disciplinary proceedings against Rodri and Álvaro Morata further to the complaint filed by the Gibraltar FA with UEFA,” the association said in a statement.

“This is an important first step in order to establish the unlawfulness of the chant on the basis of the grounds put forward by the Gibraltar FA in its complaint.”

“The Gibraltar FA now awaits the decision of the UEFA Control Ethics and Disciplinary Body when the matter is heard.”

UEFA’s decision could potentially see the two Spanish players suspended from Nations League games in September.

Earlier this month, UEFA suspended Turkish Football Federation player Merih Demiral for two UEFA competition matches after finding he had breached the same regulations.

The player was sanctioned over a wolf salute linked to a far-right movement in Turkey which he made towards the crowd during a match against Austria.

And in June, Albania’s Mirlind Daku was suspended for two matches and missed the remainder of the tournament after he led fans in nationalist chants against Serbia and North Macedonia.