Gibraltar could set a precedent to Catalan federations by becoming a full member of the UEFA.

The UEFA executive committee reported last week that, though provisionally, the Gibraltar Football Association would be allowed as a member within the UEFA. Spain has always shown its opposition to Gibraltar’s membership because it would set a precedent or become a motivation for Catalonia to claim its inclusion in the UEFA. In fact, Spain has threatened to boycott all competitions in which Gibraltar is represented as a member.

The CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) passed a resolution last summer in which the Gibraltar Football Association was accepted as a member of the UEFA, although the final decision will not be made until May 2013 in London. In 2007, however, the UEFA denied Gibraltar’s request, which was only supported by the four British federations (and 48 votes against it).

Currently the UEFA allows only one federation for each state recognized by the international community. However, Gibraltar had already requested its admission before the Association modified its rules. The weight within the UEFA of Ángel María Villar, president of the Spanish Royal Football Association, helped preventing Gibraltar’s inclusion – in fact, a great deal of UEFA’s rules were modified by his request. It was then that Gibraltar asked the CAS. The higher sport authority accepted its request and allowed further examination of the situation, since it was requested before the modification of UEFA’s rules. This international jurisdiction would also allow the inclusion of Catalan associations, because the CAS considers that a sport association, as a legal private entity, can be accepted in international federations, irrespective of what the country laws say.

The answer from the Minister of Culture, Education and Sports did not take long to show up: “We are going to exhaust all legal means. (...) We are reasonably optimistic that this provisional membership will not become definitive”.

It is due to decide at a congress in London in May whether it will admit the rocky British Mediterranean outpost off the south coast of Spain as a full member, which would allow its teams to take part in European competitions.

Gibraltar Football Association general secretary Richard Manning told AFP Monday there were still "quite a few obstacles" to full membership. Entry to Uefa would be important to the territory, he said, allowing youth teams in particular to compete against other European teams.

The Gibraltar league comprises six teams in the premier division, 10 in reserves, 12 in the second division, three women's teams, and 47 junior teams from under-sevens to under-16s with about 600 young players.