26.09.2014 16:54 h

Blatter: No FIFA spot for Gibraltar

Gibraltar may have made its debut in European competition this season, but there will be no immediate place for the British overseas territory in world football's governing body FIFA.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter announced Friday that neither Gibraltar nor the Northern Mariana Islands, a US Pacific island territory, matched requirements for membership.

"The executive committee decided that the Football Association of Gibraltar and the Football Association of the Northern Mariana Islands cannot be accepted as members of FIFA according to article 10 of FIFA statutes," Blatter said.

Neither country qualified as an independent state according to FIFA statues, Blatter said.

After years of campaigning to become a UEFA member, Gibraltar, home to just 30,000 people, was finally rewarded in May 2013 thanks to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) despite complaints from neighbours Spain due to the ongoing political row with Britain over sovereignty.

The minnows were demolished 7-0 by Poland in their opening Euro 2016 qualifying match earlier this month.

A spokesman for the Gibraltar FA told Britain's Press Association after Blatter's comments that they would be returning to the CAS.

"We expected this decision by FIFA based on their statutes which in their view states Gibraltar is not an independent territory, so we have initiated our appeal to CAS. That's our next step," the spokesman said.

"We are a UEFA member nation now and we will take it to the next stage - if you look at the history of our UEFA membership that's the way it went as well."