[James]

This caught my interest. Gibraltar became the 54th and latest member of UEFA last May after a legal fight to be recognised. They play their first official international friendly tonight (kick-off at 7:00 pm) against Slovakia.

They have to play qualifiers just now at a stadium in Portugal because their ground doesn't meet the standard required, and have chosen to play this first friendly there too.

It is now the smallest member nation of UEFA in terms of population.

Union Jacks, red telephone boxes, fish and chips and pubs. Stroll down the main street in Gibraltar and you could just as well be walking around any part of London.

The difference is, of course, the tiny British Overseas Territory is located almost 1,500 miles from the English capital.

Ruled by Britain but attached geographically to Spain, Gibraltar are determined to stand on their own two feet as a football nation when they make their historic debut as European football's newest member in a friendly against Slovakia on Tuesday.
Five times smaller than Blackpool

Smaller than San Marino, with a pool of only 600 players from which to choose, and a "home" ground 150 miles away, that will be easier said than done...


...It has been a long and difficult path to becoming the 54th - and smallest - member of Uefa.

They first sought membership back in 1997 but that was rejected in 2002, with European football's governing body saying membership would be granted only to applicants recognised as sovereign states by the United Nations.

Gibraltar took their case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which determined that because Uefa's "non-sovereign" rule was not in place at the time of Gibraltar's original submission for membership, Uefa was obliged to accept the request for membership...


...The news sparked wild celebrations on the streets of Gibraltar and workers were given half a day off to take part in a huge parade to mark the occasion...


...Clubs in the Gibraltar Premier Division, which features the likes of Manchester United and reigning champions Lincoln, are all amateur, meaning Bula's 23-man squad for the Slovakia game includes firemen, policemen and customs officials.

"I have a few professionals, a few semi-pros and the rest are amateurs," said Bula. "It tends to be a bit of a headache getting those groups into the same way of thinking but there is nothing I can do there."

The smattering of pros and semi-pros within the squad include Barnsley defender Scott Wiseman, striker Adam Priestley, who plays for non-league side Farsley, and former Stoke and Sunderland defender Danny Higginbotham.

The 34-year-old Higginbotham, who now turns out for Conference Premier side Chester, is eligible for Gibraltar through his grandmother's links to the British territory.

Bula also happens to be his uncle and the Gibraltar boss took to Twitter to recruit Higginbotham.

"I had only been on Twitter for a couple of months and Allen sent me a message asking to get in contact with me and it went from there," said Higginbotham, who was born in Manchester and began his career at the "other" Manchester United.

"I'll be the first to admit that I don't think playing for England was ever going to happen, because of the quality of players in my position. The simple fact was I was not good enough, so I never gave it a second thought.

"I never for one minute thought I would be playing international football at the age of 34, so this is an exciting challenge."

Higginbotham will bring invaluable experience from over a decade of playing in the Premier League, but he is also well aware that he will be one of the busiest players on the pitch...

From http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24942820