Manchester City star Rodri charged by UEFA over Gibraltar chants during EURO 2024 celebrations

23 July 2024, 19:31

Spain and Manchester City star Rodri has been charged by UEFA after he chanted about Gibraltar during a Euro 2024 victory event.

Rodri, who was chosen as player of the tournament, took the microphone during a celebration event in Madrid on July 15 and sang "Gibraltar es Espanol" - Gibraltar is Spanish - leading to a complaint from the Gibraltar Football Association (GFA).

GFA described the chants as "extremely provocative and insulting", adding that "football has no place for behaviour of this nature.”

His team-mate Alvaro Morata has also been charged by European football's governing body.

The pair have been charged under Article 11 of UEFA's disciplinary code.

The Government of Gibraltar said in a statement that it was "disappointed" after several Spanish men's national football team players made "discriminatory political statements" about the peninsula during EURO 2024 celebrations.

It said: "This is a totally unnecessary mixing of a great sporting success with discriminatory political statements that are hugely offensive to Gibraltarans.

"The lamentable use of the platform of celebrations around winning the Euros for advancing the idea of usurping the territory of Gibraltar is contrary to the principle that sport should not be used to advance any politically controversial ideology."

It came after the Spanish men's football team won the Euros for the 4th time in the competition's history, beating England 2-1 in a thriller on July 14.

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It is alleged Rodri and Morata violated the basic rules of decent conduct, used a sporting event for a manifestation of a non-sporting nature, and brought the sport into disrepute.

UEFA said its Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body (CEDB) would decide on the matter in due course.

UEFA announced last Friday that an ethics and disciplinary inspector had been appointed to evaluate what had happened at Spain's celebration event in Madrid.

Gibraltar is a peninsula attached to southern Spain that has been a British Overseas Territory since the 18th Century, although many Spaniards have long called for it's return.

The rocky peninsula does have it's own football team which finished last in Euro qualifying pool B, including posting a 14-0 loss to eventual semi-finalists France.

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Some far-right and conservative Spanish politicians defended the players.

Madrid mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida told Telecinco: "The players didn't say anything that most Spaniards don't believe."

Meanwhile a senior member of the far-right Vox party Javier Ortega-Smith retweeted a video of the chanting, captioning it "Sí."

Footballer Dani Carvajal also sparked controversy at the Monday night event after he turned away from Spain’s socialist prime minister Pedro Sánchez as he shook his hand.