The Gibraltar Football League is the only senior tier of
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
in
Gibraltar
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, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
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, founded in 2019 as the Gibraltar National League after a merger of the
Gibraltar Premier Division, which served as the top division of football on the Rock since 1905, and the
Gibraltar Second Division, which had existed since 1909. It was announced in August 2019 by the
Gibraltar Football Association
The Gibraltar Football Association or also Gibraltar FA (GFA) is the governing body for Gibraltarian football and futsal. It was formed as the ''Gibraltar Civilian Football Association'' in 1895, changing to its current name in later years. It i ...
. The league is supported by the
Gibraltar Intermediate League for U23 sides and
Hound Dogs.
Format
Rumours of the new league began in 2018, when the Gibraltar FA announced plans for a single tier format in its league constitution for the
2018–19 Gibraltar Premier Division. On 1 August 2019, the GFA confirmed details of the restructure of domestic football in Gibraltar, and the format of the new 16 team league. After 4 teams left the league, the remaining 12 teams are to follow the same league format. Teams will play one round of games as a single league, before splitting into two groups: the Championship Group contested by the top 6 sides, and the Challenge Group between the bottom 6 sides. The winners of the Challenge Group will receive the GFA Challenge Trophy and receive a bye to the second round of the next season's
Rock Cup.
Hound Dogs, who participated in the final season of the
Gibraltar Second Division, were granted special dispensation to compete in the
Gibraltar Intermediate League.
The
first season of the Gibraltar National League had no champion, as the season was declared null and void by the Gibraltar FA as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
.
In 2021, the Gibraltar FA announced that every game of the
2021–22 Gibraltar National League season would be streamed online through a broadcasting deal with Footters.
In July 2022, the league rebranded as the Gibraltar Football League, with a new identity and logo.
Teams
Of the 17 teams that formed the initial league, 3 founder teams withdrew before the inaugural season started:
Gibraltar Phoenix,
Gibraltar United, and
Leo. Additionally,
Olympique 13 were expelled from the league after forfeiting the first two matches of the 2019-20 season.
, while a founding member, opted not to join the National League, instead competing in the
Gibraltar Intermediate League for financial reasons. In December 2020,
Boca Gibraltar were also expelled from the league. As such, the following 11 teams currently contest the competition.
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Bruno's Magpies
*
College 1975
*
Europa FC
*
Europa Point
Europa Point (Spanish and Llanito: Punta de Europa or Punta Europa), is the southernmost point of Gibraltar (the southernmost point of the Iberian Peninsula being Punta de Tarifa 25 km southwest of Gibraltar). At the end of the Rock of Gibral ...
*
Glacis United
*
Lincoln Red Imps
*
Lions Gibraltar
*
Lynx
*
Manchester 62
*
Mons Calpe
The Rock of Gibraltar (from the Arabic name Jabel-al-Tariq) is a monolithic limestone promontory located in the British territory of Gibraltar, near the southwestern tip of Europe on the Iberian Peninsula, and near the entrance to the Mediter ...
*
St Joseph's
List of winners
Table includes top three of the Championship Group (top half of table) and Challenge Group (bottom half of table)
See also
*
Gibraltar Premier Division
References
External links
Gibraltar FA Website
RSSSF.com
{{Football in Gibraltar
1
Top level football leagues in Europe
2019 establishments in Gibraltar
Sports leagues established in 2019