Joseph Louis Chipolina (born 14 December 1987) is a Gibraltar international

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays for Glacis United of the

Gibraltar Football League The Gibraltar Football League is the only senior tier of association football in Gibraltar, 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 R ...

, on loan from Lincoln Red Imps as a left back or

left winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He is his nation's third most-capped player of all time, having also played the first 27 official matches after

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were accepted into UEFA.

Club career

Chipolina began his career with Linense of the Spanish Segunda División B and

Tercera División Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the '' Segunda División'', and the semi-professional '' Segunda ...

, the third and fourth tier of the

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respectively, between 2007 and 2012. In 2011–12, Chipolina played one season at CD San Roque of the Tercera División. In March 2012, Chipolina earned a week-long trial at

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a profession ...

of England's

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. Chipolina and San Roque terminated his contract by mutual consent in April 2012. In total, Chipolina made 26 appearances for the club. On 2 July 2014, Chipolina scored the first goal for a Gibraltarian club in the

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, with a penalty to give Lincoln Red Imps the lead over HB Tórshavn of the

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in a 1–1 draw. In December 2015, Chipolina was offered trials with three Scottish clubs, including Hibernian. However, the trials were cancelled at the last moment because of apparent contract complications with his club Lincoln Red Imps.

International career

Between 2007 and 2013, Chipolina appeared in seven matches for Gibraltar and scored five goals before Gibraltar applied for and was granted

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

membership. One of his caps came in a friendly match against

England C The England national football C team (previously known as the England National Game XI and the England Semi-Pro national team) is the football team that represents England at non-league level. Formed in 1979 as the England Non-League team, it f ...

which garnered interest in the player from Leyton Orient and Scotland's

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. He was also a part of the squad that competed in the

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. Chipolina made history by being the first Gibraltarian player to score in an official UEFA match when he scored for the

Gibraltar national futsal team The Gibraltar national futsal team represents Gibraltar in international futsal competitions such as the FIFA Futsal World Cup and the European Championships and is controlled by the Gibraltar Football Association. Tournament records FIFA Futsa ...

in a

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match against

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in 2013. After Gibraltar was accepted as a member of UEFA, Chipolina was selected as part of the 23-man squad for Gibraltar's official debut against

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

on 19 November 2013. Chipolina made his international debut in the match, a start in the eventual 0–0 draw. He played in every one of Gibraltar's games from 19 November 2013 until 3 September 2017, but was left out of the senior squad announcement on 28 September 2017 to face

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and

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. On 13 October 2018, Chipolina scored the only goal from the penalty spot as

recorded their first competitive win in a 1–0 victory over

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...

in the

2018–19 UEFA Nations League The 2018–19 UEFA Nations League was the inaugural season of the UEFA Nations League, an international association football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA. The league phase of the competiti ...

. He was on the scoresheet again three days later, heading the winner as Gibraltar came from behind to beat

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2–1.

International goals for Gibraltar XI

:''Scores and results list Gibraltar's goal tally first.''

International goals for Gibraltar

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Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and i ...

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2018–19 UEFA Nations League D The 2018–19 UEFA Nations League D was the fourth and lowest division of the 2018–19 edition of the UEFA Nations League, the inaugural season of the international football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associa ...

, - !scope=row, , 16 October 2018 , , Victoria Stadium,

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International career statistics

Personal life

Chipolina works as a Prison Officer in Gibraltar. He is the older brother of Kenneth Chipolina who also plays for the Gibraltar national football team and cousin of

Roy Chipolina Roy Alan Chipolina (born 20 January 1983) is a Gibraltarian footballer who plays as a defender for Gibraltar Premier Division side Lincoln Red Imps and the Gibraltar national team, for which he serves as captain. Club career Chipolina has pla ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chipolina, Joseph 1987 births Living people Gibraltarian footballers Gibraltar international footballers Gibraltarian expatriate footballers Association football forwards Segunda División B players Tercera División players Real Balompédica Linense footballers CD San Roque footballers Real Colorado Foxes players St Joseph's F.C. players Lincoln Red Imps F.C. players Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate soccer players in the United States Gibraltar Premier Division players Gibraltar pre-UEFA international footballers