Victoria Stadium is a
multi-purpose stadium
A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used for multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a design philosophy that stres ...
in
Gibraltar
Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...
. It is currently used mostly for
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
matches, but also hosts the annual
Gibraltar Music Festival. It is located close to
Gibraltar Airport
Gibraltar International Airport, previously known as North Front Airport, is the civilian airport that serves the British overseas territories, British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The runway and aerodrome is owned by the Ministry of Defence ...
just off
Winston Churchill Avenue. It was named after the wife of
Gibraltarian
Gibraltarians (Spanish: ''gibraltareños'', colloquially: '' llanitos'') are an ethnic group native to Gibraltar, a British overseas territory located near the southernmost tip of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea ...
philanthropist
John Mackintosh John Mackintosh may refer to:
* John Mackintosh (luthier) (–1840), Irish luthier and professor
* John MacKintosh (1790–1881), farmer and politician in Prince Edward Island
* John Mackintosh (soldier) (1797–1846), British military aide-de-ca ...
.
History

Victoria Stadium was constructed at the foot of the
Rock of Gibraltar
The Rock of Gibraltar (from the Arabic name Jabal Ṭāriq , meaning "Mountain of Tariq ibn Ziyad, Tariq") is a monolithic limestone mountain high dominating the western entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. It is situated near the end of a nar ...
and next to
Gibraltar Airport
Gibraltar International Airport, previously known as North Front Airport, is the civilian airport that serves the British overseas territories, British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The runway and aerodrome is owned by the Ministry of Defence ...
in the
North District.
It was first opened in 1926 as a British military sports ground. In 1970, the stadium was rebuilt by the
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...
as a sports ground for use by both the military forces and the civilian population of Gibraltar. In 1991, the Government of Gibraltar financed improvements of Victoria Stadium's pitch and athletics track.
The construction of the stadium was controversial as it was built on the
disputed isthmus between Gibraltar and Spain.
When the Gibraltar Football Association applied for membership of UEFA in 2007, Spanish-led opposition caused FIFA officials to look at the wording of the
Treaty of Utrecht
The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaty, peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vac ...
which ceded Gibraltar to the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
in 1713. In it, they claimed that there was a loophole in the treaty which they claimed violated FIFA regulations in that the national stadium had to be built on undisputed land. As Victoria Stadium was built on the isthmus which was not mentioned in the Treaty of Utrecht but ceded later and this fact was pointed out to UEFA members, Gibraltar's application was voted by UEFA's member associations to be rejected.
Only the
Home Nations of
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
,
Wales
Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
and
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
voted in favour of them joining.
Despite initial plans to replace the stadium in the 2010s, 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 is ...
purchased the stadium from the
Government of Gibraltar
His Majesty's Government of Gibraltar is the democratically elected government of the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. The head of state is King Charles III who is represented by the Governor. Elections in Gibraltar are held every four ...
in April 2017 in order to improve and renovate it.
The redevelopment of the stadium began in 2023, with the
national team
A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport.
The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...
announcing they will play
UEFA
The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...
and
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...
games in
Faro,
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
.
The Gibraltar national team planned to play their
2022-23 UEFA Nations League relegation playoffs at Victoria Stadium, but this match was moved to the
Estádio Algarve
The Estádio Algarve (') is an association football stadium located between Faro and Loulé municipalities, in the Algarve region of Portugal. The stadium has a total capacity of 30,305 spectators and was purposely built for the UEFA Euro 2004 ...
after the redevelopment of the Victoria Stadium began.
Football
Victoria Stadium is mostly used for
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
matches. All clubs in the
Gibraltar Football League play their matches at Victoria Stadium. As such, it is also used to host the Final of the
Rock Cup. Prior to membership of
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...
, it had been used as the
Gibraltar national football team
The Gibraltar national football team represents Gibraltar in men's international football competitions, and is controlled by the Gibraltar Football Association. Gibraltar applied for full Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) membersh ...
's home ground for unofficial internationals.
Following 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 is ...
's admittance as a full member of
UEFA
The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...
in May 2013, UEFA vetoed Gibraltar using Victoria Stadium as their home ground as it did not meet UEFA standards and as the
Government of Gibraltar
His Majesty's Government of Gibraltar is the democratically elected government of the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. The head of state is King Charles III who is represented by the Governor. Elections in Gibraltar are held every four ...
owned it. As a result of this lack of ownership, the Gibraltar Football Association did not have the power to improve it.
This was because Victoria Stadium did not meet UEFA standards for international matches, which meant that the Gibraltar national football team was obliged to play their "home" matches in UEFA and FIFA qualifying tournaments at
Estádio Algarve
The Estádio Algarve (') is an association football stadium located between Faro and Loulé municipalities, in the Algarve region of Portugal. The stadium has a total capacity of 30,305 spectators and was purposely built for the UEFA Euro 2004 ...
in
Faro, Portugal
Faro ( , ), officially the City of Faro (), is a Concelho, municipality, the southernmost city and capital of the district of Faro District, the same name, in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. With an estimated population of 67,566 inhabi ...
however they were permitted to play friendly matches there.
The Government of Gibraltar and the
Chief Minister of Gibraltar
The chief minister of Gibraltar is the head of Government of Gibraltar, His Majesty's Government of Gibraltar who is Elections in Gibraltar, elected by the Gibraltar Parliament, and formally appointed by the governor of Gibraltar, representat ...
,
Fabian Picardo
Fabian Raymond Picardo (born 18 February 1972) is a Gibraltarian politician and barrister, serving as Chief Minister of Gibraltar and Leader of the Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party since 2011. At the 2015 and 2019 Gibraltar general elections, ...
stated that they were not going to spend Gibraltarian taxpayer's money on renovating the stadium without the site having UEFA approval stating "It would have been the worst possible bargain for the people of Gibraltar to have pursued the GSD’s approach of putting taxpayer’s money into Victoria against the wishes of UEFA at the time".
Victoria Stadium did meet the UEFA criteria as a Category 2 Stadium for UEFA intercontinental club matches such as
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...
games with an example of this being when
Lincoln Red Imps used it to host their
2016–17 UEFA Champions League
The 2016–17 UEFA Champions League was the 62nd season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 25th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League.
The final was pla ...
match against Scottish team
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foot ...
. However, in 2017, UEFA stated that Victoria Stadium could not be used for all of Gibraltar's representatives in the UEFA Champions League and
UEFA Europa League
The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...
during the 2017–18 season. This was owing to an increase in the number of Gibraltarian representatives in the competitions and due to failing a UEFA pitch inspection.
The Gibraltar Football Association proposed to build the
Europa Point Stadium to replace the Victoria Stadium as Gibraltar's national stadium.
Owing to opposition, the Europa Point Stadium plans were scrapped by the Government of Gibraltar. An alternative plan for replacement of Victoria Stadium was put forward for a new stadium to be built at
Lathbury Barracks however the
Gibraltar Ornithological and Natural History Society opposed this citing that the
Ministry of Defence
A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...
would have to give up land that had been designated by the
European Union Habitats Directive as a Special Area of Conservation for the proposed site. In April 2017, the Gibraltar Football Association announced its purchase of the stadium in order to redevelop it into a
UEFA
The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...
Category 4 stadium at a cost of £16.5 million given to the GFA by UEFA and FIFA.
The proposed new stadium sites at Lathbury and Europa Point would be developed into multi-sports facilities by the Government of Gibraltar.
The GFA announced it would invest £15 million into the stadium after purchasing it owing to grants from UEFA and FIFA.
As a result of the GFA's purchase of Victoria Stadium, UEFA dropped their objections to the stadium providing works to expand the stadium to 8,000 capacity were complete by 2018 then they would be permitted to use the stadium for their home games in UEFA sanctioned international competition matches. In January 2018, it was announced that due to the
Gibraltar Music Festival being held at the stadium that year, football games in August and September would be played at Lathbury Barracks.
Other sports
The ground has also hosted cricket matches since 1993. Victoria Stadium hosted its first cricket match when
Marylebone Cricket Club
The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...
visited Gibraltar in 1993 between
Gibraltar
Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...
and the MCC. It has also been used by the
Gibraltar national rugby union team
The Gibraltar national rugby union team represent Gibraltar in men's rugby union.
The nation is not currently affiliated to World Rugby and have yet to qualify for a World Cup.
On 5 November 2011 the Gibraltar Rugby Football Union (GRFU) fiel ...
. Victoria Stadium has an
Olympic standard 400-metre-six lane athletics track surrounding it and is used to host athletics meets. In 2019, following the redevelopments, Victoria Stadium was used as the main stadium as Gibraltar host the
2019 Island Games.
Since 2013, the stadium has annually hosted the Gibraltar Darts Trophy as part of the
PDC's European Tour.
See also
*
Football in Gibraltar
*
Sport in Gibraltar
References
External links
*
{{Gibraltar topics
Football venues in Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...
Multi-purpose stadiums in Europe
Sports venues in Gibraltar
1926 establishments in Gibraltar
Sports venues completed in 1926
Rugby union stadiums in Europe
Gibraltar National League
Europa F.C.
Lincoln Red Imps F.C.
Mons Calpe S.C.