Europa F.C.

Europa FC
	File:Europa FC logo.png
Full name	Europa Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Green Machine
Founded	1925
Ground	Victoria Stadium,; Gibraltar
Capacity	2,000
Chairman	Patrick Cabezutto
Manager	Steve Cummings
League	Gibraltar National League
2021–22	Championship Group: 2nd; Overall: 2nd
Website	Club website
Home colours	Away colours

Europa FC is a football club from Gibraltar which plays in the Gibraltar National League. As with all other clubs in the territory, Europa FC currently shares the Victoria Stadium on Winston Churchill Avenue. The club also operates a women's team which competes in the Gibraltar Women's Football League.

History

The club was founded in 1925. It was continuously active up to 1970. The club merged with College in the 1980s, going by College Cosmos until 2013, and in 2015 split again from College, changing from College Europa back to Europa FC, while College 1975 entered the Gibraltar Second Division. The name change was cleared by UEFA and the Gibraltar Football Association has granted back the honours the club lost when it folded initially.

The club saw considerable success in the late 1920s and early 1930s, where it won 4 of its 7 titles. However, against the likes of Prince of Wales, the club struggled to become a major force and won its 6th and final title in the 1951–52. After further declining fortunes, the club merged with College in 1970, although it failed to see a revival in fortunes as it would continue to move between the top two divisions of Gibraltar football for the next 40 years, last being out of the top flight in 2012–13.

Despite a 4th-place finish in the 2013–14 Gibraltar Premier Division, 2014 they were the first team from Gibraltar to play the UEFA Europa League after they finished runners-up in the Rock Cup. They lost the first match 0–3 against FC Vaduz from Liechtenstein. In the second leg they lost 1–0 at home, resulting in a 4–0 aggregate defeat.^[1] In 2015 the club had Gibraltar's first player to appear at a major international tournament, with Charly representing Equatorial Guinea at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.

In 2015 the club was renamed to their original name Europa FC.^[2] The side entered the UEFA Europa League once again, without a manager as Dimas Carrasco had not yet been appointed. The side lost 9–0 on aggregate to SK Slovan Bratislava with a new look side that received criticism from fans due to the lack of Gibraltarian players and large number of Spanish signings. Another season in 2nd place followed, although July 2016 did see Europa win their first continental cup tie, winning 3–2 on aggregate against FC Pyunik in the 2016-17 UEFA Europa League.

Further investment in the side under Juan Jose Gallardo saw an influx of young Gibraltarians join the Greens to align them with the league's new Home Grown Player Rule, including eventual international Sykes Garro and, most notably, key player Liam Walker from title rivals Lincoln Red Imps. The investment in the side drew dividends as the title race between Lincoln and Europa went down to the final round of games. Victory against Glacis United on 21 May, thanks to goals from Liam Walker and Kike Gómez, saw the club win their first title since 1952. A week later, the Greens won the 2017 Rock Cup, completing a domestic treble of Pepe Reyes Cup, Gibraltar Premier Division and Rock Cup for the first time in their history. However, after their extra-time defeat to The New Saints in the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League in July 2017, Gallardo stepped down from his managerial position to focus on his role as sporting director. Jonathan Parrado was brought in to take over management of the team.

Notable managers

The following manager(s) made at least one major accomplishment while in charge of Europa:

Name	Period	Achievements
José Requena	2014	Europa League qualification
Bruno Akrapović	2014–15	Gibraltar Premier Cup, Europa League qualification
Dimas Carrasco	2015–16	Europa League qualification
Juan José Gallardo	2016–2017 2018	2016–17 Domestic Treble, Europa League 2Q round, 2018 Rock Cup

Honours

Europa FC squad on 25 June 2015

Gibraltar Premier Division

Winners (7): 1928–29, 1929–30, 1931–32, 1932–33, 1937–38, 1951–52, 2016–17

Gibraltar Second Division

Winners: 2012–13

Rock Cup

Winners (8): 1938, 1946, 1950, 1951, 1952, 2017, 2017–18, 2019

Gibraltar Premier Cup

Winners: 2014–15

Pepe Reyes Cup

Winners (4): 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021

European record

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2014–15	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Vaduz	0–1	0–3	0–4
2015–16	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Slovan Bratislava	0–6	0–3	0–9
2016–17	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Pyunik	2–0	1–2	3–2
2016–17	UEFA Europa League	2Q	AIK	0–1	0–1	0–2
2017–18	UEFA Champions League	1Q	The New Saints	1–3	2–1	3–4
2018–19	UEFA Europa League	PR	Prishtina	1–1	0–5	1–6
2019–20	UEFA Europa League	PR	Sant Julià	4−0	2−3	6–3
2019–20	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Legia Warsaw	0–0	0−3	0–3
2020–21	UEFA Champions League	1Q	Red Star Belgrade	—	0–5	—
2020–21	UEFA Europa League	2Q	Djurgårdens IF	—	1–2	—
2021–22	UEFA Europa Conference League	1Q	Kauno Žalgiris	0–0	0–2	0–2
2022–23	UEFA Europa Conference League	1Q	Víkingur	1–2	0–1	1–3

Notes

1Q: First qualifying round
2Q: Second qualifying round
PR: Preliminary round

Current squad

First team

As of 14 July 2022^[3]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	GIB	Bradley Banda
2	DF	GIB	Ethan Jolley
3	DF	ESP	Daniel Moreno
4	MF	ENG	Bobby Battisson
5	DF	GIB	Sam Yeo
6	MF	GIB	Andrew Hernandez
7	MF	GIB	Mohamed Badr
8	FW	ESP	Cristian Orihuela
9	FW	SEN	Ibrahima Ndiaye
10	MF	GIB	Anthony Hernandez
11	MF	ESP	Willy
12	DF	GIB	Jayce Olivero (captain)


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
14	DF	ESP	Javi Paul
15	DF	ESP	Álvaro Benítez
16	FW	ESP	Antonio Sánchez
17	MF	ESP	Sergio Rivera
18	DF	GIB	Stefan Thorne
19	FW	GIB	Dylan Borge
20	FW	ESP	Manu Heredia
22	MF	GIB	Mitchell Gibson
23	MF	CTA	Jocelyn Kola
25	MF	ESP	Manolín
28	MF	ESP	Fran Bolly
81	GK	GIB	Christian Lopez

Intermediate League squad

As of 13 September 2022

The following players are registered to play in the Gibraltar Intermediate League. Players in the senior squad may also appear for the Intermediate team.