Uefa charge Rodri and Alvaro Morata for controversial chant after Euro 2024 final

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Two of Spain’s stars from their triumphant Euro 2024 campaign have been charged by Uefa after what was described as “extremely provocative” celebrations where the pair referenced British-ruled Gibraltar.

National team captain Alvaro Morata and vice-captain Rodri, who won the player of the tournament award in Germany this month, are the pair who have seen charges brought against them, following a complaint by the Gibraltar Football Association (GFA).

Celebrations were taking place in Madrid’s Plaza de Cibeles last Monday, with tens of thousands of supporters there to cheer the team following their victory over England in the final at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin the day before.

Rodri was seen chanting “Gibraltar is Spanish”, with Morata encouraging fans to join in the same chant.

An ongoing political skirmish has seen Spain call for the return of the British Overseas Territory, which has a population of around 35,000 and is under 10 square km in size.

It has been under British rule since the 18th century, with local authorities consistently opposing switching sovereignty to Spain.

Uefa have charged the Spanish duo with “general principles of conduct, violating the basic rules of decent conduct, using sporting events for manifestations of a non-sporting nature, and bringing the sport of football, and Uefa in particular, into disrepute”.

That came around after the GFA filed a complaint over the nature of the chants, saying they “noted the extremely provocative and insulting nature of the celebrations around the Spanish Men’s national team winning Euro 2024 [...] football has no place for behaviour of this nature.”

Gibraltar has its own national team and has been a full Uefa member since 2013, with their men’s side ranked 198 in the world.

Spain ended a wait of 12 years for a major men’s trophy with their victory in Germany, while the women’s national team won the World Cup in 2023 - also beating England in that final.