Jersey unlikely to follow to Gibraltar into Uefa says FA boss

The president of the Jersey FA Phil Austin says it is unlikely that the island will be able to follow in Gibraltar's footsteps and join Uefa.

Gibraltar was given full Uefa membership last week after over a decade of attempts to be recognised as an international football nation.

Jersey have played Gibraltar many times at the Island Games and in tournaments.

But Austin says Uefa rules have changed since Gibraltar began their membership bid, meaning they cannot join.

"Gibraltar were in quite a unique position," Austin told BBC Radio Jersey.

"Uefa changed the rules a few years ago, which said you could only get accepted if you were a sovereign state, and clearly we, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man, are Crown dependencies, we're not sovereign states.

"Neither are Gibraltar but, as I understand it, they were allowed in as they started the process of applying to Uefa before this new rule came in.

"My understanding is that no new applications will be accepted for non-sovereign state jurisdictions, so I don't think there's any prospect for the likes of Jersey following them into Uefa."

Uefa began deliberating on whether to accept Gibraltar as a member in 2006, but originally applied to Uefa before European football's governing body changed their rules in 1999 to stop non-UN recognised states applying for membership.

Jersey have come across Gibraltar a number of times at the Island Games, as well as playing the Faroe Islands, who, like Gibraltar, is not a sovereign state.

Elsewhere in the world a number of non-sovereign states, such as Bermuda, Monserrat and Guam play in continental and World Cup qualifying matches.

Jersey represented England at the Uefa Regions' Cup earlier this year and had friendlies against teams including Sligo Rovers in the build up to it, and Austin says he wants to create more matches for the island's representative team in the coming season.

"We've already sat down with [Jersey manager and assistant manager] Craig Culkin and Dave Kennedy and had preliminary discussions about the sort of games we'll have next season.

"But I want to see more games for the ladies, I want to see more games for the under-21s and under-18s.

"Over the next year or two it's trying to get more competitive games for our representative sides at all levels."