Spain’s Rodri and Morata banned for chanting song about Gibraltar at Euro 2024 title celebration
Spain’s team captain Alvaro Morata, with the microphone, introduces player Rodri, center, to the fans during celebrations of the Spanish team’s European soccer championship title on a stage at Cibeles square in Madrid, Monday, July 15, 2024. Spain defeated England in the final of the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Berlin on Sunday evening. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)
NYON, Switzerland (AP) — Rodri and Alvaro Morata were banned Wednesday for Spain’s first match as the new European champion after singing about a sovereignty claim on Gibraltar at the title celebration last month.
Morata and Rodri led thousands of fans singing “Gibraltar is Spanish” in Madrid, a day after the 2-1 win over England in the European Championship final.
UEFA’s disciplinary panel punished the two players with a one-match ban — to be served in the game against Serbia in the Nations League on Sept. 5 — for, among other charges, “using sporting events for manifestations of a non-sporting nature and for bringing the sport of football, and UEFA in particular, into disrepute.”
Gibraltar, which is on the southern tip of Spain, has been a British overseas territory for more than 300 years.
The Gibraltar soccer federation filed a formal complaint to UEFA after the chants by Rodri and Morata.
Rodri is a center midfielder for Manchester City and was named as the player of the tournament at Euro 2024. Morata was Spain’s captain for the tournament and recently completed a move from Atletico Madrid to AC Milan.
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