Friday 27 September 2013

Man United vs Man United?


Manchester United Football Club - Gibraltar

Who would  ever believe that the 2014/15 UEFA Champs Lge season could bring us a Manchester United vs Manchester United fixture? Well this kind of anomaly is only seen in video games or probably during exhibitions, testimonials and charity matches.

Yes, there may be two Man Uniteds in the Champions League next season after the latest boost for football in Gibraltar which Uefa approved earlier this year.

Gibraltar, a British overseas territory,which has a population of under 30,000 people off the south coast of Spain,have been told it would have a team in each of the Champions League and Europa League qualifying next season.

After it was accepted into Uefa in May,with the national team being eligible for Euro 2016 qualifying;the Gibraltar Premier Division has just eight teams,which are: Lincoln,who have won 11 titles in a row, St. Joseph's, Lynx, Lions Gibraltar, Glacis,College Cosmo,Gibraltar Phoenix and...you can be right at your curiosity:Manchester United!!! 

On the prospect of the clash of the two namesakes, Manchester United captain Matthew Reoch told the BBC's World Football Show:

 "It would be ambitious of me to say we can get that far but the sky's the limit, If it's not in the next five years, it might be in 40."

Unsurprisingly, the two club's names are linked. "It all originates in 1962," Reoch explained.

"It was a band of supporters who followed our namesakes in England and they wished to establish a team in the league through their supporters club."

Reoch could also be lining up with a former player of the English Manchester United soon, in 34-year-old Chester defender Danny Higginbotham who made himself available to play international football for Gibraltar.

Gibraltar's National team captain Roy Chipolina,who also skippers perennial champions Lincoln, thinks the standard of the league has improved tremendously following the news they can qualify for Europe.

He said: "It's changed the way people and players in Gibraltar look at football here,"

"It's creating exciting opportunities for both clubs and players and you can see it in pre-season. They're more willing to work as they've got a great goal ahead.

"You have foreign players coming to play in Gibraltar. The competition's going to be a lot harder this year. Some youth players who have played in Spain have come back to Gibraltar in the hope of playing in the Champions League."

Reoch; Gibraltar's Man United Captain thinks they can end Lincoln's control over domestic football: "If you'd asked me last year, form has it that Lincoln would be dominating. But since we got into Uefa,the league has been turned on its head."

"There's been interest from players abroad to come to sign. The enthusiasm has increased 10-fold."

While he does not expect a club to have a good run in either tournament next summer, Chipolina is confident of their long-term progress.

"In the first round of the preliminaries, I think we'd be competitive," he said.

"After that the standard increases dramatically and it might be a bit high for us at the moment. But this is long-term. Hopefully in five,10 or 15 years Gibraltar football will have grown to compete at that level."

Hmmn,football is not Immortal after all,so look out for this fixture we game lovers played in the future

Excerpts from BBC Football

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