October 4 – The Jersey Football Association (JFA) have lodged an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport in an attempt to overturn UEFA’s rejection of their membership bid.
Jersey believe they have just as strong a case as the likes of new members Gibraltar and Kosovo and are testing this at sport’s highest court.
The JFA say they have been told by UEFA that the Channel island fails to meet the criteria for affiliation because Article 5 of the UEFA Statutes, relating to ‘independent states’ under the United Nations, is ‘not satisfied’. But an appeal has now been submitted to CAS with a verdict likely within six months.
It remains to be seen whether precedent ends up being on Jersey’s side after CAS were instrumental in Gibraltar’s long and ultimately successful fight for UEFA and FIFA membership after the British Overseas Territory had a series of applications denied. If CAS agree to a hearing, and then rule in favour of the JFA, the island could have its bid discussed at UEFA’s next Congress, due to take place in Helsinki in April, 2017.
Representatives from UEFA visited the island, which is a crown dependency of Britain, in September to meet with Jersey football officials.
“This was the response we expected,” said Jersey FA president Phil Austin. (But) from a footballing perspective we more than meet the criteria.”
“In rejecting our application, the executive of UEFA have said that they’re not putting our application forward to the congress. We don’t think the executive have the authority to do that, we think it should go to congress,” Austin told BBC Sport.
Jersey originally submitted a bid to leave the English FA and join UEFA as an independent member in December 2015, following the acceptance of both Gibraltar and Kosovo. Their problem might be that Gibraltar’s initial application in 2007 came before the rules were changed, while Kosovo, who played in their first World Cup qualifier in September, declared independence from Serbia in 2008.
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