Europa Point F.C.

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Europa Point
Full nameEuropa Point Football Club
Nickname(s)A Progressive Club
Founded2014
GroundVictoria Stadium, Gibraltar
Capacity2,000
ChairmanPär Magnus Roos
Head coachDalibor Savic
LeagueGibraltar Football League
2022–23Challenge Group: 5th
Overall: 11th
WebsiteClub website

Europa Point F.C. is a football team from Gibraltar. The club currently plays in the Gibraltar National League the top senior tier of association football in Gibraltar.[1] They also participate in the Rock Cup, the territory's primary cup competition.

History[edit]

The club formed in 2014 amidst the growing interest in association football on the territory of Gibraltar. The club held trials specifically aimed at bringing in youth team players that had been released by professional sides in England and Spain with the goal of getting them back into competitive football, with club founder John Gontier having formerly worked with such players while working for League Football Education. Before their maiden season, the club also announced a partnership with Chesterfield in League One, where the English side has first option on any Europa Point player.

After a strong start to the season, including a tight promotion challenge against Gibraltar United, the club narrowly missed out on promotion, finishing third in the league despite having the strongest goalscoring record in the Gibraltar Second Division. Despite missing out on promotion on the final day of the season, the club did end the season with silverware as they beat promoted side Angels 5–3 in a thrilling Gibraltar Division 2 Cup final that went to extra time.

After missing out on promotion in 2014–15, Europa Point were crowned champions of the 2015–16 Gibraltar Second Division[2] after an unbeaten league campaign (W17 D5) and completed the double by retaining the Gibraltar Second Division Cup by beating Bruno's Magpies 3–2 A.E.T in the final. In preparation for the new season in the Premier Division they have signed many players including ex-Norwich City players George Jermy and Tom Walters. However, the players failed to impress and despite substantial changes in playing and coaching staff throughout the season, Europa Point finished bottom of the Premier Division and were relegated.

On 1 November 2017, it was announced that an American consortium headed by Peter Grieve and Corey Woolfolk had purchased a controlling stake in Europa Point. Woolfolk took over as chairman of the club, while John Gontier moved to CEO. On 10 November, Joaquin Rodriguez was announced as the new Head of Commercial and Football Operations. As part of the takeover, Europa Point became a partner club to Bantu Rovers in Zimbabwe.[citation needed] Gontier negotiated to re-take control of the club in early 2019, helping the club to a second-place finish in the league.[3]

In the inaugural season newly formed Gibraltar National League, Europa Point started poorly under former Gibraltar national football team manager Allen Bula. However, the appointment of ex-Leyton Orient boss Ian Hendon in late November 2019 saw a significant upturn in results, only for the season to be voided by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In July 2020, Andrew Pritchard purchased a majority stake in the club, while John Gontier stayed on as minority shareholder. Following the end of the 2020–21 season, Gontier sold his remaining stake in the club to focus on Gibraltar Women's Football League side Gibraltar Wave. In November 2021, former Charlton Athletic player and Kemi City chairman Mark Tivey was announced as the club's new co-owner and technical director.[4] However, this ownership was short lived and in July 2022, a Swedish consortium led by Pär Magnus Roos took over the club.

In July 2023, Swedish coach Dalibor Savić was appointed head coach, with player Ryan McCarthy becoming player-assistant manager. In his first season in charge, aided by a number of high profile Scandinavian signings such as Johan Andersson, Johannes Ström and former Norway international Thomas Drage, Europa Point secured a top 6 finish in the Gibraltar Football League for the first time in their history.

Seasons[edit]

Season Division League record Rock Cup
P W D L GF GA Pts Pos
2014–15 Second 26 20 3 3 124 20 63 3rd Quarter-finals
2015–16 Second 22 17 5 0 76 79 56 1st ↑ First round
2016–17 Premier 27 2 2 23 13 120 8 10th ↓ Quarter-finals
2017–18 Second 14 7 3 4 31 18 24 4th Second round
2018–19 Second 18 13 0 5 50 26 39 2nd Second round
2019–20[a] National 18 7 4 7 35 38 25 8th Quarter-finals
2020–21 National 18 1 0 17 10 73 3 11th First round
2021–22 National 18 4 2 12 17 65 14 10th Quarter-finals
2022–23 GFL 18 1 4 13 12 65 7 11th First Round

Current squad[edit]

First team[edit]

Correct as of 31 July 2023.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
2 DF Sweden SWE Martin Falkeborn (player-coach)
3 DF Sweden SWE Johan Andersson
4 DF England ENG Sam Nicholson
5 DF England ENG Will Sanders
6 MF Netherlands NED Justino Boldewijn
7 MF Norway NOR Thomas Drage
8 MF Gibraltar GIB Thomas Parry
9 MF Gibraltar GIB Etien Victory
10 FW Saint Lucia LCA Kegan Caull
11 MF Gibraltar GIB Matthew Plumb
12 FW Lithuania LTU Edvinas Valatka
13 MF Gibraltar GIB Zane Holgado
14 MF Sweden SWE Nils Karlsson
15 DF Gibraltar GIB Antony Moulds
16 FW Gibraltar GIB Kelvin Morgan
17 MF Northern Ireland NIR Joe Collins
19 MF Sweden SWE Hugo Jesslén
No. Pos. Nation Player
20 MF England ENG Stevie Black
21 DF Gibraltar GIB Adam Achhoud
22 DF Gibraltar GIB Leon Avellano
23 MF Gibraltar GIB Hampus Orsing
24 FW Gibraltar GIB Mark Chichon
25 MF Gibraltar GIB Jonathan Molina
26 MF Sweden SWE Filip Tronêt
27 DF England ENG Tyler Garratt
28 MF Republic of Ireland IRL Ryan McCarthy (player-coach)
30 MF Argentina ARG Fede Canteros
31 MF Spain ESP Ezequiel Rojas Rodríguez
32 FW Gibraltar GIB Ethan Perez
35 FW Gibraltar GIB Lewis Navarro
40 GK Gibraltar GIB Jesse Gonzalez
80 GK Czech Republic CZE Ondrej Jacko-Lysak
99 GK Finland FIN Johannes Ström

Club staff[edit]

Position Name
Club Management
Head coach Sweden Dalibor Savic
Assistant Coach
U23 Coach 		Republic of Ireland Ryan McCarthy
U23 Assistant Coach Sweden Martin Falkeborn
Physio Gibraltar Gabriel Benatar
Board
Chairman Sweden Pär Magnus Roos
Team Delegate Sweden Björn Liljedahl
Head of Youth Gibraltar Seamus Byrne

Honours[edit]

Gibraltar National League - Challenge Group
Gibraltar Second Division
Gibraltar Second Division Cup
  • Winners: 2014–15,[5] 2015–16

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b Season abandoned due to COVID-19 pandemic. Results not officially recognised.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Moitra, Soumalya (4 November 2016). ""I trained with the Argentinian National team, with the likes of Messi, Aguero, Di Maria" says Indian born Uday Arora". sportskeeda.com. Sportskeeda. Archived from the original on 30 March 2022. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  2. ^ "Gibraltar 2015/16". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 2022-08-30. Retrieved 2020-05-12.
  3. ^ Julian Lopez impresses as Europa Point finish second Archived 2019-05-28 at the Wayback Machine Football Gibraltar. 26 May 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  4. ^ Official Statement Archived 2021-11-09 at the Wayback Machine Europa Point FC. 8 November 2021. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  5. ^ Europa Point FC see off Angels FC after Extra Time Gibraltar FA. 20 April 2015 [dead link].

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Europa_Point_F.C.&oldid=1218664023"