College Europa F.C.
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| Full name | Europa Football Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Green Machine |
| Founded | 1925 (reformed 2014) |
| Ground |
Victoria Stadium, Winston Churchill Avenue, Gibraltar. |
| Capacity | 2,800 |
| Chairman | Peter Cabezutto |
| Manager | Jonathan Parrado |
| League | Premier Division |
| 2016–17 | 1st (Champions) |
| Website | Club website |
Europa FC are a football club from Gibraltar who play in the Gibraltar Premier Division. As with all other clubs in the territory, Europa FC currently share the Victoria Stadium on Winston Churchill Avenue.
The club was founded in 1925. It was continuously active up to 1970. The club merged with College in the 1980s, going by College Cosmos until 2013, and in 2014 split again from College, changing from College Europa back to Europa FC, while College 1975 entered the Gibraltar Second Division. The name change was cleared by UEFA and the Gibraltar Football Association has granted back the honours the club lost when it folded initially.
The club saw considerable success in the late 1920s and early 1930s, where it won 4 of its 6 titles. However, against the likes of Prince of Wales, the club struggled to become a major force and won its 6th and final title in the 1951-52. After further declining fortunes, the club merged with College in 1970, although it failed to see a revival in fortunes as it would continue to move between the top two divisions of Gibraltar football for the next 40 years, last being out of the top flight in 2012-13.
Despite a 4th place finish in the 2013–14 Gibraltar Premier Division, 2014 they were the first team from Gibraltar to play the UEFA Europa League after they finished runners-up in the Rock Cup. They lost the first match 0–3 against FC Vaduz from Liechtenstein. In the second leg they lost 1–0 at home, resulting in a 4–0 aggregate defeat. In 2015 the club had Gibraltar's first player to appear at a major international tournament, with Charly representing Equatorial Guinea at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.
In 2015 the club was renamed to their original name Europa FC. The side entered the UEFA Europa League once again, without a manager as Dimas Carrasco had not yet been appointed. The side lost 9–0 on aggregate to SK Slovan Bratislava with a new look side that received criticism from fans due to the lack of Gibraltarian players and large number of Spanish signings. Another season in 2nd place followed, although July 2016 did see Europa win their first continental cup tie, winning 3–2 on aggregate against FC Pyunik in the 2016-17 UEFA Europa League.
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