Abstract des Autors

In 2013, Gibraltar was accepted as a full member of UEFA after long years of struggle. The accession period was marked by a strong Spanish veto that successfully led to the rejection of the application in 2007. This article tries to answer how Spain lost its influence on UEFA decision-making. Referring to the lobbying literature on influence mechanisms, I argue that Spain’s main strategy of withdrawal threat was not credible anymore after 2007. It was a period when La Liga was losing its competitiveness, UEFA was increasing the amount of monetary distributions to football clubs, and Spain was suffering from an economic crisis. As a result, a threat of withdrawal became less influential than Gibraltar’s repeated litigation strategy and Gibraltar became UEFA’s 54th member.