Gibraltar: Taking a Pub Team To The Top With Bruno’s Magpies

[Hampus Silverholt]

After the disappointment of only making the Europa League quarter-finals last season, this season we are back in the big time and qualified directly for the Champions League group stage.

There weren’t too many changes to our team from last year although we did have a new look left hand side with Hudak and Balbi players who were on loan at other clubs last season.

Our first Champions League game was at home to RB Leipzig, the first-ever team we beat at this stage when we miraculously qualified 8 seasons ago in 2025!

Marko Lorbek was the star of the show with a hat trick from midfield - he’s a player that was close to leaving us for £9m in the summer and who I have already turned down bids of £15m from Saudi Arabia for.

Next up for us was an incredibly good result away at the Bernabeu as we held Real Madrid to a 1-1 draw.

That was followed by an even more impressive result against Borussia Dortmund, albeit a fluke result as they absolutely battered us - but a win is a win!

Our 4th game was a routine win against Heerenveen with striker Vitor Roque grabbing both goals.

So at the halfway stage we’ve had an almost perfect start and are 6th in the League Phase - it would be amazing to finish in the top 8 and it could quite easily be achievable.

I’m really invested in the other Gibraltar clubs in Europe this season too but it’s not been so good for Gibraltar Lions who are celebrating their first-ever season in the group stages of a competition by losing every game in the Conference League…

Lincoln Red Imps on the other hand are just about on course to make the knockouts in the Europa League for the 4th consecutive season.

Then there’s the curious case of the Gibraltar national team.

After missing out on Euro 2032 qualification by a point my hopes were high for World Cup 2034 qualification, but an incredibly tough group put a stop to that and it was an average campaign in the end.

The Gibraltar FA were simultaneously pleased with how it went but also want results to improve.

Just 4 of the 23-man squad were actually produced in Gibraltar. We have a centre-back pairing of 33-year-old Lewis Gibson and 32-year-old Sam Barnes and no real replacements coming through, and the players I was expecting to switch to Gibraltar nationality do not want to.

I’m slightly worried that we had our peak with the national team a few years ago!

We’re heavily reliant on Harry Leonard, now plying his trade in Greece after we sold him to Burnley as Magpies boss, who has an impressive 19 goals in 33 games for Gibraltar.

That puts him behind only Lincoln Red Imps legend Jaiden Bartolo, who has been a mainstay of the national team for nearly a decade.

Euro 2036 qualification could definitely be possible, but that is also still 2 and a half years away!​

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

Since starting the save, we’ve had to play 5 players trained in Gibraltar in all domestic games to adhere to registration rules - that has meant Danny Murphy has been a key player for us and has recently become our all-time top scorer in the league.

He joined on a free from Mons Calpe and was once the most promising Gibraltaran players, but is now on the fringes of the national team despite his impressive form for us.

FFP is also no longer a worry for us after the huge sums of Champions League money came into the club in the last few months.

Our 5th and 6th games in the League Phase were both against Italian clubs - a 3-0 win against Milan and a narrow loss to Juventus.

The January transfer window also came before our final 2 matches and there were a few interesting deals.

The first was that of Patrick Leganger who left to join Espanyol for £8.5m - another decent fee for a player who wanted to leave although he was a regular starter for us in the Champions League.

To replace him we spent £2.7m on an 18-year-old with 7 caps for Poland - the only downside is that he’s a 5’9” centre-back…

Just when I thought all hope was lost with players converting to Gibraltar, Joe Gelhardt pledged his allegiance to Gibraltar a mere two days before leaving the club.

He’s 31 but becomes the key player for Gibraltar and his tenure at the club could not have gone any better. He was a key player originally before becoming more of a squad member, at which point we were able to cash in at the perfect time once he had switched to Gibraltar nationality.

So that was us done for transfers and it may have had an impact on performances as we drew 2-2 away to Porto in the Champions League, potentially making the top 8 out of reach.

We had just one more game remaining, a comfortable win against APOEL to put us on 17 points from 8 matches.

Was that enough to finish in the top 8… nope!

Even though we got 17 points we still finished in 9th, ahead of clubs such as Real Madrid and PSG, and would have made it straight through to the last 16 were it not for Chelsea scoring one more goal than us!

Gibraltar Lions ended up 33rd in the Conference League but did get a solitary win which was looking unlikely at one point.

Lincoln Red Imps agonisingly missed out on making it through in the Europa League knockout phases, again just on a matter of goal difference.

It leaves us with all to do in terms of the Gibraltar coefficient, but we’ll play Hereenveen in what is probably the best draw we could have got in the knockout phase (we also beat 2-0 in the League Phase).

Despite not having too much defensive depth, I’m expecting to make the last 16 of the Champions League with ease.​

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

Unfortunately, our best player Franco Dindart will be leaving the club in the summer and there is not much we can do about it - we either sell him for a fee now or let him go for nothing next year.

His unhappiness didn’t impact his performances though, as he scored both goals in the first leg of the Champions League Knockout Playoff Round against Hereenven.

And we claimed another clean sheet in the second leg to comfortably send us through to the last 16.

It’s amazing that we’re at a point where Champions League knockout games are easy, but it makes losing in the league more frustrating. Lincoln Red Imps were the most recent to beat us, in what was only our 2nd league loss in 4 years.

It actually puts them in 1st position in the table and whereas it’s still in our hands, we’re making it difficult for ourselves and there’s a genuine possibility that Red Imps clinch the title ahead of us.

That possibility was compounded by the fact we have been drawn against Man City in the last 16 of the Champions League.

33-year-old Erling Haaland has 18 goals in 5 Champions League games this season.

You read that right - 18 goals in 5 games. That includes a double hattrick against Utrecht and 7 goals against Panathinaikos.

5 seasons ago we lost to Bayern Munich at this stage and it feels like it could be the same again this year.

It could be a painful couple of matches against Man City…​

 

[hal107]

I’ve enjoyed this story immensely, I couldn’t stop reading. I lived in Gibraltar for a year and watched a lot of the league as well as became involved with the GFA covering games in a media capacity. I also became friends with several of the national team players. More importantly though, I frequented Bruno’s Bar on numerous occasions!
Please keep this going!

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

I’ve enjoyed this story immensely, I couldn’t stop reading. I lived in Gibraltar for a year and watched a lot of the league as well as became involved with the GFA covering games in a media capacity. I also became friends with several of the national team players. More importantly though, I frequented Bruno’s Bar on numerous occasions!
Please keep this going!

Cheers mate, it's been an interesting one for sure and I now find myself looking out for the Gibraltar national team scores in the international breaks! Should have a bit of time to keep this going over Christmas so there will be a few more updates in the next couple of weeks

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

I was not optimistic ahead of our Champions League Round of 16 first leg against Man City, and rightly so…

I don’t really know what you’re supposed to do against players like Haaland and Enderick, who are both earning over £300,000 a week.

The second leg also went as expected.

And so we were knocked out of the Champions League Last 16, again!

I thought our season was about to spiral out of control, but thankfully Red Imps lost to Mons Calpe to help us in the league.

And then a 1-0 win over Red Imps ensured another league title for us, our 10th in a row as Magpies boss

In those ten years we’ve seen some big improvements to the Gibraltar national team too, but we’re at an annoying stage now where players are eligible to represent Gibraltar but keep turning that chance down!

The lack of improvement to the national team in the last few years means that our upcoming Nations League group could be painful - especially as we’re up to Group B!

But that curtails another season as Magpies and Gibraltar boss - another league win and another Champions League Last 16 loss!​

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

This was our 12th season in charge of Magpies and yet only now have we managed to break the attendance record in the Gibraltar league

In another first, one of our players was called up to the England national team. When I signed goalkeeper Eddie Booth I was hoping that one day he would commit to Gibraltar, but it turns out he’s good enough for England!

He’s a key member of our young squad and I’m hoping he’s one of many who will stick with us for the next few years as we try and make a real go of it in the Champions League.

It was the exact same top 5 as last season in the Gibraltar league, with Red Imps going to the Champions League qualifiers, Gibraltar Lions to the Europa League qualifiers and Mons Calpe and College Europa to the Conference League qualifiers.

And it was another exit at the Champions League last 16 for us, the fourth time we have been knocked out at that stage.

Despite being a club that can easily make it through the League Phase of the Champions League, our reputation has not changed.

The lack of an improving reputation means that players like Ilija Krivosija end up leaving the club, with the player we sold last summer now a Premier League winner with Newcastle.

We do have lots of money in the bank thanks to the Champions League (and even the Gibraltar TV money to an extent), the only question is will the elite players be willing to join? The answer to that so far has been no…

We’re also up to 14th in the club coefficients, which technically means we’re the 14th best club in Europe now.

However, the performances of other Gibraltar clubs in Europe means that Denmark has overtaken us in the coefficients table, so we’re now in 10th.

In reality, all it means is the team that finishes 2nd in the league has one more set of Champions League qualifying rounds to go through, so it doesn’t matter too much as we’ll still make the group stage automatically by winning the league.

It’s still slow progress with the national team and our next best shot of glory is EURO 2036 which seems a long way away. The only recent news of note is that Red Imps striker Jaden Bartolo is now the record appearance holder for Gibraltar.

So another season ends and we have several good, young players at the club. We need to keep hold of them in the summer and then hope that we can somehow make it past the last 16 of the Champions League for the first ever time next season.​

 

[Spiklas]

You cant catch a break on the last 16 of the champions league. But keep trying, you will get there.

Thanks to you I will try this challenge in FM24. And i will still follow your save for sure

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

You cant catch a break on the last 16 of the champions league. But keep trying, you will get there.

Thanks to you I will try this challenge in FM24. And i will still follow your save for sure

cheers mate will be interested to hear how you get on - I feel like winning the Champions League is doable but it's going to take 3 or 4 more seasons at least!

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

It’s the summer of 2034 and we’re now entering our 13th season in charge of Bruno’s Magpies in Gibraltar and our 7th year in charge of the Gibraltar national team.

The summer transfer window was defined by a small number of significant transfers. The first was one we already knew about, with striker Franco Dindart leaving for £13m with one year left on his contract.

That was the record fee for a player sold in Gibraltar and I did not intend to break it, until Man United came in with £28.5m for Marko Lorbek…

He was one of our best players but £28.5m was too much to turn down for a player we signed for £2.5m just 3 years ago.

To replace him we made a loan signing with nobody willing to join permanently who would make the squad better - Wellington Teifke therefore joins us on loan from Liverpool for the year.

We’ve also signed the versatile Brian Juarez for £6m, I’m not sure on his best position but he could potentially be playing a lot of matches at centre back this season.

The final signing was striker Guillermo Greco, a record signing at £8m who ruins our wage structure but was a player I had to get once I knew he was interested in joining the club.

So that was it in terms of transfers, despite the big departure of Lorbek we arguably have a stronger squad going into the campaign but we have a very tough Champions League group with 3 English teams and Bayern Munich among our opponents.

Elsewhere, Lincoln Red Imps smashed Sporting Lisbon but had to settle for the Europa League league phase, whereas Gibraltar Lions are in the Conference League group stage for the second successive season.

The Gibraltar league is a formality now despite the improvement of other teams in the division, so once again this season is all about our performances in the Champions League.​