Joseph Louis Chipolina (born 14 December 1987) is a Gibraltar international

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays for Manchester 62 of the

Gibraltar Football League The Gibraltar Football League is the only senior tier of association football in Gibraltar, founded in 2019 as the Gibraltar National League after a merger of the Gibraltar Premier Division, which served as the top division of football on the R ...

as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

left winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. He is his nation's third most-capped player of all time, having also played the first 27 official matches after

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

were accepted into UEFA.

Club career

Chipolina began his career with Linense of the Spanish

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

and

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

, the third and fourth tier of the

Spanish football league system The Spanish football league system consists of several professional, semi-professional, amateur and non-professional leagues bound together hierarchically by promotion and relegation. The top two tiers of the male league pyramid — Primera Di ...

respectively, between 2007 and 2012. In 2011–12, Chipolina played one season at CD San Roque of the Tercera División. In March 2012, Chipolina earned a week-long trial at

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

of England's League One. Chipolina and San Roque terminated his contract by mutual consent in April 2012. In total, Chipolina made 26 appearances for the club. On 2 July 2014, Chipolina scored the first goal for a Gibraltarian club in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

, with a penalty to give Lincoln Red Imps the lead over

HB Tórshavn HB or Hb may refer to: Academia * H-b index, an extension of the h-index used in determining academic impact * H-B Woodlawn, a secondary education program in Arlington, Virginia, US * Hathaway Brown School, an all-girls private school in Shaker ...

of the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

in a 1–1 draw. In December 2015, Chipolina was offered trials with three Scottish clubs, including Hibernian. However, the trials were cancelled at the last moment because of apparent contract complications with his club Lincoln Red Imps.

International career

Between 2007 and 2013, Chipolina appeared in seven matches for Gibraltar and scored five goals before Gibraltar applied for and was granted

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

membership. One of his caps came in a friendly match against England C which garnered interest in the player from Leyton Orient and Scotland's Livingston. He was also a part of the squad that competed in the

2011 Island Games The XIV Island Games (also known as the 2011 Natwest Island Games for sponsorship reasons) were a major international multi-sport event held from 25 June to 1 July 2011, in the Isle of Wight, England. A total of 2,306 athletes from 24 islands comp ...

. Chipolina made history by being the first Gibraltarian player to score in an official UEFA match when he scored for the Gibraltar national futsal team in a

UEFA Futsal Championship The UEFA European Futsal Championship is the main futsal competition of the men's List of men's national futsal teams, national futsal teams governed by UEFA (the Union of European Football Associations). History The first tournament was held in ...

match against

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

in 2013. After Gibraltar was accepted as a member of UEFA, Chipolina was selected as part of the 23-man squad for Gibraltar's official debut against

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

on 19 November 2013. Chipolina made his international debut in the match, a start in the eventual 0–0 draw. He played in every one of Gibraltar's games from 19 November 2013 until 3 September 2017, but was left out of the senior squad announcement on 28 September 2017 to face

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

and

Greece national football team The Greece national football team (, ) represents Greece in men's international Association football, football matches, and is controlled by the Hellenic Football Federation, the governing body for football in Greece. Greece is one of only ten ...

. On 13 October 2018, Chipolina scored the only goal from the penalty spot as

recorded their first competitive win in a 1–0 victory over

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

in the

2018–19 UEFA Nations League The 2018–19 UEFA Nations League was the inaugural season of the UEFA Nations League, an international association football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA. The league phase of the competition ...

. He was on the scoresheet again three days later, heading the winner as Gibraltar came from behind to beat

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

2–1.

International goals for Gibraltar XI

:''Scores and results list Gibraltar's goal tally first.''

International goals for Gibraltar

:''Scores and results list Gibraltar's goal tally first.'' , - !scope=row, , 13 October 2018 , ,

Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium (), also known as the Republican Stadium (), is an all-seater stadium, all-seater multi-use stadium located on 65 Vardanants Street, in the Armenian capital Yerevan. The stadium was built between 1933 and 1935. ...

, Yerevan, Armenia , , , , , , , , rowspan=2 ,

2018–19 UEFA Nations League D The 2018–19 UEFA Nations League D was the fourth and lowest division of the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League, 2018–19 edition of the UEFA Nations League, the inaugural season of the international Association football, football competition involvi ...

, - !scope=row, , 16 October 2018 , , Victoria Stadium,

, , , , , ,

International career statistics

Personal life

Chipolina works as a Prison Officer in Gibraltar. He is the older brother of Kenneth Chipolina who also plays for the Gibraltar national football team and cousin of Roy Chipolina.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chipolina, Joseph 1987 births Living people Gibraltarian men's footballers Gibraltar men's international footballers Gibraltarian expatriate men's footballers Men's association football forwards Segunda División B players Tercera División players Real Balompédica Linense footballers CD San Roque footballers Real Colorado Foxes players St Joseph's F.C. players Lincoln Red Imps F.C. players Gibraltarian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Gibraltar Premier Division players Gibraltar pre-UEFA men's international footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain British prison officers 21st-century British sportsmen