Basque Football Federation (FVF) continues toward its long-term aim of fielding an official Basque team in international play. For now, however, the federation has paused the process that began in 2018 to pursue that goal. The FVF indicated to national authorities that it will not take its case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to compel recognition by UEFA and FIFA. The president, Javier Landeta, confirmed this stance during a session in the Basque Parliament, noting that the federation would honor the existing frameworks and the guidance provided by its legal advisers rather than push forward through arbitration.
Landeta stated that the federation would not pursue a direct appeal, reflecting a decision rooted in the assessment that the proposal would not comply with the requirements set by international bodies and legal norms. He emphasized the commitment to an official Basque national side while respecting the established legality surrounding the matter.
THREE and half YEARS
The Basque football project marks the end of a chapter that began formally in December 2018 during a gathering in Durango, Bizkaia. At that meeting the sole item on the agenda was not accepted by the assembly: the direct integration of the FVF into UEFA and FIFA. The plan, backed by the Basque Government then led by the coalition of the Basque Nationalist Party and the socialist party, passed with a large majority but not without opposition. The then president of the institution, Luis Mari Elustondo, undertook to initiate the legislative route to fulfill the assembly’s mandate. He argued that a split from the national federation could be facilitated, but the decision makers in Madrid, led by the general secretary at the time, rejected the move citing legal and constitutional constraints.
The core issue rested on whether an independent Basque federation could be admitted to UEFA and FIFA while not being part of the Spanish federation. This stance clashed with the constitutional framework, which has long reserved participation in most international sports to federations that operate within the recognized state system. Historically, regional teams have only competed internationally in sports lacking a national federation structure; Euskadi has participated in activities such as tug-of-war rather than FIFA- or UEFA-sanctioned events when not aligned with the national body.
no official reception
Two years after the Durango meeting, in December 2020, Elustondo and the Basque Government’s Sports Director, Jon Round, traveled to Switzerland to present applications to UEFA and FIFA. Both organizations declined to grant an official reception for the Basque delegation, signaling a lack of alignment with the pathway available for recognition. In March, Elustondo stepped down, and Landeta, who also leads the Basque Government’s Digital Justice and Infrastructure portfolio, assumed the presidency.
July 2021 brought further clarity when the UEFA Executive Committee chose not to forward the Basque request to its Congress. The decision rested on the federation being considered part of the Spanish system and not meeting admission criteria for independent state recognition at the international level. The political and legal realities around the adoption of broader authorities, such as agreements with other territories, factored into this outcome.
FIFA says no
The stance from FIFA soon followed and was equally decisive. FIFA requires that any federation aspiring to member status have first achieved recognition through its confederation, in this case UEFA. The principle is clear: one cannot join FIFA without first belonging to UEFA. The FVF contemplated appealing both rejections to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, yet past precedents make success unlikely. The federation reaffirmed its aim to secure official status, but the obstacles remained essentially the same as at the outset: neither UEFA and FIFA rules nor the Spanish Constitution permit a unilateral path to recognition.
Going forward, the FVF could challenge the decisions at CAS, but it confronted the same fundamental barriers. The federation continues to express its desire to participate in international fixtures under appropriate legal and administrative conditions, while accepting the current constraints that prevent a formal inclusion of a Basque body within UEFA and FIFA as a separate entity from Spain.