GIBRALTAR — The United States and the Soviet Union boycotted each other’s Olympics during the cold war. The United Nations used sports to take a stand against South Africa during apartheid. The latest flash point of sports and international politics: Gibraltar, the tiny tip of the Iberian Peninsula that for centuries has endured as a tug of war between Spain and Britain.

The current dispute centers on the Gibraltar soccer team, an unlikely collection of amateur players who are generally considered past their athletic prime. But Gibraltar is not aiming to become a soccer powerhouse, at least not any time soon. Gibraltar would simply like its soccer team to be recognized by the sport’s various governing bodies, and perhaps one day to compete in the World Cup.

But Spain, the big next-door neighbor that happens to be the reigning World Cup and European champion, objects. Gibraltar is a territory that should not stand on its own, in soccer or otherwise, Spain argues.

The issue has stirred one of the most volatile, if obscure, disputes in international sports.

Spain has gone so far as to threaten to remove marquee clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona from European competition if Gibraltar is acknowledged as an independent soccer-playing country. UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, which was forced to admit Gibraltar as a provisional member last year, will decide whether to make it a full member at the organization’s annual congress Friday.