Jersey's appeal against UEFA's refusal to grant them membership to be heard by CAS this week

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Jersey's appeal against UEFA's decision to deny them membership of European football's governing body is set to be heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne on Wednesday.

UEFA rejected the Jersey FA's application last year, chiefly on the grounds that Jersey is not recognised as an independent state by the United Nations.

But Jersey officials are convinced they have a strong legal argument centred around UEFA's refusal last year to allow the application to go to a vote of the 55 existing UEFA nations.

Jersey FA chief executive Neville Davidson said: 'We are committed to going down this route because we want to pursue what is best for football in Jersey.

'We have got a fantastic development structure and senior lads who have been playing against each other for 15 years and we have hit a glass ceiling - there is nowhere else for us to go.'

The Court of Arbitration for Sport will hear Jersey's appeal over UEFA membership this week 

Following the hearing on Wednesday, CAS officials will have up to three months to reach a determination on Jersey's fate.

UEFA is expected to argue that it amended its rules in 2013 to stipulate that only countries recognised by the United Nations as an independent state could apply for membership.

However, the following year it accepted an application from Kosovo, which is not formally recognised by the UN but had already been granted recognition by the International Olympic Committee.

European football's governing body refused a Jersey FA application for membership last year

Jersey are currently playing in the Island Games in Gotland, in which they beat Channel Islands rivals Alderney 3-0 on Sunday night.

Davidson added: 'We are not arguing that we want to be able to go out and play Germany next week.

'We believe UEFA should consider a tiered structure like many other sports, so that our representative teams can play more games and give players that aspiration.'