Real Madrid has vehemently resisted a plan to stage a La Liga regular-season game between Villarreal and Barcelona in Miami this December, warning it would represent “a turning point in the world of football.”
Set for December 20 at Hard Rock Stadium in Florida, the scheduled 17th round game would be the first Spanish league event to be played abroad. Should the game get approval, Villarreal has promised free travel and tickets for season ticket holders as well as a 20% discount for people unable to be there.
According to Madrid, the judgment—taken “without prior information or consulting”—would compromise the integrity of the contest, break the concept of territorial reciprocity in home-and-away forms, and establish “an unacceptable precedent” whereby non-sporting interests overrule justice. Invoking UEFA’s 2018 opposition to domestic league games being played abroad save in extraordinary circumstances, the club has asked FIFA, UEFA, and Spain’s High Sports Council to stop the motion.
The Miami plan has already been authorized by the Spanish football association, but FIFA and UEFA have yet to give it the go-ahead. Madrid has promised to protect the “fairness and proper functioning” of official competitions before all appropriate institutions.
Fan groups and the Football Supporters Europe network have also spoken out against such steps, arguing they sever crucial ties between clubs and their communities. To fight what they see as a danger to the core of football, they are “liaising” with stakeholders.
According to Villarreal president Fernando Roig, the game would assist the club’s brand in the United States, a “key market,” to spread. Long chasing foreign events, La Liga has teamed with Relevent Sports, which is connected to Hard Rock Stadium and other major US sporting venues. Past tries to play in the US—including the suggested 2018 Barcelona–Girona game—came up short under player, club, and supporter opposition.
Although FIFA has recently started to review its decades-old prohibition on domestic league matches overseas, Spain’s players’ association and various fan groups continue to disagree on the concept.
