Barcelona Breaks New Ground With La Liga Clash In The United States

On Monday, August 11, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) formally approved a plan put forth by La Liga to hold a regular season game between FC Barcelona and Villarreal at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium. The game was initially planned to take place on December 21 at the Estadio de la Cerámica in Villarreal.

For the last permission steps in what would be a historic match—the first-ever European match to be played in the United States—the proposal now goes to the European governing organization, UEFA, and the world regulating body, FIFA.

In a related step, the Italian Football Federation authorized a league game between AC Milan and Como for the regular season to be played in Australia in February 2026; however, the match is still awaiting final approval.

La Liga President Javier Tebas has been advocating for the Spanish match for years, so if it is allowed, it would be a huge win for him. Tebas contends that in a European environment where the English Premier League is making more and more money while its continental peers are falling further behind, it would help the Spanish league remain competitive.

“It’s not enough to show your matches on TV. The official match in the US will strengthen our position in the North American market. Other very competitive leagues are coming so we can’t just do the same thing we always do, they will pass us up”, Tebas told Spanish outlet Expansión in April 2024.

“We have to do different things. … Having the match abroad is a very important strategic subject. We have to be in all those areas and if we’re not on an international level, we will lose a lot.”, he added.

In a recent interview with CNN Sports, Barcelona president Joan Laporta said that the club was excited about the opportunity to play overseas and agreed that promoting the league worldwide is important.

“For (Barça), it will be a great honor to participate in this event that will be an official game of LaLiga, but at the same time (it) will be a big event in the States,” he told Amanda Davies from the club’s preseason tour in Seoul, South Korea.

“We are a club that belongs to LaLiga, and we are responsible because we want to commercialize LaLiga as best as possible.”

At a news conference on Tuesday, Villarreal club president Fernando Roig also stated that he believed it was a “wonderful concept” and that the game was for “the good of football, of Villarreal, and of LaLiga.”

Both clubs are said to benefit financially from the transfer. Barcelona and Villarreal will each receive between €5 million ($5.85 million) and €6 million (about $7 million) for the Miami encounter, according to Catalan radio station RAC1. To make up for the loss of ticket sales from forfeiting a home game, Villarreal would get a little extra.

Villarreal wants to win there so that many Americans will fall in love with them and become their supporters.

The “absolute, total, and unequivocal objection to the delocalization of a match outside of Spain” was stated in a statement issued Monday by the Spanish Football Members and Supporters Federation (FASFE), a Villarreal fan group, and a Barcelona supporters’ group.

“We think it’s shameful that attempts are being made to pervert our league by robbing it of its very purpose, which is none other than its fans,” the statement continued. “Football is, in greater ways and above all, a social and cultural event rather than a branch of the entertainment industry, and the desire to eradicate it from the community that created it and sustains it since its birth is an attack that we cannot ignore.”

Villarreal has made an effort to lessen the financial strain on domestic supporters by providing season ticket holders with complimentary travel and Miami match tickets. For the 2025–2026 season, those who decide not to attend will receive a 20% discount on their season ticket.

There are, nevertheless, some supporters who opposed a match in the US and still do.

When Tebas initially proposed the idea, players and clubs started to oppose it. LaLiga declared in 2018 that it intended to host an official match in the United States, but the concept was promptly shelved.

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The decision at the time “outraged” Spanish league players, who threatened to go on strike. The La Liga manager then put the earlier plan—which called for a match between Barça and Girona, another Catalan team—on hold.

At the time, David Aganzo, head of the Spanish Footballers’ Association (AFE), stated that concluding the deal without first consulting the players “show(ed) a lack of respect.”

“It’s not just the game as such, in terms of health and travel, it just makes no sense to have a game played in the United States and have one team have to give up a home game.

“It cannot be that a person takes a decision of a 15-year agreement, which affects many people and without consulting. We are fed up with not being valued.”

Yet while resistance exists among some fans and teams, if one thing time has shown again and again in any sector of life – be that sports or otherwise – it is that economic interests usually win out, much to the dismay of many of the die-hard traditionalists who follow the “Beautiful Game.”