NEW YORK: La Liga plans to make an international soccer match an annual event after announcing Barcelona and Villarreal will play outside Miami on Dec. 20, Spanish league president Javier Tebas said during an interview with The Associated Press.
Becoming the first major European league to move a competitive match abroad, La Liga is following the model of the NFL, which has played in London since 2007, and this season also has games in Berlin, Dublin, Madrid and Sao Paulo.
“The idea is to follow a similar model but with one difference: We will only play one match abroad,” Tebas said of future schedules. “So I strongly believe that what they are doing is something very positive for the competition. They are letting people all over the world to know the competition, to engage with the competition.”
The soccer match will be played at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, home of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins. La Liga intends to announce future international games with longer lead times. It usually releases its schedule around the start of July.
“It’s a strategy that will help to increase revenues in the mid- to long-term, because we will increase the value of our partners, our sponsors. We will increase the value of audiovisual rights with our broadcasters,” he said.
“Hopefully we will increase the interest, the engagement of the audience in other countries as we are expecting to bring this one game every year to different countries around the world.”
Italy’s Serie A is planning to move a Feb. 8 match between Milan and Como from San Siro to Perth, Australia, because the Italian stadium won’t be available after hosting the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics two days earlier.
Tebas said the experience of playing in an NFL stadium with many food and beverage options and gathering areas could spark improvements in Spain. Real Madrid renovated Estadio Santiago Bernabéu and Osasuna revamped El Sadar.
Construction is ongoing at Barcelona’s Camp Nou, Betis’ Estadio Benito Villamarín and Getafe’s Estadio Coliseum, and Valencia has long-delayed plans for a Nou Mestalla.
“The objective is to increase the match day experience more than the two hours,” Tebas said. “The clubs are already working toward that objective.”
CONCACAF, soccer’s governing body for North and Central America and the Caribbean, said Thursday it must approve the match and “will conduct a thorough review of the application, including consulting key regional and global stakeholders.”
Tebas said CONCACAF cannot block the game because of last year’s settlement that dropped FIFA from a lawsuit by the promoter Relevent, which like Hard Rock Stadium and the Dolphins is owned by Stephen Ross.
“There is already a positive resolution in court that Relevent achieved against FIFA and that goes as well to CONCACAF in the US, so they can’t really go against that court resolution,” he said.
Tebas said Barcelona and Villarreal would play any Copa del Rey round of 32 matches on Dec. 16, then fly immediately after their games and arrive in Florida early on Wednesday ahead of the Saturday game.
Tebas said La Liga has chartered planes to bring to Florida what it estimates will be 2,000 to 3,000 fans from Villarreal, which is the home team. Relevent said a presale of tickets will start Oct. 21 and general sale the next day.