The Spanish league game between FC Villarreal and FC Barcelona in Miami has been canceled. While fan alliances celebrate, the league criticizes a “missed opportunity”. Meanwhile, Serie A’s plans for a game in Australia remain intact.
Javier Tebas, president of La Liga, had long defended moving the game to Miami. The cancellation followed on Tuesday evening and the game will now take place regularly in Villarreal. “The defense of ‘tradition’ is carried out from a narrow-minded and provincial perspective”criticized Tebas in a statement. Spanish football has “a missed opportunity to move forward, present yourself to the world and strengthen your future”.
Javier Tebas, President of La Liga
Attracting an international audience has long been seen as a key to new income in the football business. From the league’s perspective, all clubs in the league could have benefited from this by improving the awareness and marketing of the league as a whole.
The players’ protests are having an effect
However, the Spanish league received considerable opposition beyond Real Madrid for the plan to host the game on December 20th in Miami. The Spanish players’ union AFE had organized protests and justified their actions with one “Lack of transparency and dialogue” by the league. In numerous games over the weekend, players remained standing for 15 seconds after kickoff before starting the game. The league literally censored the protest by switching to images outside the stadium or to close-ups and general perspectives. The protests received a roundabout amount of attention on social networks – which could have gotten even bigger because FC Barcelona is playing against Real Madrid next weekend.
Criticism also came from EU politics. EU Sports Commissioner Glenn Micallef said in an interview with Sportschau that, in his view, moving games abroad was a “betrayal” of the fan communities.
Fans cheer and demand an end to similar Serie A plans
The Spanish fan alliance FASFE cheered: “We did it!!! Fans, footballers and the rest of the football world have defeated those who believe they can exploit our sport for profit.” The European alliance “Football Supporters Europe” (FSE) had drawn up a letter of protest that was signed by around 600 fan groups from all over Europe. “The fans are the most important thing in football. Everyone always says that”said Martin Endemann from “FSE” in an interview with Sportschau: “The clubs are rooted in their cities, in their communities. The clubs carry the city name in their own name. And football should stay where it belongs, namely in the respective city.”
Martin Endemann from the Football Supporters Europe fan alliance
But there is a second process: The Italian Serie A is planning to have the game between AC Milan and Como 1907 played in the Australian city of Perth – around 14,000 kilometers from the stadium in San Siro. On Wednesday, “FSE” called on Serie A to drop plans for the game in Perth: “La Liga’s defeat sends a clear message: such ill-conceived projects are doomed to failure. Serie A must do the right thing in the face of increasing isolation and scale back its plans.”
But there is no sign of that so far. There was also criticism from players in Italy. Milan’s Adrien Rabiot called out the plan “absurd” and received a reprimand from the Serie A managing director. “He should have respect for his income and his employer”said Luigi De Siervo. Serie A wants to postpone the game in early February on the grounds that the stadium in Milan is not available for the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics.
Adrien Rabiot from AC Milan
UEFA had “reluctantly” approved the games
UEFA had previously approved the games in Miami and Perth, but added that they “only reluctantly” do because the FIFA rules on such transfers are currently being revised. The marketing agency “Relevent”, which markets not only the Spanish league but also the DFL and UEFA in the USA, had sued against FIFA’s rules. The dispute was resolved because FIFA promised to revise its criteria for allowing such game postponements.
DFL executive committee spokesman Hans-Joachim Watzke ruled out German competitive games abroad under his responsibility.
Real Madrid got involved
Real Madrid recently intervened in the discussion. Real’s president Florentino Perez, who continues to push the Super League forward and is hosting the NFL for an international game at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu in November, is constantly in confrontation with league president Tebas. Real announced that they would request the Spanish Supreme Sports Council (CSD) to cancel the rescheduling of the game. At a press conference, Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois criticized the postponement for distorting competition because Villarreal would then miss a home game.
Real Madrid President Florentino Perez
Tebas reacted clearly to this and wrote: “The ‘integrity of the competition’ is being questioned by those who have been questioning that integrity for years by putting pressure on referees and government officials.” What was meant were several videos from the club that were intended to prove that referees were supposedly discriminating against Real.
La Liga considers measures necessary
In the communication, those responsible also emphasized the advantages of the foreign games, including the strengthening of the “international presence of the clubs, the positioning of the players and the brand of Spanish football in a strategic market such as the United States” highlighted. In order to be able to keep up with the Premier League, for example “Initiatives like this are essential to ensure the sustainability and growth of Spanish football”said the league.