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The Royal Spanish Football Federation has approved plans to hold a La Liga match in the United States. This is causing anger among football fans in Spain.
Villarreal vs Barcelona – due to be played at Villarreal’s Estadio de la Ceramica on 21 December – could become the first European league fixture to be played abroad if Spanish football chiefs get their way – although the move remains subject to approval from UEFA and FIFA.
The league match would be held at Hard Rock Stadium, Miami, if the proposal is approved. However, the date clashes with a NFL game between the Miami Dolphins vs. Cincinnati Bengals.
In a press release, the RFEF stated: “At the meeting of its board of directors on 11 August 2025 the RFEF received a Request from Villarreal CF FC Barcelona for their match to be played on matchday seventeen of the First Division in the United States.
“The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) will submit a request to UEFA for FIFA to start the process for subsequently authorising the match that will be played at Hard Rock Stadium Miami, on 20 December 2025.”
Fan groups have united in condemning the proposal as a shameless cash-making move.
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FASFE, the Spanish football supporters’ association, released a statement in conjunction with Barcelona and Villarreal fan groups which urged the RFEF to ‘stop this madness’.
The statement stated: “Following today’s decision by the Royal Spanish Football Federation board to start procedures to grant the necessary permissions for the La Liga Round 17 match between Villarreal vs. Barcelona to be held in Miami on the 21st of December, we, as a network of independent Spanish fans and Villarreal vs. Barcelona fan groups, declare our absolute and unequivocal objection to the match being played outside Spain.”
“We think this is a shameful decision, because it attempts to steal the league away from its real fans. Football is more of a cultural and social event than an entertainment industry. It is unacceptable to remove it from its community, which has created it and supported it since the beginning.
“Furthermore moving an official game abroad undermines the integrity of the competition, violates rights of fans who pay subscriptions to attend matches at their stadiums and contradicts recent EU reports that called for banning domestic league games from being held outside the borders.
“We’ll immediately get to work to stop this decision. We’ll submit a formal demand to the Royal Spanish Football Federation for them to withdraw their permit, and the Higher Sports Council intervene.
We will take legal action if the project is carried out.
La Liga officials have tried for years to capitalize on the growing American markets by hosting a match in another country.
La Liga had announced that they wanted to host Barcelona and Atletico Madrid at Miami last year. The proposal, however, was later dropped due to the time constraint.
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Barcelona attempted to play Catalan opponent Girona at Miami in 2019, but the plan was scrapped due to objections by the RFEF, the players’ union and the RFEF.
The latest proposal is only possible because a lawsuit that was filed by a US-based event promoter against FIFA, and the US Soccer Federation.
Stephen Ross is the owner and founder of Hard Rock Stadium in Miami and the Miami Dolphins. Stephen Ross’ Relevant has taken legal action against the city after its proposal to host the Barcelona match for 2019 was dropped.
US Soccer refused sanctioning the match, claiming that it would violate a FIFA statue which prohibited domestic league matches from being played abroad.
But Relevant sued, arguing that the statute violated the US’ Sherman Antitrust Act – a piece of legislation dating back all the way to 1890 which intended to combat monopolies.
The case was ultimately settled without prejudice.
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