La Liga has announced it will no longer stage Villarreal v Barcelona in Miami this December, blaming “uncertainty” caused by the critical response to the plans in Spain.
The Spanish top flight had set great store in staging some of its fixtures abroad and bemoaned its inability to follow through with the plans in a lengthy statement released on Tuesday night.
The decision had been taken – in conjunction with the game’s promoter, Relevent – to “cancel the organisation of the event due to the uncertainty that has arisen in Spain over the past few weeks”, La Liga said, adding that it “deeply regretted” such an outcome. “Holding an official match outside our borders would have been a decisive step in the global growth of the competition,” it said.
The statement went on to suggest La Liga needed novel ways of generating money because of the continued dominance of the Premier League. “In an increasingly competitive global landscape, where leagues such as the Premier League or competitions like the Uefa Champions League continue to expand their reach and ability to generate revenue, initiatives like this are essential to ensure the sustainability and growth of Spanish soccer,” it said.
“Renouncing such opportunities hinders the generation of new income, limits clubs’ capacity to invest and compete, and reduces the international projection of the entire Spanish soccer ecosystem.”
The enthusiasm of La Liga for overseas fixtures has been found wanting elsewhere. The latest round of fixtures were disrupted by protests this past weekend. Players refused to move for the first 15 seconds of games, with the Spanish footballers’ association saying the decision to “symbolically protest” had been taken because of the league’s “lack of transparency, dialogue and coherence” over the Miami match.
Real Madrid have filed two complaints over the move to the Spanish sports ministry, with their manager, Xabi Alonso, saying his side were against it because it “distorts the competition”. Alonso’s goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois said: “La Liga does whatever it wants because it suits them.”
The protests followed Uefa’s decision this month to “reluctantly” allow the match, along with a Serie A fixture between Milan and Como in Perth, Australia, to go ahead. The European governing body, which also has a working relationship with Relevent, said at the time that it “reiterated its clear opposition to domestic league matches being played outside their home country”, adding: “However … the Uefa executive committee has reluctantly taken the decision to approve, on an exceptional basis, the two requests referred to it.”
In a separate statement, first published in the Athletic, Relevent said it had informed La Liga of the need “to postpone” the match, arguing that the uncertainty in Spain had left “insufficient time to properly execute an event of this scale”.
Following Villarreal’s Champions League defeat by Manchester City on Tuesday night, during which the news was released, the club’s manager Marcelino blasted the timing of the announcement.
After the club press officer had asked for questions on the match only, Marcelino was asked anyway. “OK, I am going to answer only one question and I am going to be clear,” he said. “I think it is an absolute lack of respect for them to release a statement at half-time about something that they knew would not be done. It is a lack of respect to the directors, the club, the professionals and the fans … the club will release an official statement tomorrow saying what they think. What I think is this.”
Marcelino was asked again a few questions later. “I was clear, wasn’t I?” he said. “One question, one answer. I repeat myself: I found out at the end of the game, and the rest of what I said is my opinion.”
