La Liga cancels Villarreal v Barcelona in Miami

Villarreal and Barcelona’s regular-season game will no longer be played in Miami, according to La Liga.

The Spanish football federation (RFEF) approved plans to move Villarreal’s game against Barcelona to Hard Rock Stadium on December 20th, which sparked unrest in Spain.

Players in La Liga at the weekend refused to move for the first 15 seconds of their matches due to the plans to hold a top-flight game outside of Spain.

Relevent, the match’s promoter, claims there is “insufficient time” to schedule the event, with La Liga citing “uncertainty in Spain” as well.

As originally anticipated, the match will now take place at Villarreal’s Estadio de la Ceramica residence.

La Liga expressed regret over the delay, calling it “a blow to the entire football ecosystem’s international profile.”

La Liga also believed that playing an official game away from Spain would have been a “decisive step in the global expansion” of its rivals, and that “passing up such opportunities makes it difficult to generate new revenue.”

Although the Spanish Super Cup has been held in Saudi Arabia for the first five years, it would have been the first time a top-flight league match had taken place in the United States.

The Italian football federation (FIGC) approved a Serie A match between AC Milan and Como in February after the initial confirmation of the Miami game.

In a market with “great capacity for growth and generation of resources for everyone,” Barcelona acknowledged that it “respects and accepts” the decision to cancel the game and “regrets the missed opportunity to expand the competition’s image.

The club expressed regret over the fact that American fans are denied the chance to watch an official game there.

Guillem Balague, a renowned expert in Spanish football, does not believe the story is over, despite the decision to cancel the game.

While Javier Tebas is in charge of La Liga, he will try to get just one game away, he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

He believes that the project is intended to raise awareness of Spanish football, as the statement claims.

It complied fully with federation rules. The project’s position was chosen for reasons that were unrelated to the integrity of the sport or the regulations.

Balague thinks the match was canceled in part because of finances.

There may have been insufficient funds, or the money may not have been clear where it was going, but there hasn’t been much confusion, he continued.

“We’re not getting any money for it,” Villarreal said, but Barcelona said, “We’ll get money as soon as we board the plane.”