Will Barcelona vs. Villarreal be played in Miami? La Liga match in USA gets approval from UEFA

Will Barcelona vs. Villarreal be played in Miami? La Liga match in USA gets approval from UEFA originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

European football clubs have long been aware of the financial allure of playing matches in the United States, where the sport's popularity has increased exponentially over the last decade.

Thanks to both the increased profile of soccer amongst established Americans as well as the ingrained popularity within immigrant populations, the sport has blossomed in the U.S. Fans have increased in numbers for both Major League Soccer and clubs overseas as access to match broadcasts has become easier and more prolific.

FIFA found relative success with staging the first expanded Club World Cup in the U.S. last summer, ahead of a highly anticipated 2026 World Cup largely to be contested on American soil.

Murmurs of major European clubs playing league games in the United States have echoed across the continent for the last few years, but so far have been rebuffed by leagues who fear backlash from domestic fans who could view such a move as a cash grab. However, there may be movement on such a front as one league finds the prospect irresistible.

The Sporting News explains how the possibility of La Liga playing a match in the United States, or playing abroad in other markets in general, might be too much for the Spanish federation (RFEF) to put off any longer.

Will Barcelona vs. Villarreal be played in Miami?

According to a report by Adam Crafton of The Athletic in August, and subsequently confirmed by the Spanish federation, the RFEF approved a request for December's match between Barcelona and Villarreal to be played in Miami.

A request was then submitted to UEFA and FIFA to have the fixture location changed, and on October 6 the confederation announced its approval of the request.

However, UEFA were not thrilled about the idea. While they agreed to the plan as proposed, the European governing body admitted their approval was "regrettable" and only down to their own flimsy by-laws which did not give them legal authority to deny the request.

"Given that the relevant FIFA regulatory framework — currently under review — is not clear and detailed enough, the UEFA Executive Committee has reluctantly taken the decision to approve, on an exceptional basis, the two requests referred to it," UEFA said in a statement announcing their approval. "UEFA will actively contribute to the ongoing work led by FIFA to ensure that future rules uphold the integrity of domestic competitions and the close bond between clubs, their supporters and local communities."

UEFA president Alexander Ceferin said they would work to close the loopholes in their regulations to prevent this occurrence in the future.

“League matches should be played on home soil; anything else would disenfranchise loyal match-going fans and potentially introduce distortive elements in competitions,” Ceferin said. “Our consultation confirmed the breadth of these concerns. I would like to thank the 55 national associations for their constructive and responsible engagement on such a sensitive issue."

If the match does end up being moved, it would mark the first time a European top-flight fixture has taken place in the United States, and potentially the first time a major European league has staged a league match outside its own country.

When is Barcelona vs. Villarreal game in Miami?

As of now, the match between Barcelona and Villarreal is scheduled to be played on the weekend of December 20-21.

It does not have a specific date just yet, as La Liga usually waits until a few months before to lock down the order of matches each weekend. This is for a few reasons. First, it ensures clubs have the ideal recovery time from fixtures in knockout competitions depending on who reaches each stage. Second, it allows the league to parse out an optimal schedule depending on the biggest games and most impactful matchups.

Notably for staging a match overseas, this matchweek does not contend with the UEFA Champions League, which will see league-phase play fall dormant between Matchweek 6 on December 9-10 and Matchweek 7 on January 20-21.

It is likely, however, that this could potentially affect the Copa del Rey, which is scheduled to see the Round of 32 played December 16-18.

Why does La Liga want to play a game in USA?

While other leagues continue to generally rebuff the idea of playing league matches abroad, the Spanish league has been at the forefront of this push for nearly a decade.

La Liga first attempted to play matches in the United States back in 2018, hoping to stage a game between Barcelona and Girona in Miami. However, both the RFEF and FIFA opposed the idea at the time, partially thanks to a strained relationship between the Spanish league and federation, hostilities which have largely cooled since.

The Spanish league is looking to capitalize on an increased profile in the United States in recent years. The fanbase for Barcelona and Real Madrid is enormous in the country, especially amongst the significant Latino community, and Spanish football as a whole could benefit from maximizing such links. And it has already ventured down the path of playing games abroad: Spain's Supercopa has been held in Saudi Arabia since 2020, with the exception of the 2021 edition, which was played at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

U.S. professional leagues have made similar forays abroad in recent years. Major League Baseball has staged early-season games in Japan over the last few seasons with significant success. The NFL has played games in England, Germany, and most recently Mexico and Brazil as they look to raise the global profile of their sport.

Real Madrid voice disapproval for playing La Liga matches abroad

Real Madrid are vehemently opposed to the idea of this match being played in the United States.

The Spanish giants released a statement on August 12 in which they claimed staging a game abroad "infringes the essential principle of territorial reciprocity, which applies in two-legged league competitions (one match at home and the other at the home of the opposing team), upsetting the competitive balance and giving an undue sporting advantage to the applicant clubs".

They went on to say: "The integrity of the competition requires that all matches take place under the same conditions for all teams. Unilaterally modifying this regime breaks the equality between contenders, compromises the legitimacy of the results, and sets an unacceptable precedent that opens the door to exceptions based on non-sporting interests, clearly affecting sporting integrity and risking the adulteration of the competition. If this proposal were to be carried out, its consequences would be so serious that it would be a turning point in the world of football."