The captains of every side in LaLiga have come together to reject a proposal taking Barcelona’s fixture against Villareal this season to the United States.
The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) plan to take the clash Stateside was accepted earlier this month and is now awaiting approval from UEFA and FIFA.
If given the go ahead, Hansi Flick’s Barcelona stars will travel to Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium to play an away fixture against Villareal.
But the AFE (Spanish players’ association) have now hit back at the proposal following a meeting on Thursday with the captains of all 20 LaLiga clubs.
Every single skipper, including Dani Carvajal of Real Madrid and Barcelona’s Marc-Andre ter Stegen, opposed the idea citing ‘the lack of dialogue and information provided’ by the RFEF.
A statement issued by the AFE read: ‘Backed by the captains of the LaLiga clubs, AFE opposes playing a league game outside of Spain.
The captains of every LaLiga side have come together to reject plans to take a top flight fixture Stateside
The proposal would see Barcelona’s fixture against Villareal played at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium
‘The captains of every team met on Thursday to discuss the request, as announced by the Spanish Football Federation [RFEF] earlier in August, for a game to be played outside of the country, which was submitted to UEFA and FIFA.
‘AFE requested a detailed report from the league in order to inform the players of the situation and hear their opinions. In its response, the league only informed us of the progress of the authorisation process.
‘In view of this situation, given the lack of dialogue and information provided, the initiation of a project promoted by La Liga and approved without any information by the RFEF is disrespectful to the players, as it involves changes at a sporting level in addition to travel outside the country as workers within the framework of a domestic league.’
Villareal are currently scheduled to face Barcelona on December 21 but, according to The Athletic, the fixture may have to be moved in order to fit in with the NFL calendar. The Miami Dolphins are scheduled to play Miami Dolphins at the Hard Rock stadium on the same day.
However, the Spanish Cup’s round-of-32 stage is expected to take place between December 16 and December 18, which complicates matters.
LaLiga also attempted to stage a Barcelona match abroad back in 2018, this time with Girona the opponents included in the proposal, as well as a league game between Atletico Madrid and Villarreal the following year.
The stadium usually hosts NFL fixtures but has also held pre-season football (soccer) fixtures
Real Madrid skipper Dani Carvajal was one of the 20 to oppose the move
The requests, however, were both met with opposition from both the RFEF and FIFA.
It is understood the relationship between RFEF and LaLiga has improved since those initial proposals, and now the Spanish top flight has taken a significant step towards staging a fixture abroad.
While FIFA has so far shown opposition towards the idea, the possibility of staging domestic league fixtures abroad has been given a significant boost.
US events promoter Relevent, which was founded by Miami Dolphins founder Stephen Ross, has dropped world football’s governing body from their landmark lawsuit.
The case, issued in 2018, accused FIFA and the US Soccer Federation of stopping official league matches from being staged in foreign countries, preventing fair competition.
However, as of April 2024, FIFA and Relevent have now settled the case.
