LALIGA
Barcelona vs Atletico LaLiga clash in Miami next December looming larger
Atletico president Enrique Cerezo stated on Wednesday night that: ‘if it benefits Spanish football, we’d be delighted to play there’.
The possibility of a Spanish league game being staged overseas (Miami) grows stronger with US sports marketing promoter Relevent (LaLiga’s partner for North America) now in a negotiation process with FIFA to obtain permission to play a Primera División match in the United States this season.
The game being put forward is the matchday 18 clash (scheduled for 22 December) between FC Barcelona-Atletico Madrid with both clubs having apparently approved the initiative although the bureaucratic aspect of taking a domestic game overseas has yet to be resolved with FIFA.
Speaking to media ahead of his team’s Champions League clash against Lille on Wednesday night, Atletico president Enrique Cerezo claimed that if the move ‘benefitted Spanish football, we would be delighted to play there’.
Tebas drive
LaLiga president Javier Tebas has been pushing to stage a Spanish league game overseas for some time now with his plan to stage a Barça-Girona game in Florida back in 2018 thwarted at the time by both FIFA and the Spanish FA.
There is now however a sense of that Tebas’ long-awaited plan to bring a LaLiga match to the United States will become a reality with Relevent confident of securing FIFA’s approval. Should the green light be forthcoming from football’s global governing body, subsequent approvals would be needed from both the United States Soccer Federation and the Spanish Football Federation. The previous proposal was met with stern resistance from, then Spanish FA head Luis Rubiales but with Rubiales absent and a more harmonious relationship currently existing between both institutions, it is felt that resistance will be minimal.
Another indication that the Miami game may materialise is that, of all upcoming Barça home fixtures, the Atleti game is one of the few forthcoming fixtures where no tickets are available via the official club website. Possibly coincidental or potentially a sign that the Catalan side will be involved in what would be a pioneering and no doubt controversial step for domestic league competitions across the world should the matchday 18 clash take place at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami next December.