Article by Daniel Grigore – Published on Tuesday, 21 October 2025, 23:18 / Updated on Tuesday, 21 October 2025 23:18
The championship match between Villarreal and Barcelona will not take place in La Liga after all!
The Villarreal – Barcelona game was to be played on December 20, in Miami, USA. For this championship game to take place outside Spain's borders would have been a first, one that league bosses and the club managers involved insisted on given the financial stakes.
Although there was UEFA's acceptance in this regard, missing only that of FIFA, at the last moment came the news that the game will not take place in Miami.
The reason is that the organizer contracted by La Liga, the company Relevent, he didn't have enough time to work out all the details.
Reversal: Villarreal v Barcelona is NOT being played in the USA
“Relevent has informed La Liga that there is a need to postpone the match between Villarrea and Barcelona in Miami on December 20. Given the uncertainty in Spain, there is not enough time to properly organize an event of this caliber.
It would be irresponsible to start selling tickets without the match being confirmed“, the organizer, a company founded and owned by Stephen M. Ross, the owner of the American football team Miami Dolphins, sent.
If the organizer mentioned the need for a postponement, La Liga announced that the event had, in fact, been canceled “due to the ongoing uncertainty in Spain”..
“La Liga deeply regrets that this project, which represented a historic and unique opportunity for the internationalization of Spanish football, cannot go ahead.
To organize an official match outside the borders would have been a decisive step in the global expansion of our competition, strengthening the international presence of the clubs, the players and the brand of Spanish football in a strategic market like the United States,” La Liga said.
In the most recent round of the championship, the players protested against the plan to take that championship match overseas. They refused to play in the first 15 seconds after the starting whistle. In response, the Spanish league asked television stations not to broadcast those first 15 seconds either!
Laporta had just punched his chest: “I'm the president of FC Barcelona and we're going to play in Miami”
Joan Laporta, the president of FC Barcelona, the club that insisted on playing the match in the USA, also fell in the middle. Faced with Real Madrid's opposition, who turned to FIFA to stop the Barcelona-Villarreal-La Liga project, Laporta responded wryly:
“Real Madrid can say what they want and they will do what they like, but I am the president of FC Barcelona and we are going to play in Miami on December 20.”
