La Liga’s plan to play a regular-season match in the US was on Friday put in serious doubt after the national soccer federation refused to give its approval, according to a person with knowledge of the decision.
The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) sent a letter to league officials stating its refusal to authorize the playing of a competitive match between Barcelona and Girona in Miami on Jan. 26 next year, said the person, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
The federation told the league that it has failed to show that the overseas match would comply with Spanish and international regulations and TV broadcast contracts, and that it would not harm the other 18 league clubs and the fans of Girona and Barcelona, the source said.
The federation has requested more documentation from the league, but the source said that it believed the “holes” in the proposal were “insurmountable.”
Shortly after receiving the letter, La Liga president Javier Tebas said he still hoped to hold the match in Miami.
“The game is still on,” Tebas said. “We believe we are right, and we will try to show that to the relevant authorities. We are going to respond to everything they say and we will keep working.”
The match was critical to increasing La Liga’s global reach and rivaling England’s richer Premier League, he said.
“This match is very important in our strategic plan in the United States,” Tebas said. “I can assure you that we are not going to just accept that they tell us no.”
He did not explain what possible options the league could have of circumventing the federation’s refusal, other than convincing RFEF president Luis Rubiales to change his mind.
Besides the RFEF, the match would also need to be approved by the US Soccer Federation, as well as continental bodies UEFA and the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football.
The league last week asked the RFEF for authorization to play the match.
The refusal by the RFEF was first reported by Spanish radio station COPE.
While La Liga manages the country’s two top divisions of men’s teams and the women’s league, the RFEF is the official governing body that sets the rules and regulations for all soccer played in Spain.
The Association of Spanish Footballers and some fans have been critical of the plan to play competitive matches abroad.
Even though FIFA’s permission is not mandatory, president Gianni Infantino also expressed his doubts about the game earlier this week, when he said that he would “prefer to see a great MLS [Major League Soccer] game in the US rather than La Liga being in the US.”
The Spanish league has never played a match in another country, but the RFEF held its season-opening Supercopa de Espana abroad for the first time last month. Barcelona beat Sevilla in Tangier, Morocco.
The league’s plan to play games in the US is part of a new 15-year partnership with sports and entertainment group Relevent, which operates the International Champions Cup, a tournament played during the European off-season in July and August around the world.
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