Actual Madrid has stated that it “firmly rejects” having a regular-season Spanish league sport performed in the USA and warned of “a turning level on this planet of soccer”.
Villarreal, in distinction, is promising free journey and tickets for season-ticket holders if its match towards Barcelona in Miami is accepted, in what can be a primary for the league. The Seventeenth-round match in La Liga can be performed at Exhausting Rock Stadium, the house of Barca legend Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami.
Madrid stated on Tuesday that it has taken motion to maintain the December 20 match from taking place within the US, claiming it will harm the “integrity of the competitors” and the “legitimacy of the outcomes”.
“The measure, which was taken with out prior info or session of the golf equipment taking part within the competitors, infringes the important precept of territorial reciprocity, which applies in two-legged league competitions (one match at dwelling and the opposite on the dwelling of the opposing group), upsetting the aggressive steadiness and giving an undue sporting benefit to the applicant golf equipment,” Madrid stated.
The membership stated the match would set “an unacceptable precedent that opens the door to exceptions primarily based on non-sporting pursuits, clearly affecting sporting integrity and risking the adulteration of the competitors”.
“If this proposal have been to be carried out, its penalties can be so severe that it will be a turning level on this planet of soccer,” Madrid stated.
The Europe-wide fan group Soccer Supporters Europe (FSE) stated it was “liaising” with members, soccer stakeholders, affected teams and companion organisations to “collectively resist the newest menace to the very nature of soccer”.
“We’re following the broader affect on soccer with the utmost concern,” the group stated. “Transferring video games from their home territories strikes on the coronary heart of the connection between followers and their groups, breaking very important hyperlinks between golf equipment and their communities.”
The group additionally criticised an identical transfer by the Italian league to play a match overseas.
The Italian soccer federation stated in July {that a} plan was in movement to play the Serie A match between AC Milan and Como within the Australian metropolis of Perth in February.
Madrid asks FIFA and UEFA to withhold permission for Barcelona sport
Madrid stated it has requested FIFA, UEFA and Spain’s prime sport physique to not authorise the sport within the US. The Spanish soccer federation on Monday accepted a request for the match to be performed in Miami. UEFA and FIFA now must approve the request earlier than it may be made official.
“Any modification of this nature should, in any case, have the categorical and unanimous settlement of all of the golf equipment taking part within the competitors, in addition to strictly respecting the nationwide and worldwide guidelines governing the group of official competitions,” Madrid stated.
Madrid and the Spanish league president, Javier Tebas, have usually been at odds on numerous points.
The membership stated UEFA ought to deny the request to play the sport overseas, primarily based on the “criterion established in 2018 that stops official matches in home competitions from being performed exterior nationwide territory, besides in duly justified distinctive circumstances, which aren’t current right here”.
Madrid stated it requested the nation’s excessive sport council “to not grant the mandatory administrative authorization with out such unanimous consent”.
“Actual Madrid reaffirms its dedication to respect the nationwide and worldwide guidelines that assure the equity and correct functioning of official competitions, and can defend its compliance with them earlier than all competent our bodies,” the membership stated.
Villarreal hoping to develop its model in US
Villarreal earlier on Tuesday stated that its season ticket-holders can journey without cost and obtain free tickets for the match. It stated those that don’t wish to go, or can’t go, will get a 20 p.c low cost on their season tickets.
“We might be the primary [Spanish] group to play a league match overseas,” Villarreal’s president, Fernando Roig, instructed a information convention. “It could drastically assist us develop our model in a key market like the USA.”
Staging a match overseas has lengthy been a part of the league’s objective to advertise soccer and its model in different nations.
It first tried to stage a match within the US in 2018, with a sport between Barcelona and Girona, however the thought was dismissed after criticism from gamers, followers and golf equipment. Subsequent makes an attempt to play there additionally failed.
The league had supplied compensation packages for Girona followers in 2018.
It was not clear whether or not it will be Villarreal or the league paying for the journey and tickets for the membership’s followers this time.
The makes an attempt to play within the US are a part of the league’s long-term partnership with sport and leisure group Relevent Sports activities, which is a part of Stephen Ross’s portfolio of firms, together with Exhausting Rock Stadium, the Miami Dolphins, the System One’s Miami Grand Prix and the Miami Open tennis match.
Earlier this yr, it was introduced that New York-based Relevent Sports activities has unique negotiating rights over the worldwide business rights to the UEFA males’s membership competitions for the interval 2027-2033.
FIFA moved final yr in direction of ending many years of soccer custom by ordering a assessment of its coverage that blocks home league video games from being performed in different nations.
Some fan teams in Spain and the nation’s gamers’ affiliation on Monday expressed their disapproval of the plan to maneuver the match 1000’s of kilometres away.
It has grow to be routine, although, for US professional sport leagues to stage video games in Europe, Asia and South America that assist construct their manufacturers and fan bases.
