A shock at the top of the Spanish championship… on the other side of the Atlantic. According to le Daily Mailthe La Liga match between FC Barcelona and Atlético de Madrid, scheduled for the weekend of December 22 at the Montjuïc stadium, could be relocated to the United States. Nearly 7,500km from Catalonia. The match could be played at Hard Rock Stadium (nearly 65,000 seats), located in the northern suburbs of Miami, Florida. It is the home of the Miami Dolphins, an American football team that plays in the NFL.
Javier Tebas, the boss of La Liga, expressed this summer his desire to organize La Liga matches in the USA. “It’s a mark of respect towards the American fans,” explained the Iberian leader. “We see the NBA and NFL playing in Europe or Mexico. That would resonate in the American market.” American sources, cited by the Daily Mail, hope for a favorable outcome in the coming weeks. This will require convincing the Spanish Federation (FREF), UEFA and Fifa.
Ceferin eyes a Champions League final in the USA
The FREF has already rejected two such attempts in recent years, when Luis Rubiales was its president. But the new management would now be more open to this possibility. La Liga believes that UEFA could also be conciliatory at a time when its number 1, Aleksander Ceferin, has expressed his desire to organize a Champions League final in the United States. It remains to obtain the agreement of Fifa, whose regulations stipulate that championship matches must be played on the territory of the country concerned.
Last summer, Barça and Real Madrid faced off in front of nearly 82,500 spectators during a warm-up match at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. In December 2023, the Catalans also played a friendly match in Dallas against the Mexicans of Club América. This new relocation against Atlético would be the first in history in La Liga, with a host of stars like Lamine Yamal, Robert Lewandowski, Pedri, Antoine Griezmann and Julian Alvarez. It could bring in a nice sum for Barça, currently leading the championship, which is facing significant financial difficulties. The culé club has been forced to play at the Montjuïc Olympic stadium (45,000 seats) since the start of the renovation of the Camp Nou, which it hopes to return to at the start of 2025, before the end of the work planned for the summer of 2026 to increase the capacity of the stadium to 105,000 seats.
