Barcelona is set to travel to play Villarreal on December 20th, 2025.
Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images
The first league game of one of Europe’s top five leagues to be played outside of the league’s home country could be Villarreal vs. FC Barcelona on December 20th, 2025. It would see La Liga become the first league to take the bold move to move a match outside of Spain.
MARCA reports that talks are ongoing between parties to take the La Liga fixture to the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, and switch the host for the 17th matchday round fixture. Villarreal would sacrifice their home advantage in order to benefit from the financial incentives of a fixture in the United States.
Now, the decision will be debated by the Real Federación Español de Fútbol (RFEF) with the directors of the organization set to come to a conclusion on the move. The opportunity is now open to La Liga after FIFA approved a ruling which allows any national league game to be played outside of the national country to which the league belongs. As such, there would be no rule preventing La Liga from playing a fixture in the United States.
The next steps for La Liga to transfer a game to Miami
The first step in the process, once officially proposed by La Liga, is to receive approval from the RFEF as the relevant authority for Spanish soccer. It would then extend to all involved federations, including UEFA, as the European representative, the US Federation and CONCACAF, who would become the host federations, and then FIFA as the global organization.
That process will likely cause great debate among groups, including fan groups of both clubs. “LaLiga continues to be determined to rob its competition from Spanish fans. The RFEF, whose duty is to safeguard our soccer, must not cooperate,” the Federación de Accionistas y Socios del Fútbol Español (FASFE), who represent Spanish soccer fans, stated in reaction to the news online.
The report from MARCA indicates that the Asociación de Futbolistas Españoles (AFE), the association for soccer players in Spain, is not in agreement with the proposal. The fixture would be the last of the calendar year for the players of Barcelona and Villarreal, coming only five days before Christmas.
It is also worth noting that Barcelona would return to Spain for the winter break, returning to action to play Espanyol in a Catalan derby, before then travelling to Saudi Arabia to take part in the Spanish Super Cup, which is also hosted overseas.
Javier Tebas’ latest attempt to take a game to Miami
This is not the first time that La Liga has sought to take a Spanish league fixture to Miami, having failed in their previous attempts. As recently as last year, speculation persisted that the chosen fixture could be FC Barcelona’s clash with Atlético Madrid, taking advantage of Barcelona playing away from the Spotify Camp Nou.
La Liga’s internationalization strategy has included a 15-year joint venture with U.S.-based Relevent Sports agreed in 2018, primarily focused on “all business and development activities, including youth academies, development of youth soccer coaches, marketing agreements, consumer activations, and exhibition matches”, according to the Harvard Business Review.