Decision follows a league-wide protest conducted by players last weekend
La Liga has cancelled its planned match between Barcelona and Villarreal in Miami after weeks of fierce resistance in Spain.
The game was to be played on 20 December at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium. It would have been the first top-flight European league match to be played outside its home country.
In a statement on Tuesday night, La Liga said the decision came after discussions with its US-based partner, Relevent Sports, citing “the uncertainty that has arisen in Spain over the past few weeks”.
The league expressed regret, describing the cancellation as a lost opportunity to expand Spanish football’s global reach.
It said the project represented “a historic and unparalleled opportunity for the internationalisation of Spanish football” and would have been “a decisive step in the global growth of our competition”.
Relevent Sports, the Miami-based events company that were promoting the fixture, confirmed that it had informed La Liga of its decision to “postpone” the event, citing insufficient time to organise a fixture of such scale.
“Given the current uncertainty in Spain, it would be irresponsible to begin selling tickets without a confirmed match in place,” Relevent said in a statement reported by The Athletic.
The project had faced considerable backlash in Spain in recent weeks, including from fan groups, the Spanish player’s union, and individual players.
Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong criticised it as “not good for the players” and also “not fair in terms of competition”.
Real Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois said it “affects the integrity of the competition”, while the club called for a cancellation on the basis that it would give “an undue sporting advantage to the clubs which made the request”.
Last weekend, a league-wide protest was conducted on the pitch across all games, with players standing still for 15 seconds at the start of every game.
