The club warns the move would hand “an undue sporting advantage to the clubs which made the request”
Real Madrid have hit back against plans to host the upcoming La Liga clash between Villarreal and Barcelona in the US.
The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) recently approved a request from La Liga to play the match at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, which would make it the first ever La Liga fixture to be played abroad.
The proposal now awaits clearance from Fifa after the RFEF said it would follow the due process of submitting an approval to the body through Uefa.
But Real Madrid, who have always been against the idea of playing a La Liga match in the US, have now officially kicked against it. The club say they have taken the step of asking Fifa not to authorise the proposal.
The 36-time La Liga champions also called on Uefa and Spain’s Supreme Sports Council to step in and pressure the RFEF into withdrawing its approval.
In a statement, the club warned that the move would hand “an undue sporting advantage to the clubs which made the request”.
“Real Madrid wishes to express to its members, supporters, and football fans in general its firm rejection of the proposal to play the Matchday 17 first-division league game between Villarreal CF and FC Barcelona outside of Spain,” the club’s statement read.
“The measure, implemented without prior information or consultation with the clubs participating in the competition, violates the essential principle of territorial reciprocity which governs double-round league competitions (one match at home and the other at the opposing team’s home), altering the competitive balance and giving an undue sporting advantage to the clubs which made the request.
“The integrity of the competition demands that all matches be held under the same conditions for all teams.
“Unilaterally modifying this regime violates equality between contenders, compromises the legitimacy of the results, and sets an unacceptable precedent which opens the door to exceptions based on interests other than strictly sporting ones, clearly affecting sporting integrity and risking the competition’s adulteration.”
