LaLiga is working so that the Barcelona-Atlético match on December 21/22, corresponding to matchday 18 of the league championship, will be played in Miami. This is confirmed by various sources from the sector consulted, including the Madrid club. The idea of playing a competition match in Miami is not new. There was already an attempt in 2018, but the opposition of FIFA, UEFA, and, above all, the Spanish Football Federation chaired by Luis Rubiales prevented the chosen match, a Girona-Barcelona match, from being held. LaLiga must still request permission from the three aforementioned entities, but the context has changed.
Rubiales no longer presides over the federation and relations with LaLiga have been resumed under the presidency of Pedro Rocha. Both FIFA and UEFA also seem more open to this globalization of competitions in the style of the American NBA and NFL. UEFA itself, chaired by Alexander Ceferin, has among its aspirations to one day hold a Champions League final on American soil.
At Atlético they admit that they are proactive in this type of initiatives that serve to dimension the LaLiga brand outside of Spain, with the consequent economic benefits for all clubs. For its part, other sources add, the fact that Barcelona is still playing its games in Montjuïc makes it easier for the duel to be moved to Miami. “Starting a match at the Metropolitano or the new Camp Nou, when it is finished,” will not be easy. At Barcelona, for their part, they neither confirm nor deny the idea that this match will be played in the United States.
Javier Tebas himself admitted in a recent interview in this newspaper that he had planned to return to the idea of playing a match in Miami. If FIFA, UEFA and the Federation allow it, it will be Barcelona-Atlético on December 21/22, with the exact date yet to be determined.
