Spanish football was finally able to cross the Atlantic Ocean after the Royal Spanish football federation had approved a request for Barcelona and Villarreal to play their La Liga 2025-26 match in December in Miami-a movement in the making for almost a decadium.
The RFEF board gave the Green Light on Monday for the teams of the teams 17 to be played on December 20 at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami in the first step in the direction of the competition that played an official game abroad for the first time in its history.
The proposal now goes to the UEFA administrative body of European football before he requires definitive approval from FIFA – the last obstacle in the American dream of La Liga, Javier Tebas.
«During his meeting on August 11, 2025, the RFEF Council received a request from Villarreal CF and FC Barcelona to play his match on MatchDay 17 of the first division in the United States,» RFEF said in a statement.
«… The Royal Spanish football federation will submit the request to UEFA to start the trial for later authorization by FIFA for the match for the game played in Miami in Miami on December 20, 2025 …»
La Liga has continued its transatlantic vision for almost a decade and emulates the strategy of the NFL and NFA strategy to settle in other markets.
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The first attempt by Tebas came in the 2018-19 season with a proposed Girona-Barca match in the US that never came true.
A planned Villarreal-Atletico fixture for 2019-20-20 also fell on, with the case ending up in the courts after the RFEF refused the authorization.
The courts went the side of the Spanish Federation, then under Luis Rubiales, which was fired in 2023 for kissing team player Jenni Hermoso on the mouth that celebrated the World Cup victory of Spain in Sydney.
There was another near-miss last season, with a match in Barcelona-Atletico almost before LaLiga withdrew at the last minute to better structure the project.
Now, with legal barriers erased and internal conflicts resolved, the collision of Villarreal-Barca seems ready to finally deliver the long-awaited American adventure of Spanish football.
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