MADRID (AP) – Villarreal blamed the Spanish league’s mismanagement. cancel Regular season match against Barcelona scheduled in the United States.
Villarreal expressed their “dissatisfaction with La Liga’s response regarding the management of the match” on Wednesday. Earlier, Spanish league president Javier Tebas said a “narrow-minded” view was wasting a golden opportunity for Spanish football to present itself to the world.
European fan groups praised the decision to cancel the match and called for the Spanish government to be more transparent in future negotiations to hold league matches overseas.
The Dec. 20 game at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium was called off on Tuesday amid growing opposition from players, fans and some clubs. The league cited “the uncertainties that have arisen in Spain in recent weeks” as the reason.
Games promoter Relevent said it had informed La Liga of the need to “postpone the scheduled matches” because “there is not enough time to properly organize an event of this scale” and that it would be “irresponsible to start selling tickets without a confirmed match”.
Is it a missed opportunity or a bad plan?
“Spanish football has lost the opportunity to move forward, expand globally and strengthen its future,” Tebas told X on Wednesday. “The defense of ‘tradition’ is motivated by a parochial and local point of view.”
Barcelona and Villarreal were participating in matches abroad. The Catalan club also spoke of the “missed opportunity” in Spanish football, with Villarreal complaining about the league’s sloppy management of matches. He said he is considering canceling the project if some issues are not resolved at a meeting scheduled for Thursday.
“Following the lack of progress in the management of La Liga competitions, Villarreal CF reiterated its growing concerns to the organization and urged them to define important and essential aspects, such as confirming match times and contracting with travel agencies to handle an operation of this scale,” the club said in a statement.
“Villarreal CF regrets that La Liga, as the organizer, could not have shown better leadership in the management of the project and that the La Liga match in Miami was ultimately not held, as the club believes that this match represents a great opportunity for the international growth of both clubs and of La Liga itself,” the club said.
Villarreal coach Marcelino García Toral was furious on Tuesday after the cancellation of the Champions League match against Manchester City was announced.
The fan group is also very satisfied.
UEFA’s official fan liaison group Football Supporters Europe celebrated that “La Liga’s tired idea of exporting matches to Miami has collapsed once again”.
“Common sense and the rules of the game have prevailed. This is a seismic victory for European football and for everyone who believes this game is at the heart of our communities,” the group said in a statement. “La Liga’s defeat sends a clear message to the world of football: ill-advised plans like this are doomed to fail. Any attempt to destabilize the foundations of football must stop now.”
The group also called on Italy’s Serie A to scrap plans to have AC Milan and Como play in Australia in February.
Spain’s top sports authority called for further dialogue among all concerned before pursuing such an initiative. Sports Council President José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes on Wednesday called for “absolute transparency” and “appropriate regulation” before any future attempts take place.
players protest
After several failed attempts, the league finally succeeded The team received approval from soccer bodies such as UEFA and the Spanish Federation to hold regular-season matches overseas for the first time, but opposition has recently been growing within Spain.
player stood still Protests took place in the seconds after kick-off at the weekend’s league match, but were censored or not broadcast completely to television viewers, prompting further criticism of La Liga.
Tebas claimed that allowing Barcelona to play an away game against Villarreal on a neutral site had changed the fairness of the league, in a clear blow to Real Madrid, the club that had been most vocal in opposing the match.
“The term ‘integrity of the competition’ is brought up by those who have questioned the same integrity for years, by putting pressure on referees and coaches, by building distorted narratives, by using political and media pressure as a means of sport,” he said, without naming Real Madrid.
“We’re getting pretty close.”
Tebas thanked Barcelona and Villarreal for their dedication and generosity in taking part in a project that only seeks to grow our competition. “They were not thinking about themselves, but about everyone.”
Tebas said Spanish football “deserves to look to the future with ambition, not fear.”
“We will keep trying,” he said. “We came a lot closer this time.”
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