The Spanish Professional Football League (La Liga) match will be held in the United States across the Atlantic Ocean.
ESPN reported on the 12th (Korea time) that the Spanish Football Association (RFEF) approved the regular season game between FC Barcelona and Villarreal to be held in Miami, Florida.
In a statement, RFEF said: “During the board meeting held on August 11, RFEF recognized Villarreal CF and FC Barcelona’s request to change the 17th round location of the league. After reviewing the documents received, the RFEF will ask UEFA to initiate FIFA’s pre-approval process for the match to be played at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium on 20 December 2025. This is in accordance with FIFA’s international match regulations and the application rules approved by the RFEF,” the release said.
The two teams will face off in the 17th round of the 2025-26 season. It was scheduled to take place on December 20 at the Estadio de la Seramica, Villarreal’s home stadium, but decided to move the venue to Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
As a result, the match between the two teams will be the first overseas match in La Liga history.
Hard Rock Stadium, which can accommodate more than 64,000 spectators, is home to the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL), but is also used as a soccer stadium. It hosted the Copa America in 2024 and the FIFA Club World Cup in 2025, and seven games are scheduled in 2026, including the third-place match at the World Cup.
The Spanish Football Association previously held the Super Cup (Supercoppa de España) in Saudi Arabia, where the first and second-place teams in La Liga and the final teams of Copa del Rey played. This time, they decided to hold regular season games overseas.
ESPN said La Liga President Javier Tebas presented La Liga’s hosting of the U.S. game as a top priority last year.
In January 2019, they pushed for a regular-season game between Barcelona and Girona in Miami, but at the time, they were not able to do so due to opposition from RFEF, UEFA and FIFA.
However, things changed drastically when La Liga’s U.S. partner, Lelevent Sports Co., took legal action against FIFA and the American Football Association for refusing to host La Liga’s overseas matches. The two sides later reached an agreement, and in 2024, they formed a working group to analyze the consequences of FIFA hosting their league games abroad.
RFEF has also changed its direction from the new Raphael Lujan president to support the clubs’ plans.
The European League’s hosting of overseas matches is not just La Liga. In July, the Italian Football Association supported a plan to hold a league match between AC Milan and Como in Australia, which is scheduled to be held in February.
[San Francisco (USA) = KIM JAE HO, MK Sports Correspondent]
