La Liga Cancels Villarreal vs Barcelona Fixture in Miami

La Liga has officially cancelled plans to stage the regular-season fixture between Villarreal and Barcelona in Miami this December.

In August, the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) had approved the proposal to relocate Villarreal’s home match against Barcelona to the Hard Rock Stadium on 20 December — a decision that immediately caused controversy in Spain.

The move, which would have seen a La Liga match played outside Spain for the first time, faced fierce backlash. Players across the league protested by standing still for the opening 15 seconds of their matches at the weekend.

Event promoters Relevent attributed the cancellation to “insufficient time” to organise the match, while La Liga cited the “uncertainty in Spain” as an additional factor. As a result, the fixture will now take place at Villarreal’s Estadio de la Cerámica as originally planned.

The announcement came during Villarreal’s 2-0 Champions League defeat to Manchester City.
Afterwards, Villarreal manager Marcelino criticised the timing, calling it “absolutely disrespectful” to communicate such a decision during their match.

He said:

“It is absolutely disrespectful to the club, the professionals, the board of directors, and the fans. From here onwards, the club will issue an official statement, but this is simply my personal opinion.”

In a statement, La Liga expressed that it “deeply regrets” the postponement, describing it as a setback to the “international profile of the entire football ecosystem”. The league argued that staging an official match abroad would have been a “decisive step in the global expansion” of Spanish football, adding that “passing up such opportunities makes it difficult to generate new revenue”.

Had the match gone ahead, it would have marked the first-ever European top-flight league fixture to be played in the United States. The Spanish Super Cup, however, has been held in Saudi Arabia in four of the past five seasons.

Following the decision, Barcelona released a statement saying they “respect and accept” the outcome but “regret the missed opportunity to expand the competition’s image” in a market with “significant potential for growth and resource generation”. The club added that it “deeply regrets” that its American fans have been “denied the chance to witness an official match in their country”.

Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick had previously admitted his displeasure with the proposal, stating:

“My players are not happy, I am not happy, but La Liga decided that we will play this game.”

‘Not the End of the Story’ – Balague

Despite the cancellation, Spanish football expert Guillem Balague believes this will not be the final chapter.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, Balague said:

“As long as Javier Tebas remains president of La Liga, he will continue to push for at least one match to be played abroad. He views it as a vital project aimed at enhancing the visibility of Spanish football.”

He also suggested that financial complications were at the heart of the cancellation.

“Perhaps there wasn’t enough money, or it wasn’t clear where the money was going. Villarreal were saying, ‘We’re not getting anything from it,’ while Barcelona were saying they’d receive payment as soon as they boarded the plane. It was all very unclear,” Balague added.

Villarreal had reportedly pledged to bring around 5,000 supporters to Miami, but how that was meant to happen — and who would cover the costs — remains uncertain.