Spanish fans pledge fightback against overseas fixtures

The Spanish Football Federation has given the green light for the first ever competitive European league game to be played overseas – and Spanish supporters have vowed to fight back.

This week the Spanish Football Federation agreed to allow Barcelona’s away game at Villarreal in December to be moved to a “neutral” venue in Miami, Florida in the United States pending further approval from UEFA, FIFA and US Soccer.

Supporter response

Spanish supporter organisations (FASFE) reacted with anger to the news and say they will take legal action if necessary.

FASFE said: “We want to express our absolute, total, and firm opposition to the relocation of the Villarreal CF – FC Barcelona match to Miami.”

FASFE described the move as “embarrassing” and said it “breaks the integrity of the competition” and violates the rights of local season ticket holders.

The fan group has called on the Spanish Federation to reverse its decision and that if it proceeds the organisation says they will challenge it in the courts.

Player concerns

During its previous attempts to move a competitive league fixture to the USA, La Liga has faced stiff opposition from players.

In March, head of the Spanish Players’ Association David Aganzo criticised the league for drawing up plans for the move without any consultation with the players.

He said: “The captains [of the Liga teams] are surprised and angry that such an important decision was taken without being consulted.

“The players are unanimously against this, no one is in favour of it.”

Back in 2018, Aganzo said the players would even consider strike action if the plan to move games abroad went ahead.

“To take a unilateral decision is a lack of respect,” Aganzo said, after a meeting of his association that was attended by players representing 14 of the league’s 20 teams back in 2018.

“We are the protagonists of this sport, together with fans and referees. We have many things to say, and we are tired of not being valued.”

What does the FSA think?

La Liga attempted this last year and it looks like, sadly, they may finally get their way.

We stand by what we said back in 2024: This is an insult to matchgoing supporters of the teams involved and kills any notion of sporting integrity in the division.

The FSA fully supports our colleagues in Spain resisting this outrageous attack on European football’s traditions.

Supporters at home are right to be concerned about the precedent this could set, given that a large chunk of Premier League clubs are owned by overseas billionaires or investment funds – and with the breakaway European Super League project still relatively fresh in the memory.

Before that there was also the Game 39 proposal, first floated around 2008, to play a round of Premier League fixtures abroad. A proposal that was swiftly defeated by supporter organisations.

Despite this there are reasons to be optimistic that any attempts to move Premier League or even EFL games overseas would fail.

In our regular fan engagement meetings the Premier League’s chief executive Richard Masters has been pressed about the issue by supporter representatives from our Premier League network. Masters said that plans for Premier League fixtures abroad are not on the table.

Beyond that, the Government has assured us that the new independent regulatory regime to be brought in under the Football Governance Act will offer protections against overseas games – the new regulator has the power to intervene if the wording in the Act is interpreted robustly. We hope they do so.

In the meantime, we will be keeping a close eye on developments in La Liga and making sure that the authorities, leagues and clubs understand the strength of supporter feeling on the issue.