Already Got Permission, But La Liga Even Cancels Villarreal Vs Barcelona Match In Miami

JAKARTA - La Liga has canceled plans to hold a regular season match between Villarreal vs Barcelona in Miami, United States, which actually took place in December 2025.

A brief statement released by La Liga on Tuesday, October 21, 2025, explained that the decision was taken by Relevent, their partner in the North American market, due to reactions raised in Spain over the decision to hold league matches abroad.

"After discussing with match promoters in Miami, the promoter has announced its decision to cancel organizing the event due to uncertainty caused in Spain in recent weeks."

"La Liga deeply regrets that this project, which is a historic and unmatched opportunity for the internationalization of Spanish football, cannot be continued."

"The holding of official matches beyond our borders will be a decisive step in our global expansion of the competition, strengthening the club's international presence, positioning players, and Spanish football brands in strategic markets like the United States."

"This project fully complies with federation regulations and does not affect competition integrity, as confirmed by the competent authorities, who oppose it for other reasons," La Liga said in a statement.

Relevent also released a statement that the La Liga match agenda abroad was postponed.

"We have notified La Liga of the need to postpone the planned match between Villarreal and Barcelona in Miami on December 20, 2025."

"Given the uncertainty that is happening in Spain, there is not enough time to carry out an event of this size properly."

"It is also irresponsible to start selling tickets without confirmed matches," reads Relevent's release.

Tickets for matches - which are scheduled to be played at Hard Rock Stadium - have been scheduled to go on sale this week.

On Tuesday, October 21, 2025, La Liga announced that pre-sale ticket sales would be postponed, but attributed the delay to technical issues.

The move met opposition from La Liga players, who staged protests last weekend, as well as supporters and Real Madrid groups, who have asked FIFA, UEFA, and the Spanish Ministry of Sports (CSD) to block the plan.

The match between Villarreal vs Barcelona is planned to be the first regular season in one of the five major European leagues to be held overseas.

Serie A plans to play a match between AC Milan and Como at Perth, Australia, in February 2026.

Meanwhile, Barcelona said it deeply regretted the decision to cancel the match.

"Barcelona respects and complies with the decision to cancel the match against Villarreal in Miami, as they respect and comply with the decision to play there at the time."

"Barcelona regrets the loss of the opportunity to expand the image of this competition into a strategic market with growth capacity and resources that are beneficial to everyone."

"The club is grateful for the unconditional support and affection that has been received from our supporters in the United States and deeply regrets that they cannot watch official matches in this country," the Blaugrana statement said.

Villarreal coach Marcelino Garcia Toral criticized La Liga's announcement time, which was made when his team lost 0-2 to Manchester City in the Champions League.

"For me, this shows a lack of respect for issuing a statement in our first half of the game about something that has been planned but will not happen."

"This shows a lack of respect for the club's directors, the clubs themselves, professionals, and supporters.

"The club will make a statement about what they think, but that's what I'm thinking right now," Marcelino told a news conference.

On Tuesday, October 21, 2025, local time, Real Madrid's Thibaut Courtois became the latest player to voice his refusal to play La Liga matches in Miami, saying it would greatly affect competition integrity.

Earlier this month, Barcelona's Frenkie de Jong said the plan was not good for the players citing fatigue due to travel and concerns about justice.

While the Blaugrana coach, Hansi Flick, admitted that he and his squad were not happy.

Last weekend, players paused for 15 seconds at the start of each La Liga match in protest over what the Spanish Football Association (AFE) called a lack of transparency, dialogue, and coherence in how the Miami match was held.

Plans to play Villarreal vs Barcelona in Miami were unveiled earlier this month, with La Liga president Javier Tebas calling it a historic move. He said the goal was to bring the league closer to the global fan base.

La Liga has long sought to hold regular season matches in the United States, with its first proposal involving matches between Girona and Barcelona in the 2018/2019 season.

Initially, this proposal faced rejection from the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and the United States (US Soccer), which later subsided.

This month, UEFA said it was heavy to take the decision to agree to the match in Miami, expressing a clear rejection of domestic league matches played outside their home countries, but said the current FIFA rules on this matter were not clear enough and detailed.

Real Madrid called the match in Miami unacceptable precedent and asked CSD to refuse match authorization without unanimous approval.

CSD has yet to provide an official statement regarding the match although Spanish government ministers have voiced concerns over the idea.