Thu, October 23, 2025
Barcelona expresses disappointment following La Liga’s decision to cancel its match against Villarreal in Miami
Barcelona has published a statement on La Liga’s, a professional Spanish football league, decision to cancel its match against Villarreal in Miami, expressing both acceptance and disappointment over a “missed opportunity to expand.”
The match was supposed to take place in Miami on December 20. It would have been the first La Liga match to occur outside of Spain, but in the wake of backlash and due to a short amount of planning time left, La Liga has been forced to reject the plan shortly before tickets were meant to go on sale.
Players across each La Liga game coordinated a 15 second silent protest during kick off last weekend. This was organised by the Spanish Footballers' Association (AFE) which argued that the decision to host the match in Miami was made unilaterally by La Liga and with a lack of transparency.
Real Madrid filed two complaints to Spain’s Sports Ministry, stating that moving a domestic match abroad mid-season would compromise the league’s competitive integrity with disruption to the players’ routine.
However, La Liga and Barcelona have expressed that this represents a missed opportunity to expand the league internationally.
Barcelona stated:
“FC Barcelona respects and accepts the decision to cancel the game against Villarreal in Miami corresponding to the week 17 of La Liga, in the same way that the Club accepted and respected the decision taken in the past to play the game in the US…
FC Barcelona regret the missed opportunity to expand the competition's image in a strategic market with a great capacity for growth and generation of resources for everyone…
The Club is grateful for the unconditional support and affection of our fans in the USA and regrets deeply that they are denied the opportunity to see an official game in their country.”
The cancellation of the match was announced during Villarreal’s 2-0 defeat against Manchester City in the Champions League. Marcelino Garcia Toral, Villarreal Head Coach, stated:
“For me, it shows an absolute lack of respect to put out a statement at half-time of our game about something that was planned but will not happen…
It's a lack of respect to the directors of this club, the club itself, the professionals and the fans. Tomorrow the club will make a statement about what they think, but those are my thoughts right now.”
Villarreal will now host Barcelona at the Estadio de la Ceramica on December 21.
Elsewhere, Italy’s Serie A announced that AC Milan will face Como in Perth, Australia, meaning that Serie A will become the first major European league to officially host a competitive match abroad.
