Barcelona clash with Atletico Madrid will not take place in Miami – report | OneFootball

La Liga have been forging ahead with plans to host their first ever domestic match in Spain, with Barcelona and Atletico Madrid earmarked as a headline opener for the Spanish League in the USA. However once again, La Liga President Javier Tebas has run into issues with the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF).

After an initial attempt to host Girona-Barcelona in Miami, USA, La Liga had the green light from both Barcelona and Atletico to hold their tie due to take place at Montjuic on the 22nd of December. Tebas was trying to move through the formalities with a interim committee in charge of the RFEF due to President Pedro Rocha’s suspension, and they had shown a predisposition to give permission for the game to go ahead abroad.

However as per MD, the RFEF had opened a consultation with the Ministry of Sport in Spain, but have now withdrawn it, and the RFEF have decided not to go ahead with the idea. It is required of the RFEF to elevate the matter to UEFA once the clubs have agreed, and then they must approve it, at which point they would ask permission from the continential governing body, in this case CONCACAF. The Federation felt that it was not the right time to push through such a dramatic change to the competition given the institutional instability, but La Liga still intend to come again with the idea.

This will be met with no shortage of chagrin from Tebas, who has been pushing for the idea for the best part of a decade, believing that it is the next step for La Liga in terms of marketing, and no doubt a financial boon. The uncertainty in the RFEF is the main motive though, and unless a clear opposition from the next president of the RFEF is established, it looks only a matter of time before it eventually happens.