Uefa 'reluctantly' approves games played abroad

Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin says the "regrettable" decision to allow two European league matches to be played abroad is "exceptional" and insists it "will not set a precedent".

La Liga clubs Villarreal and Barcelona are now set to face each other in Miami in December in what would be the first European league fixture to be played abroad.

Then in February, AC Milan's Italian Serie A match against Como will be played in Perth, Australia.

Uefa, European football's governing body, has stressed its "clear opposition" to the plans, but "reluctantly" approved them because there is no legal framework to stop it.

"League matches should be played on home soil; anything else would disenfranchise loyal match-going fans and potentially introduce distortive elements in competitions," said Ceferin.

"Our consultation confirmed the breadth of these concerns. I would like to thank the 55 national associations for their constructive and responsible engagement on such a sensitive issue.

"While it is regrettable to have to let these two games go ahead, this decision is exceptional and shall not be seen as setting a precedent. Our commitment is clear: to protect the integrity of national leagues and ensure that football remains anchored in its home environment."

Fans' group Football Supporters Europe (FSE) says the decision to play the two games abroad could inflict "long-lasting harm" on the sport, and wants tougher rules to prevent it happening again in the future.

"FSE will continue to stand firmly with fans in Spain and Italy in resisting these damaging proposals," it said.

"Together with our members in these countries, we are looking into every possible option to counter these plans.

"By forcing through these matches, La Liga and Serie A risk undermining their own history and long-term success while inflicting long-lasting harm to football in Europe - and beyond.

"Now is the time for a solid regulatory framework that protects domestic competition."

Uefa says it consulted stakeholders and found "widespread lack of support" for league matches to be played abroad, echoing concerns raised by fans, other leagues, clubs, players and European institutions.

But it said world governing body Fifa's regulatory framework is "not clear and detailed enough" for it to block the plans.

Fifa set up a working group last year to look at the impact of playing competitive domestic matches overseas.

Last year, La Liga said it wanted to hold Barcelona v Atletico Madrid in Miami before dropping the idea because of time constraints.

In 2019, Barcelona also planned to stage a league match against Girona in Miami, but the idea was scrapped after opposition from Spain's football association and its players' union.

Other one-off matches, such as the Italian Super Cup and Spanish Super Cup, have been held abroad in recent years.

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said in August there are no plans to play an English top-flight match abroad.

The idea of the Premier League playing an extra round outside England - the so-called '39th game' - was raised in 2008 but shelved after criticism from fans and media.

This has been a long time coming.

Former Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore first raised the prospect of games overseas in 2008.

That idea would have been a '39th game' in addition to the normal schedule.

A decade later, US-based promoters Relevent Sports, which now manages all the global commercial rights for European football's governing body Uefa, tried to arrange La Liga matches in the United States, and when that failed, did the same with an Ecuadorian league game.

Now the plan will become reality, as it was always likely to once Relevant reached a legal settlement with world governing body Fifa last year, which effectively gave the green light to matches overseas until new rules preventing them were drafted.

Whether fans want it to happen is another matter. Uefa might point to the "exceptional basis" on which it has agreed to these two games being moved, but "exceptional" is a flexible concept given your standpoint. Presumably there were other options available that would have meant the two matches could have been played in Spain and Italy.

The chances are legal certainty will be needed to stop further matches being moved - and that may require Fifa and Uefa to lean heavily on upholding the right of fans to see games in Europe, rather than Asia, Australia or the Americas. The European Commission will sit in judgement on this.

However, as with any legal case, nothing can be taken for granted.

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters has repeatedly stressed there are no plans to take its games overseas.

The problem is, if it proves to be a commercial success in rival leagues, and Fifa and Uefa are not successful in stopping more matches being moved, English clubs might want to do the same thing given the Premier League's vast global reach.