La Liga president Javier Tebas has shown his goal of playing league matches abroad, with matches in the United States in the 2025/26 season.
La Liga has been operating for several years to play league matches abroad, especially in the United States, where Hispanic communities have made the country the league’s largest market outside of Spain. An attempt to arrange a match between Barcelona and Girona in Miami in 2018 blocked through FIFA and the U. S. Soccer Federation.
However, with the organization collaborating with La Liga to organize the game, Relevant, a promoter of the event created by Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, has filed an antitrust lawsuit against the governing bodies. An out-of-court settlement was reached with FIFA earlier this year, on the understanding that the organization would replace its rules, opening the door for leagues to hold competitive matches abroad. A dispute with U. S. Soccer is ongoing.
Tebas expects Real Madrid and Barcelona, who are touring the U. S. for preseason training this summer, a rare friendly unlike El Clasico, to compete in the U. S. for the next two years.
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“I think it may be in the 2025-26 season, but La Liga will play official matches abroad,” Tebas told Expansión. “An official fit in the U. S. will depend on our position in the North American market, which is the largest market at the moment. “market in La Liga after Spain. “
Tebas added that other leagues are looking to follow a similar path and that league matches present an incredibly lucrative opportunity for clubs, but this would inevitably galvanise the ire of fans at home.
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Tebas did not confirm how many games each team would have to play each season, but said the resolution was made to secure La Liga’s position among the world’s elite leagues amid the Premier League’s growing monetary power, not to mention the massive investment made in the Saudi Pro League.
“There are other very competitive championships coming up, so we can’t do the same, but we can’t allow them to overtake us,” he added.
It will be the first time that Spanish football has access to other markets, as the Super Cup – the Spanish edition of the Community Shield – has been played in Saudi Arabia in 4 of the last five seasons.
In the same interview, Tebas maintained his stance that Spanish football does not want goal-line technology, despite the great moment of controversy in Sunday’s El Clasico. Barça striker Lamine Yamal had the idea of scoring at the Bernabeu to give his team the 2. -1 advantage, but no goals were awarded due to a lack of clear evidence for VAR. Jude Bellingham scored a winning goal in champions Royal’s 3–2 win.
La Liga is the only one of Europe’s top five leagues not to use Hawkeye goal-line technology, which was first used in the Premier League in 2014 and has been hugely successful. Instead, La Liga relies on VAR cameras to mark the goal line. decisions due to the refusal to pay for the technology, which is priced at around £3 million depending on the season.