Beginning of the end for football


 
 
 
 
 
 

This looks like it could finally get to happen with La Liga.

If it does, the Premier League will follow for sure.

Which for me would be the beginning of the end for football.

It has been coming for a while, La Liga seemingly intent on making it happen.

Now the reality in possibly only two months time.

With an exclusive from The Mail reporting (see below) that the La Liga match between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid could be played in the United States.

The intention is to play the game in Miami just before Christmas.

I don’t see how any true football fan can think this is a good idea, including those who support their teams from another country.

The justification for this La Liga match to be moved is of course money. As always the case in modern football when decisions are made by those in control, as opposed to the actual fans.

The thing is, anybody who believes that if this Barcelona match was allowed to be played in the United States, it would be a one-off, well, you are living on another universe to the rest of us.

It would be the first crack in the dam if it is allowed, that dam would swiftly crumble altogether.

This Barcelona v Atletico Madrid match would be declared a huge success, figures quoted of all the extra riches banked by all concerned. Which of course then would be the justification to have more La Liga matches played in the United States and elsewhere. Then more and more…

If this La Liga move is allowed to happen by all the relevant authorities, then as sure as night follows day, the Premier League would follow.

Again, if anybody believes this wouldn’t happen, you must be living on another planet.

The disgraced Premier League ‘big six’ have already tried to effectively destroy football as we know it, by first trying to award themselves extra voting rights that would have allowed them to outvote the majority of clubs on every major decision in the future, then of course they tried to set up their own European Super League with their mates from La Liga (and elsewhere), so that they wouldn’t even have to qualify for the top European competition.

Everything is driven by money and self-interest, so do you honestly think the likes of Man U and Liverpool (and many others) wouldn’t be all over this?

We already have half the Premier League clubs with American ownership and no coincidence that it was the shameless American owners of Man U and Liverpool, who were the key movers in those two attempts to steal football away.

American owners are more than happy to have their rubbish sports played overseas, likes of American football and Basketball, simply to make more money. So why would anybody believe that they wouldn’t be absolutely desperate to do the same with their Premier League clubs???

The Mail exclusive on La Liga plan – 21 October 2024:

‘La Liga could play its first ever domestic fixture on US soil as early as this December if FIFA, UEFA and the Spanish FA give the go-ahead.

Barcelona are due to play Atletico Madrid at Barcelona’s temporary Olympic Stadium on the weekend of December 22 but all three parties are working on taking the fixture to Miami.

Sources in the US have told Mail Sport they are hopeful of the switch being approved and the game going ahead.

Javier Tebas, the president of La Liga, has made no secret of wanting to play a league fixture in the US for some time.

Last summer he said: ‘It’s a mark of respect to the US fans [of La Liga]. We are seeing NBA and NFL playing in Europe or in Mexico. This would resonate in the American market.’

Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium is the proposed venue for the December fixture.

The Spanish FA has previously opposed the idea of taking a competitive fixture abroad. La Liga made two failed attempts in 2019 to play one of its fixtures on US soil but they were both while Luis Rubiales was Spanish FA president.

La Liga tried without success to move Girona v Barcelona, and subsequently Villarreal v Atletico Madrid away from Spain. In the post-Rubiales era there is more optimism that La Liga would be backed by Spain’s national association.

FIFA have always opposed the idea. The world governing body’s rules state that official league games must be played within the territory of the respective member association.

But La Liga has taken UEFA president Alexander Ceferin’s aspirations to hold a Champions League final in the US one season as an indication of a softening of the resistance to the idea.

The financially-troubled club (Barcelona) have a debt recently estimated at 2.5 billion by Victor Font who was current president Joan Laporta’s main rival in the club’s most recent elections.

Barca are currently over their official La Liga salary spending limit and have struggled to register players in recent transfer windows. The Miami game would boost their income.

LaLiga confirmed to MailSport that their partner in the US ‘Relevant’ was in talks with FIFA. ‘There are still steps to be taken but we like the idea,’ a spokesperson said.’