RFEF retain power to veto La Liga games in USA after Supreme Court ruling

La Liga have been moving to host a match in the United States for a number of years now, but have been hit with another setback. The power to make the call does not lie completely in their hands.

On the day of the opening game of the season, it emerged that La Liga were forging ahead with their plans to host a game in the USA, with the most likely venue Miami. It was also reported that Barcelona’s home game on the 22nd of December against Atletico Madrid could be the chosen fixture to be held there.

Hansi Flick intends to keep Iñaki Peña as the starting goalkeeper, while the arrival of veteran Wojciech Szczęsny is meant to provide backup. However, Peña must stay at the top of his game, because the Polish goalkeeper will be very eager to compete. @sergidejuan9

— barcacentre (@barcacentre) September 26, 2024

Previously in 2019, La Liga had planned to host a Girona-Barcelona clash in Miami, but the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) blocked the move, at the height of the battle between the RFEF President Luis Rubiales and La Liga President Javier Tebas. Relations have improved with the arrival of Pedro Rocha, and there has been talk that Rocha would green light the USA game if he received Tebas’ report.

La Liga had filed to overturn the RFEF’s power to veto a game held abroad all the same, and Relevo report that the Supreme Court in Spain have rejected that appeal. It means that the power to host games abroad still hinges on the approval of the Federation. The court ruled that La Liga had tried to alter the basis of the original sentence, and the appeal manifestly lacked foundation. La Liga had filed on the basis of ‘unfaithful and obstructionist administration’.

Antoine Griezmann: “In my first year, it was really hard for me to break into the team. I’d come in, then go out, I wasn’t a regular in the starting eleven. I remember the last game before the holidays. I scored three goals in Bilbao, and for me, that was really the… pic.twitter.com/yYQh8U4Haa

— Atletico Universe (@atletiuniverse) September 25, 2024

It does seem that things are moving in La Liga’s favour though, with FIFA set to alter their rules on hosting domestic competition games abroad, due to a court process with events company Relevent. Tebas has been pushing this issue for some time, and with Real Madrid and Barcelona behind the idea, it could be tricky to stop.

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