When Javier Tebas talks about globalization, he doesn’t sugarcoat it.
For the president of La Liga, who has turned Spain’s once-sleepy domestic league into a global media brand, exporting Spanish football to the United States has always been the logical next step. He’s finally pulling off what he set in motion seven years ago.
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On Dec. 20, Villarreal C.F. will host F.C. Barcelona at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. The fixture will be the first official La Liga match to be played outside Spain. It’s a move that’s been criticized by fans and national federations, blocked once by FIFA, fought in court and now finally cleared to go ahead. And if you ask Tebas, all the noise about betraying tradition or undermining domestic competition misses the point entirely.
“What this does is bring more fans to watch football, whether they’re residents of that country or people from elsewhere who become interested, and it helps the sport grow,” he said. “The market isn’t going to take fans away from LaLiga—quite the opposite.
“It’s a mistake to think this cannibalizes the national league. It doesn’t cannibalize anything.”
He even flipped the idea on its head, suggesting that other leagues head to his shores, too. “If MLS, Liga MX, or the Ecuadorian league came to play in Spain, that wouldn’t compete with La Liga,” he said. “It would create more fans, more interest. It’s a synergy. To see this as competition is a conservative vision and I’d even say a wrong one.”
Tebas has been on a mission to grow La Liga’s audience in the U.S. for some time. In 2018, he pitched Girona’s home clash with Barcelona for Miami. That same year, La Liga launched LaLiga North America, a joint venture with New York-based sports marketing firm Relevent Sports, aimed at growing Spanish football’s footprint across the U.S. and Canada. The partnership was built to oversee all of La Liga’s commercial and development activity in the region, as well as negotiating media rights on their behalf.
Relevent, founded by real estate billionaire Stephen Ross, owner of the Miami Dolphins and Hard Rock Stadium, was no stranger to handling the task at hand. One of the most audacious plans of La Liga North America was to stage two official La Liga matches, including a potential El Clásico, on U.S. soil in 2019. The idea didn’t make it past the gatekeepers; Spain’s federation and FIFA both shot it down. Another proposal to stage Atlético Madrid against Villarreal in the U.S. met the same fate.
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But times have changed. Relations between La Liga and the Spanish federation, and the legal landscape that prohibited moving fixtures, shifted. After FIFA was dropped from a landmark lawsuit brought by Relevent in April 2024, the road to staging official domestic league matches abroad suddenly got a lot clearer.
La Liga’s goal has been to play one match out of the 380 in a season abroad. As a staunch critic of FIFA’s expansion of international tournaments and the Super League, it is not surprising that Tebas says he doesn’t want to host games in the U.S. for commercial reasons.
“This is about expanding the brand of La Liga, of the clubs, improving our competition, and giving our American fans, who already pay for our football, who buy our merchandise, the chance to see their teams live at least once.
“This isn’t about money. I insist. If it were about money, we wouldn’t be doing it.”
Javier Tebas is getting his wish of staging a La Liga game in the U.S. (Marco Steinbrenner / DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
La Liga North America will be in charge of the marketing and commercialization of the Dec. 20 match, Tebas said, and the presale process has started through laligamiami.com. From a pricing standpoint, the plan is to start on the lower end to sell out a large portion of tickets in the first week, then gradually raise prices on the remaining inventory, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke with The Athletic but asked to stay anonymous as the process is ongoing. As the designated home team, Villareal will compensate season-ticket holders. They will be given the option to either travel or receive a 40 percent refund on their season ticket.
“We’ll make sure the stadium is full. The priority is for the stadium to be packed and for everyone to enjoy a great spectacle, both in person and on television,” Tebas said. The Miami match will be part of a broader campaign for La Liga with promotional events and fan zones, weeks before and after the match, all designed to showcase Spanish football.
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For someone who’s heard the “you’re ruining football” line a few too many times, Tebas rejects the argument that globalization erodes tradition.
“Taking a match abroad doesn’t betray tradition. It defends it,” he said. “Spain has always exported its culture, its architecture, food, art. We’ve never lost our identity by doing that. We’ve strengthened it. This is the same.”
But not everyone’s buying it. Real Madrid has fought the Miami match tooth and nail, accusing Tebas of chasing attention and destabilizing the league. Tebas said he has heard that before and seems almost amused by it.
“I want to separate Real Madrid as an institution, which I admire, from its president,” he said with a smirk. “Florentino Pérez opposes everything La Liga does, no matter what it is. Even if it benefits his club, he’ll say no. We have two different models for professional football and they’re colliding. Ours defends the domestic leagues. His would slowly kill them.”
Tebas’ loyalty is clear. The Super League is his personal red line, the anti-model. “The big clubs became what they are because they competed every week with Villarreal, Osasuna, Sevilla, Betis,” he said. “Without them, there’s no Real Madrid or Barça. The ecosystem matters.”
And for MLS? He is once again adamant the Miami match will help, not hurt. “This doesn’t take market share from MLS, not at all,” he said. “It helps football to be seen more. It helps MLS too. Look at what’s happening with Messi in Miami; the sense of belonging is growing. Football doesn’t grow by shutting doors. It grows by opening them.”
This news was originally published on this post .
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