September 4 – The Bonentellers may want it. TV -executives almost demand it. Private Equity companies rub their hands to the prospect. But football fans of more than 400 club supporter groups in Europe insisted on FIFA and UEFA on Wednesday to block requests from the Spanish and Italian competitions to play games abroad.
La Liga has already approved plans Barcelona to play Villarreal in Miami in December, while Series A want to AC Milan host When In February in Perth, Australia.
In anticipation of the UEFA’s Executive Committee meeting next week in Albania, the officially recognized Fan Connection Group Football supporters wants Europe to show the scale of opposition against “out-of-territory”.
“We call on UEFA, FIFA and all national associations to maintain, play their role as supervisors of the game and ensure that football remains rooted in our communities where it belongs,” said the FSE group on Wednesday, with the support of Fang groups in 25 countries.
“Clubs are neither entertainment companies nor traveling circuses. They exist for their communities and offer a sense of solidarity, where fans have been attending home games for generations.”
Other critics of the plan are the best sports officer of the European Commission Glenn Micallef, who claims that the sporting integrity of competitions would also be damaged.
Allowing the Barcelona or AC Milan matches would “immediately open a Pandora’s box with unpredictable and irreversible consequences,” the fang groups warned.
Fresh proposals to move domestic competitions abroad were inevitable as soon as FIFA withdrew from a lawsuit last year in New York, brought by the relevant promotion agency.
Relevent was co-founded by Stephen Ross, owner of the Miami Dolphins, whose Hard Rock Stadium will organize the game Villarreal-Barcelona that the clubs hope they will help build their fan bases and brands worldwide.
Relevent is now also one of the most important commercial partners in UEFA, who this year will close a deal to sell broadcast and sponging rights for six years of the Champions League and other European club matches from 2027.
The prevailing committee of UEFA will be in Tirana on 11 September, chaired by President Aleksander Ceferin. He suggested last week that UEFA should talk to FIFA and currently has a limited legal power to stop overseas games if the national federations involved agree.
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