LOI In Europe 2025

[Shinkicker]

I see UEFA are allowing Barcelona and Milan to play matches outside their respective countries. Next seasons opener Bohs v Rover's in Berlin or New York

[EatYerGreens]

I see UEFA are allowing Barcelona and Milan to play matches outside their respective countries. Next seasons opener Bohs v Rover's in Berlin or New York

UEFA arenlt allowing it though, They have no grounds on whicb they can stop it. So they're begrudingly just saying it's ok in an attempt to retain some relevance/link to the decisions.

This is going to become a regular thing, despite UEFA's nonesense claims of no precedent.

[EalingGreen]

Next seasons opener Bohs v Rover's in Berlin or New York

Or the Brandywell?

[EalingGreen]

UEFA arenlt allowing it though, They have no grounds on whicb they can stop it. So they're begrudingly just saying it's ok in an attempt to retain some relevance/link to the decisions.

UEFA has no way of stopping it, at least under their current regulations as they stand. However, they might be able to bring in a new rule.

For in the past when they've tried bringing in rules opposing eg a Super League, or player transfer restrictions, they've come up against the EU, who've weighed in in support of such proposals.

But this case could be different, because the EU Commissioner for intergenerational fairness, youth, culture and sport [sic], Glenn Micallef, recently spoke out against the Villarreal/Barca/Miami game, describing it as a "betrayal" of local fans:

“My position is clear: European competitions should be played in Europe,” Maltese national Micallef said, speaking exclusively with The Athletic at the European Commission’s offices in Barcelona.
“Playing domestic league matches outside of Europe is a betrayal of the local communities and fans to whom these clubs owe most of their successes. To our citizens, it is more than just a competition, it’s about community, friendship, family.”
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/668...onboarded=true

This is going to become a regular thing, despite UEFA's nonesense claims of no precedent.

I'm not so sure - "regular" maybe in the sense of one or two games a season (only), but not widespread. For tbh, the only Spanish teams who could guarantee to draw a decent crowd and TV/Media interest overseas are Barca, Real Madrid and (possibly) Atletico Madrid. And Real are on the record as being completely opposed to the idea.

No-one outside their own home town/league is going to be in the least interested in overseas matches between eg Elche, Levante, Osasuna, Getafe or Oviedo etc, while Barca (Atletico M?) can't play all their away games outside Spain, either - esp if they're having to compensate (i.e. bribe) the "home" club and their fans for trips to USA/Far East/Gulf each time as well.

And i suspect that much the same applies to Italy/Serie A, where only Juve and AC Milan have huge overseas profile and support to match that of Barca/Real/Bayern/PSG/Man U/Liverpool etc.

Similarly, fan-owned clubs in Germany will certainly NEVER permit such an idea. While in England, even if some PL clubs were considering paying rent and travel expenses etc to stage games away from the large, hugely expensive home stadia which they're all building*, they got such a kicking over the ESL breakaway, plus the earlier proposed "Game 39", that I really can't see it happening there. Never mind that the new Government Regulator for football would undoubtedly move to prevent it.

So my own prediction is one or two overseas games each season for La Liga/Serie A until the novelty wears off and Barca and Juve have to admit that it will never be the massive Lottery win they need to catch them up with the Premier League, both finance and playing wise.

And that's if the EU doesn't weigh in to prevent it.

* - Why pay to rent overseas stadia, training facilities, charter flights and hotels etc to play eg in New York or LA, when you're already paying off the mortgage on your own super duper big stadium in London or Manchester. Which is before having to refund all the ST holders, and face the wrath of the fans generally, plus having your players return jet-lagged and knackered to play their next PL or Europeamn game a few days later?

[EatYerGreens]

UEFA has no way of stopping it, at least under their current regulations as they stand. However, they might be able to bring in a new rule.

For in the past when they've tried bringing in rules opposing eg a Super League, or player transfer restrictions, they've come up against the EU, who've weighed in in support of such proposals.

But this case could be different, because the EU Commissioner for intergenerational fairness, youth, culture and sport [sic], Glenn Micallef, recently spoke out against the Villarreal/Barca/Miami game, describing it as a "betrayal" of local fans:

“My position is clear: European competitions should be played in Europe,” Maltese national Micallef said, speaking exclusively with The Athletic at the European Commission’s offices in Barcelona.
“Playing domestic league matches outside of Europe is a betrayal of the local communities and fans to whom these clubs owe most of their successes. To our citizens, it is more than just a competition, it’s about community, friendship, family.”
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/668...onboarded=true

The EU can complain - and rightly so in my view. But what can they do about an event happening out-with their jurisdiction? I suspect the answer is nothing.

I'm not so sure - "regular" maybe in the sense of one or two games a season (only), but not widespread. For tbh, the only Spanish teams who could guarantee to draw a decent crowd and TV/Media interest overseas are Barca, Real Madrid and (possibly) Atletico Madrid. And Real are on the record as being completely opposed to the idea.

No-one outside their own home town/league is going to be in the least interested in overseas matches between eg Elche, Levante, Osasuna, Getafe or Oviedo etc, while Barca (Atletico M?) can't play all their away games outside Spain, either - esp if they're having to compensate (i.e. bribe) the "home" club and their fans for trips to USA/Far East/Gulf each time as well.

And i suspect that much the same applies to Italy/Serie A, where only Juve and AC Milan have huge overseas profile and support to match that of Barca/Real/Bayern/PSG/Man U/Liverpool etc.

Similarly, fan-owned clubs in Germany will certainly NEVER permit such an idea. While in England, even if some PL clubs were considering paying rent and travel expenses etc to stage games away from the large, hugely expensive home stadia which they're all building*, they got such a kicking over the ESL breakaway, plus the earlier proposed "Game 39", that I really can't see it happening there. Never mind that the new Government Regulator for football would undoubtedly move to prevent it.

So my own prediction is one or two overseas games each season for La Liga/Serie A until the novelty wears off and Barca and Juve have to admit that it will never be the massive Lottery win they need to catch them up with the Premier League, both finance and playing wise.

'Regular' is not the same as 'frequent'.

And that's if the EU doesn't weigh in to prevent it.

But as mentioned - how?

* - Why pay to rent overseas stadia, training facilities, charter flights and hotels etc to play eg in New York or LA, when you're already paying off the mortgage on your own super duper big stadium in London or Manchester. Which is before having to refund all the ST holders, and face the wrath of the fans generally, plus having your players return jet-lagged and knackered to play their next PL or Europeamn game a few days later?

I guess you may ask all of this to the NFL teams who are now regularly (bit not frequently) playing fixtures in European cities like Dublin, London and Munich. It's obviously worth the hassle.

As a minor aside re logistics - I suspect the European teams would just leave a local fixer/contractor/agent to sort things like accommodation, flights etc for them. They're big commercial organisations with plenty of staff to do it for themselves otherwise anyway. The same clubs go around the world every off season playing games like the Harlem Globetrotters as it is already. I don't think it's credible to suggest that they'd find it a pain to do all that for a competitive fixtures, when they already do it for pointless friendlies and 'tournaments' every Summer.