A Disappearing Match in Miami: Civil War in Spain Derails La Liga’s American Dream

The announcement was meant to be a lucrative and symbolic planting of the flag. La Liga, the top fútbol league in Spain, was bringing a regular season match to the United States, with European giants FC Barcelona set to face Villareal CF—not in Spain, but under the bright lights of Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium.

While it was not the first attempt the league had made to cross the Atlantic, this time felt different. With strong backing from a U.S.-based promoter named Relevent (controlled by Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross) and La Liga president Javier Tebas, the move seemed all but destined to finally break into the coveted American market. This was a push that would help La Liga to chase the global commercial dominance of the English Premier League (EPL) and assist Spanish football in connecting with a larger fanbase worldwide.

Instead, the game blew up in spectacular fashion.

On October 22, just weeks before tickets to the match were scheduled to go on sale, La Liga suddenly cancelled the game. Relevent said the official reason for cancellation was the “current uncertainty in Spain,” which meant it was impossible to stage such a huge event properly. To say that it was “uncertainty” would be a huge understatement. The plan was not just muddled by logistics—it had also ignited a firestorm of opposition that exposed deep-seated discontent within Spanish football more broadly. Outraged players, protesting fans, and the league’s biggest powerhouse, Real Madrid, all united to block the Miami game, but the impact of their efforts may be felt throughout Spain (and the sport in general) for months or even years to come.

Scheduling Issues Create a Powerful First Opponent

Before the internal revolt in Spain reached its peak, La Liga’s Miami plan faced another significant (and uniquely American) problem: college football. The proposed December 20 date for the match would coincide with the same weekend as the first round of the new twelve-team College Football Playoff (CFP). Hard Rock Stadium is also home to the University of Miami Hurricanes, who are having a strong season that would possibly get them a home playoff game—a development that would have put them in a direct scheduling conflict with La Liga.

This hypothetical conflict initiated a rapid scramble, with Hard Rock Stadium officials quickly concocting a framework to host an unprecedented doubleheader: a morning international match between Barcelona and Villareal (with a proposed 10:15 a.m. EST kickoff time to align with the Spanish time difference) and a potential Miami Hurricanes CFP contest later that very same night.

Quite understandably, the CFP was less than thrilled with this idea. It was reported that they asked the university to find an alternative location, with Orlando’s Camping World Stadium being considered as a potential solution. While straightforward solutions existed, this logistical mess was the first sign of trouble for the La Liga match, demonstrating the sheer complication of shoehorning a high-profile European league fixture into a packed American sporting calendar. Despite these issues, the scheduling conflict would soon become far less relevant. While officials in Miami were trying to figure out turf management, executives in La Liga were attempting to curtail a brewing full-blown mutiny over 4,000 miles away.

Players, Protests, and Manipulation: The Spanish Revolt

Backlash to the game’s announcement in Spain was swift and severe, demonstrating an open rebellion against the leadership of the league. First, the Spanish Footballer’s Association (AFE) announced their opposition to the proposed plan, citing La Liga’s “lack of transparency, dialogue, and coherence.” This press release served as a call to action—across La Liga, coordinated protests began. At the beginning of each match, players from both teams stood at a standstill for fifteen seconds after the opening whistle of the game, marking a powerful, silent, and unmistakable show of outward dissent towards the Miami plan. Fans attending the matches also reportedly chanted in opposition of the proposed game.

The players had clear grievances about the match, feeling as though it distorted the league’s integrity. Moving a Villareal “home” game to a neutral continent was seen by many as a move that was egregious and unfair. Some, such as Real Madrid netminder Thibaut Courtois, called these concerns out directly, stating that the move would “totally alter[] the competition.” Another crucial concern was player welfare, as Barcelona’s own Frenkie de Jong criticized the plan’s imposition of additional transcontinental travel, fearing that it would contribute to increased player fatigue—a result that would be “not good for the players.”

The situation escalated even further after La Liga was accused of trying to censor the protests, reportedly requesting that league broadcast partners avoid showing the fifteen-second mutinies. These instructions were largely successful, as several matches featured cuts to wide-angle shots of the stadium exterior or center circle, views that deliberately avoided images of the twenty-two players standing motionless. However, this move clearly backfired, sparking strong accusations of authoritarian control and further criticism from prominent players like Courtois. Fan groups, including the association for the main Spanish supporters (FASFE), joined fan groups from Villareal and Barcelona (amongst other clubs) to unambiguously articulate their opposition to La Liga’s international plans.

Real Madrid’s Power Play

These collective actions by fans and players created a public relations crisis for La Liga, but perhaps their most formidable opposition was working diligently behind the scenes. Led by club president Florentino Perez, Real Madrid also stood in opposition to the move to Miami. While Madrid was strongly against the match, seeing the game as an “unacceptable precedent,” their discontentment was also part of a far larger power struggle between Perez and La Liga’s Tebas.

To block the match, Real Madrid filed two official complaints with the Higher Sports Council (Consejo Superior de Deportes, or CSD) of Spain, asking the government to grant them injunctive relief. In their request, Perez and Madrid argued that La Liga did not have the right to take a domestic regular-season game overseas and that allowing them to do so would damage the league’s integrity as well as that of the competition.

Madrid’s statements extended far beyond mere bad press, contributing directly to the “uncertainty in Spain” referenced by Relevent. This was a direct political and legal threat from the most powerful member of La Liga. After Real Madrid sent a formal petition to the government for them to intervene and block the move, the entire Miami project found itself on shaky legal footing.

A Chaotic Collapse

Despite this backdrop, the announcement to cancel the game still created shockwaves within La Liga, leaving many in the league stunned. The news was released with an embarrassing and chaotic sadness, surprising even the clubs and coaches that were directly involved. Team staffers and executives for Villareal were notified of the news during halftime of their Champions League match against Manchester City. The haphazard way the league chose to inform Villareal lead their coach, Marcelino, to blast the timing of the news in his post-game press conference.

The same confusion also played out in Barcelona, where the head coach, Hansi Flick, was told of the news soon after leaving a post-game presser of his own. More concerningly, the change of heart left FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta looking completely blindsided. Just hours before the match was officially cancelled, he had defiantly told the press that despite the arguments of Real Madrid, he would be in Miami on December 20 to watch his team play.

While La Liga and Tebas released a statement detailing their regrets about the “missed opportunity,” the damage had already been done. The Hard Rock Stadium game was dead before it even arrived. In the end, it wasn’t dethroned by a scheduling conflict with the CFP but by a civil war within La Liga’s own ranks. The dream of a Spanish league match on American soil is likely far from over, as the financial incentives for the league are too astronomical to ignore. However, the debacle in Miami will serve as an embarrassing and costly lesson for Javier Tebas and La Liga: global expansion cannot be confused with a dictatorship. 

Oliver Canning is a 3L at the University of Miami School of Law. He can be followed on Twitter

(X) @OCanning and found on LinkedIn.