Gianni Infantino Insists FIFA Will Not Grant La Liga Permission to Play Game in USA
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has confirmed that he will not grant Barcelona and Girona permission to play their La Liga match in Miami.
It was proposed that the fixture would be the first La Liga match to take place in the United States as part of an agreement with media company Relevent that one Spanish league match would be played in North America for the next 15 seasons.
Barcelona and Girona had both requested permission for the match to be played at Miami's Hard Rock Stadium in January, but Infantino said on Friday that he would not allow this to happen.
"I'm strongly opposed to this and I deny any permission to play the Girona-Barcelona game in Miami," he told a FIFA council meeting in the Rwandan capital Kigali, quoted by Marca.
"The FIFA Council has addressed the issue, and we stress that the official matches of national leagues must be played in the country itself."
La Liga president Javier Tebas said last month that there was a "90% possibility" the match would be played in North America.
However, it was always known that Infantino opposed the idea because of the dangerous precedent it could set. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and RFEF president Luis Rubiales were also opposed to the switch.
Infantino will also present his plans for a revamped Club World Cup, which would include more European teams and take place on an annual basis, and a global Nations League competition akin to the one recently introduced by UEFA.
