There are currently no plans afoot to take a match from English top-tier soccer's Premier League (EPL) overseas, the league's chief executive (CEO), Richard Masters, has said.
Masters has been speaking to media in the wake of the Spanish soccer federation (RFEF) approving the staging of a game from the country's top-tier LaLiga competition, between Barcelona (last season's champions) and Villareal, in Miami, US, in December – this would mark the first-ever European league fixture to take place abroad.
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There are also plans for AC Milan and Como, from the top Serie A division in Italy, to play each other next February in Perth, Australia.
Both of these matches do still need approval from soccer's FIFA (global) and UEFA (European) governing bodies before going ahead.
However, Masters – who has been CEO at the Premier League since 2019 – has now told the UK's BBC broadcasters, regarding the RFEF development: "I don't think it changes the Premier League's view on this at all, we don't have any plans to play abroad.
"It's not anywhere near my in-tray and it's not a debate around our table."
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By GlobalDataIn terms of the league's 20 clubs voting on potentially taking a game to the US (or any other overseas destination), 14 are required to vote in favor of any new rule change, and there are currently 11 US-owned teams in the top division – more than at any point previously.
Last June, Tom Werner, chair of Premier League champions Liverpool, told media he hoped to one day see a league game take place overseas, telling the Financial Times: "I’m determined one day to have a Premier League game be played in New York City."
He also mentioned a number of cities – including Tokyo, Los Angeles, and Riyadh – as potential match destinations.
A Premier League match in the US would more than likely bring in significant commercial revenue for the league and the clubs involved.
However, the only previous occasion when there have been serious discussions around a Premier League match being taken overseas was in 2008, when the body's CEO at the time, Richard Scudamore, made a proposal to that effect. However, those plans were eventually shelved after significant criticism from fans and the media, and have not been revisited since.
At that time, it was proposed that an extra round of fixtures – a 39th game for each team – take place outside England.
Masters, referencing the 2008 proposal, said: "The Premier League flirted with this over a decade ago, and the reason was to grow the league internationally, and we were able to do this through different means – digital means, broadcast partners, concepts like the summer series in the US.
"The necessity that was driving that concept has dissipated."
Indeed, one of the reasons other European leagues are keen on the idea is to try and find alternative sources of income, to try and match what the Premier League is pulling in through the sale of both domestic and international TV rights. In this respect, that league is comfortably ahead of all other competitions worldwide.
For LaLiga, meanwhile, playing a competitive match in the US has been a long-term priority, with league president Javier Tebas last year saying that he hoped to do so during the 2025-26 campaign.
The aforementioned LaLiga clash is currently scheduled to be played at Villarreal's Estadio de la Ceramica on December 21, but the RFEF will now seek permission from FIFA and UEFA to move the game to the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
LaLiga first tried to stage a league game in the US in 2018, but the plan was blocked by several bodies, including the RFEF, FIFA, UEFA, and the US Soccer governing body.
FIFA's rules currently do not allow domestic league matches to be played abroad, but last year it set up a working group to look into the matter, having previously opposed the concept.
This effectively opened the door for LaLiga to push through its plans. The league’s argument for playing a match overseas has also been strengthened by the fact that the RFEF has been staging the Spanish Super Cup as a four-team tournament in Saudi Arabia in recent years as part of a lucrative contract.
However, the potential fixture between Villarreal and Barcelona has been met with opposition by fan groups of the two clubs, as well as by the Spanish football supporters' association, FASFE.
FASFE has expressed its “absolute, total, and firm opposition” to the plans, and in a joint statement, urged the RFEF and the national sports council to “stop this madness”, warning they would “take appropriate legal action” if it went ahead.
