La Liga Looking Towards League Matches Outside Spain

By: Lucas Delgado

September 23, 2025

Photo Credit: Getty Images

With the European soccer season recently starting, the community surrounding the game is buzzing with excitement, as discussions of who can win the major domestic leagues and the Champions League are running rampant. A huge portion of that intrigue is focused on La Liga, the top division in Spain—not just because of interest in who ends the season as champions. The intrigue surrounding the league comes from the RFEF, Spain’s governing body for soccer, which recently approved a request to allow Barcelona and Villarreal, two teams projected to finish in the top five, to play their scheduled December game in the United States—specifically, at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium.

The United States is one of soccer’s biggest countries of interest at the moment, as it is set to host the 2026 World Cup along with Canada and Mexico. As a result, the biggest governing bodies in the game have worked hard to take advantage of the nation’s excitement for the competition. CONMEBOL, which governs South American soccer, hosted the Copa América in the U.S. in 2024, while FIFA, which regulates the entire sport, hosted the Club World Cup in 2025. Both tournaments did fairly well, with average attendances of 49,239 and 39,557, respectively. With other major Spanish clubs, Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid, ranking 1st and 4th in average attendance for the latter competition, it makes sense that the U.S. has become La Liga’s ideal landing spot. But why Miami?

Miami has become the soccer hub of the United States in the lead-up to the World Cup. CONCACAF, which governs soccer in North America and the Caribbean, has long been headquartered there, and FIFA opened an American office in the city in 2024 in anticipation of 2026. This already makes Miami an attractive destination for La Liga. The city also has a strong Latin American population that loves the game, with many of those fans having a fondness for Barcelona in particular due to Latin American club legends like Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez.

This isn’t the first time La Liga has tried its hand at international expansion. The league secured an eight-year, $1.4 billion rights deal with ESPN in 2021, launched a series of league-sponsored watch parties across the U.S. known as El Partidazo in 2023, and created a challenge where fans can play EA Sports FC against athletes for a chance to win a trip to a match in Spain. They’ve also tried expanding elsewhere, hosting the Spanish Supercup in Saudi Arabia, which I’ve discussed in a previous article. As for the United States, other leagues have also looked at building support there—namely, the Premier League, which hosts Premier League Mornings broadcasts across the country annually.

With all this being said, a league game abroad between Barcelona and Villarreal is by no means a guarantee. While the RFEF has signed off on the idea, UEFA, FIFA, U.S. Soccer, and several other organizations still need to approve it before the game becomes official. Villarreal has also expressed concern for fans who purchased season tickets, as they were originally set to host this game. However, Hard Rock Stadium has a strong history of hosting soccer matches, with a recent Club World Cup clash between Bayern Munich and Boca Juniors drawing about 63,000 fans at an average ticket price of $130. With those past numbers, La Liga is no doubt pushing to get this match approved.