UEFA has “reluctantly” given the green light for competitive European fixtures to be played overseas for the first time.
Last week European football’s governing body approved requests from La Liga and Serie A to move fixtures to Miami in the United States and Perth in Australia respectively.
La Liga had requested to move Barcelona’s trip to Villarreal across the Atlantic in December, leaving supporters, players and the clubs just two months to prepare for a dramatic shift in their match going calendars. Similarly, Serie A had asked to move AC Milan’s game against Como to Australia in February.
UEFA says it remains opposed to competitive fixtures being played overseas but could not block the request due to “regulatory gaps at global level”. EUFA have committed to ensure a robust regulatory review is completed to prevent this from happening in the future and as a further safeguard, all 55 national associations have agreed to consult with UEFA before making any requests in future.
You can read the full UEFA statement HERE
We are aware that following our recent members survey, 80% of respondents were strongly against playing home games anywhere other than the G-tech stadium. As an affiliate member of the Football Supporters Association (FSA) we fully support this view and have championed this within the FSA.
Naturally this decision raises a huge concern in England, particularly for Premier League Clubs. This is something the FSA have raised with the Premier League countless times and have been assured this is not being considered. This will continue to be raised at future meetings with the Premier League and the Football Association (FA)
We hope these games will not go ahead owing to time and the logistical pressures of staging these matches and through the FSA, we will maintain our opposition to this.
BIAS, alongside the FSA give our full backing to supporters in Spain and Italy in resisting this attack on European football traditions.
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