BARCELONA, Oct 23 — La Liga’s plan to move Barcelona’s trip to face Villarreal in December to Miami in the United States collapsed this week under heavy pressure within Spain. AFP Sport looks at how, why and what happens next.

La Liga have been trying to move a match to the US since 2018, when they planned to bring Girona v Barcelona to Miami.

This year’s attempt was as close as they have got, after getting the green light from European football governing body Uefa and the Spanish football federation (RFEF).

However with under six weeks to go until the scheduled kick-off, La Liga were forced to abandon their plan.

Their US-based promoter, Relevent Sports said they would cancel arranging the game because of “uncertainty generated in Spain” around the match, and a lack of time.

It left La Liga licking their wounds, with president Javier Tebas ruing the loss of a “historic opportunity” to play the first ever overseas European league match.

Tebas was hoping to follow the lead of the NFL and NBA in taking their product abroad, further breaking into the lucrative North American market and “grow the competition’s value”.