On December 20, Villarreal and Barcelona will meet at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, announces La Liga – the Spanish top division on the men's side – in a press release.
"We look forward to meeting all our fans in the USA and thank La Liga for the opportunity to get closer to one of the club's strategic markets", says Barcelona's chairman Joan Laporta in a statement.
The plans have been known for some time, and have also been heavily criticized from several quarters. Barcelona's arch-rival Real Madrid, for example, has warned that the sporting justice – such as all teams meeting once at home and once away – may suffer.
The European Football Association (Uefa) does not like the move either, but has "reluctantly" chosen to approve it as one considers the International Football Association's (Fifa) rules on the matter to be too unclear. The decision should, however, be seen as an exception.
"League matches should be played at home, everything else affects the loyal fans who attend the matches and risks introducing elements that create a distortion in the competitions", said Uefa's chairman Aleksander Ceferin in a statement the other day.
Italian Serie A is also planning to arrange a league match abroad, probably Milan–Como which in that case will be played in Perth in Australia in February.
