Serie A looks to pip LaLiga to playing matches in the US
Italy’s Serie A is hoping to beat Spain’s LaLiga to become the first major European football league to stage regular-season games in the US.
LaLiga has been at the forefront of efforts to tap into the burgeoning North American market, going as far as announcing a fixture between Barcelona and Girona in Miami in 2019.
That was scuppered by opposition from governing bodies including Fifa, although it has since relaxed its position, opening the door for overseas matches to take place.
“Yes, we would love to do it, as the president said; we are working in order to potentially do it,” said Serie A’s commercial and marketing director Michele Ciccarese.
“There are barriers that we need to overcome. Who knows, maybe in a window of one to two years potentially we will see the league playing [in the US] if the approvals come.
“It’s always a race to try to be the trendsetter because then the followers come and the trendsetter is who benefits.
“It should be done in a way that makes sense for the club without forgetting the fans – you can not play a Milan derby in America because the fans in Italy will get very upset. That game has a big meaning in Italy. So we have to play in a way that is respectful of our audience.”
Italian and Spanish football matches overseas
Playing games in the US is seen as a way of catching up with the Premier League, which has established a cultural and financial hegemony over its European rivals.
The English top flight notoriously flirted with the idea of a “39th game” of the season played in different cities around the world in 2008 but dropped it two years later.
Italian football has been keen to export its Supercoppa matches, played between the previous season’s league and cup winners, holding it mostly overseas since 2009.
As far back as 1993 it was played in Washington DC and returned to the US 10 years later but more recently has been staged in China, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Serie A’s USA managing director is Charlie Stillitano, who was at the forefront of taking European clubs to America via the now-defunct International Champions Cup pre-season event.
LaLiga remains determined to push ahead with playing games in the US and had pencilled in Barcelona to play Atletico Madrid in Miami last December but failed to get approval.
The league’s president Javier Tebas has said they could revisit the idea, a key plank of their long-term partnership with US promoters Relevent, next season.
Spain, too, has exported its Supercopa in recent years, when it has been expanded to a four-team competition held in the Saudi cities of Riyadh and Jeddah.