Barcelona could close out 2025 with a friendly in Peru!

FC Barcelona does not rule out playing an extra match before the end of 2025. According to 'Mundo Deportivo', the Blaugrana team has received a significant offer to play a friendly against the Peruvian national team before Christmas. The match would be played at the Estadio Nacional de Lima, with most of the Barça stars called up.

The official headquarters of the South American team has a capacity of 43,000 spectators. Initially, there was speculation about the possibility of facing Barça with the country's most popular clubs: Universitario or Alianza Lima. However, the idea of betting on a combination of players from the local league wearing their national team jersey seems more attractive to the promoter.

Peru is coming off a very poor qualifying round in CONMEBOL, adding just 12 points in 18 matches. Only Chile (11 points) had a worse performance in the World Cup qualification. Both countries, along with Venezuela, were left without options to enter the next World Cup.

How much money would Barça earn for playing a friendly in Peru?

The information leaked by 'Mundo Deportivo' assures that Barcelona would receive between 7 and 8 million euros net for traveling to Lima before Christmas. The board of directors headed by Joan Laporta recently rejected an income of approximately 5 'kilos' for playing a friendly in Libya.

However, once the cancellation of the League match in Miami against Villarreal was confirmed, the club opened the door to this type of initiative that would ensure an extra income for the Barça coffers. Although the employers' association did not confirm how much money Castellonenses and Catalans would earn for traveling to the USA, there was talk of a figure close to €6-7M.

In that sense, the friendly in Peru would clearly compensate for the budgetary 'hole' generated by the match of matchday 17 of La Liga at Hard Rock Stadium. The squad has already been notified of the possibility of traveling to South America before Christmas, without compromising the group's end-of-year vacations.

The tentative date for the friendly before Christmas

The calendar, however, gives Barça little room for maneuver to organize the trip to Peru. LaLiga will play its matchday 17 between Friday, December 19 and Sunday, December 21. In principle, the match against Villarreal at the Estadio de la Cerámica would be played on Saturday the 20th in Miami, but now we have to wait for the official rescheduling by LaLiga.

The tentative date for the friendly in Peru is pointing to Monday, December 22, which would give the team 48 hours to travel to South America, this in case they play on Saturday the 20th in Vila-real. In any case, the club hopes for collaboration from LaLiga regarding the date and time of Matchday 17, since Barça supported the trip to Miami at all times.

The end-of-year break in Spain runs from December 22 to January 2. Barça will play again on Saturday the 3rd or Sunday against Espanyol at Cornellá. After that, the Blaugrana will travel to Arabia to play in the Spanish Super Cup.

Barça played a similar friendly in December 2023

The last time FC Barcelona scheduled a friendly before the end of the year was in 2023. On December 21 of that year, the team then coached by Xavi Hernández traveled to the United States to face América de México at the Cotton Bowl stadium in Dallas, Texas.

The entire Barça squad traveled to a friendly that ended in defeat (2-3). Lamine Yamal and Marc Guiu scored for the Culés, while a double by Julián Quiñones established the partial tie. Near the end, Henry Martín scored the winning goal for the Mexicans.

For traveling to that match, the Catalan club earned approximately 5 million euros, although it was a charity match to help the victims of Hurricane Otis in Mexico (Acapulco). The team came from playing in the League against Almería and had less than 24 hours of rest to plan the match.

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