UEFA ruled out a final decision on the RFEF's request to play the Villarreal-Barça of matchday 17 of LaLiga 25/26 in Miami. In its last Executive Committee, held on Thursday in Tirana (Albania), the entity reaffirmed its position, but seems resigned to give the green light to the match.
In principle, UEFA ratified its position against the dispute of league matches abroad. However, the organization chaired by Aleksander Ceferin understands that, if the parties agree, there will be no way to deny the license for Catalans and Castellonenes to play next December 20 in the United States.
UEFA statement on Villarreal-Barça in Miami
The Executive Committee discussed the requests from the RFEF and the FIGC to approve the holding of a national league match each outside the country of origin, in particular outside UEFA territory.
The Committee acknowledged that this is an important and growing issue, but expressed its desire to ensure that it has the views of all stakeholders before making a final decision. There are many issues to resolve and, as a European governing body, UEFA has a responsibility to take all these factors into account.
As a result, no decision was taken this Thursday, but UEFA will conduct a round of consultations with all stakeholders in European football, including fans.
When will the final UEFA ruling on Villarreal-Barça be known?
In that sense, we will have to wait several more weeks to know the final decision of UEFA not only on the Villarreal-Barça, but also of the Milan-Como. The Italian clubs want to play in Perth, Australia, the Serie A match that should be played in San Siro.
The Lombard stadium, however, will be occupied that weekend (February 7-8, 2026) by the opening of the Winter Olympic Games. Unlike the match of matchday 17 of LaLiga, in Italy there is a much more favorable consensus for the initiative.
In Spain, organizations such as the Spanish Footballers Association (AFE) have positioned themselves against League matches abroad. Real Madrid did the same once the RFEF raised the request to UEFA to play the Villarreal-Barça in Miami.
If the European body gives the green light to the match, the only one that could prevent its realization would be the Superior Sports Council (CSD). For now, the governmental body has not ruled on the matter. The next UEFA Executive Committee will be held on December 3 in Nyon, Switzerland.
UEFA approves another change in its regulations for club competitions
At Thursday's meeting, UEFA approved a new modification of the regulations of club competitions to admit the temporary substitution in the squads of the clubs of a maximum of one outfield player due to long-term injury or illness in the first six matchdays of the league phase of Champions, Europa and Conference League.
This, with the aim of "ensuring that the squad lists are not unfairly reduced", in addition to protecting the labor rights of the players. The measure applies from matchday 1, scheduled from Tuesday 16 to Thursday 18 September.