Barcelona have backed out of the La Liga game against Girona that was supposed to take place in Miami.
Barcelona released a statement confirming that the club was pulling out of the proposed league game in Miami, Florida. The club sent out a post on Twitter linking to their official statement.
The crux of their statement reads, “The FC Barcelona Board of Directors have agreed to withdraw their disposal to play their game against Girona FC in Miami, after noting a lack of consensus over this proposal.”
However, the club also stated that they are still willing to play a La Liga in Miami if and when a consensus is reached because at the moment they feel that the project will not prosper.
From the moment the match was proposed, it was met with criticism from players as well as the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) President, Luis Rubiales.
Barça were and still are willing to play in Miami, but consider that the project will not prosper until there is an agreement between all parties involvedhttps://t.co/PWVMEPU9zz
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) December 10, 2018
FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, also came out against the idea. Infantino stated, “”I’m strongly opposed to this and I deny any permit to play the Girona-Barça game in Miami”. “Official games of a league must be played inside the country.”
Javier Tebas, president of La Liga, was the man in charge for the proposed game. It’s fair to say there is no love lost between himself and Rubiales have clashed over this idea from the get-go.
Tebas issued his own statement after learning Barcelona were pulling out of the match.
He said, “I don’t see Barça’s decision as a betrayal. From the first moment we’ve said it was voluntary and that continues until the last minute.”
Upon reading Barcelona’s withdrawal, Rubiales stated, “What Barça is saying is you can’t just throw things on a wall, go against FIFA, UEFA, and the Federation. We will always act within regulations, not on a whim and arbitrarily.
For Girona’s part, who seem to the forgotten party in this whole mess, also issued a statement saying they respect Barcelona’s decision and will continue supporting initiatives that promotes the league beyond just the walls of Spain.
The proposed league game was set to be a “home game” for Girona against Barcelona played on January 26, 2019 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. While that proposal looks all but dead, Tebas is not giving up.
“Of course I would have liked to play on Jan. 26, but I have to congratulate the two clubs, who allowed us to get to here, because that’s going to help us in the future, Tebas said.
Rubiales said something similar to the effect that any type of proposal would have to be agreed upon by all parties involved and not solely a unilateral decision by the league.
Considering the rocky history between the two, we might be in store for more of the same on any future initiative to take a league game outside of Spain.