To much fanfare last week, LaLiga and its North American marketing partner Relevent Sports announced plans to play at least one official match in the United States or Canada every season for the next 15 years. However, the proposal is already in doubt.
The ambitious initiative needs to be approved by Fifa, Uefa, Concacaf, the United States Soccer Federation (USSF), the Spanish FA, Spain’s National Sports Council and its foreign ministry.
Yahoo Sports reported that the proposal is highly unlikely to be given the green light considering all the approval needed. “There’s no chance in hell,” a source told Yahoo.
USSF, which discussed the proposal last Thursday, has the right to deny sanctioning matches involving foreign teams if they are considered “detrimental to the best interest of the sport” in the country.
Fifa will have the final say on the matter. The governing body’s former president Sepp Blatter condemned Premier League’s previous proposals to play matches overseas as “unacceptable” and an “abuse of football”.