Fifa chief not keen on La Liga in USA

Fifa president Gianni Infantino has voiced his objection to leagues playing competitive games abroad, an idea long considered by English Premier League clubs and now planned by La Liga.

As part of a 15-year deal signed with entertainment and sports group Relevent in August, the Spanish top flight wants to play at least one regular-season game a year in North America.

La Liga and Relevent hope that the first of those will be Girona’s “home” game against Barcelona in Miami on 26 January but the plan has provoked controversy ever since it first emerged.

First, the Spanish players’ association said they had not been consulted, then it emerged that La Liga has still not received the necessary approvals from the Spanish and US football federations, the Spanish sports ministry, Uefa and its North and Central American counterpart CONCACAF and Fifa.

Infantino has told ESPN he is not keen on the idea at all.

“I think I would prefer to see a great (Major League Soccer) game in the US rather than La Liga being in the US,” he said.

“In football, the general principle is that you play a ‘home’ match at ‘home’, and not in a foreign country.”