Spanish football in Hong Kong? La Liga boss calls the city ‘perfect’ stage
As European supporters’ groups fight against move to play games abroad, Javier Tebas says overseas fans ‘have a right to see the matches’
The head of Spanish football’s La Liga has said Hong Kong would be the “perfect” stage for one of his competition’s matches.
Barcelona and Villarreal are set to play a pioneering regular-season fixture in Miami in December, although that is dependent on Uefa, Fifa and US Soccer all giving their seals of approval.
Fan groups have petitioned those governing bodies to reject the move, but Javier Tebas, the La Liga president, told the Post at Hong Kong’s World Football Summit (WFS) that he “can’t see why this is creating such a kerfuffle”.
“There are still issues to resolve, but this is something we want to happen every season,” Tebas said.
“Hong Kong would be perfect; we’re starting in the US, and we have to go one by one, then we’ll explore where next. We want to give these matches to other places, and take a variety of teams. Right now, we are at kilometre four of a [42km] marathon.”
Tebas acknowledged that moving El Clasico, the blue-riband Real Madrid v Barcelona fixture, would be “too complicated”, but said La Liga’s wanderlust was underpinned by broad competition for supporters and revenue.