Spain’s Top Flight Football League ‘La Liga’ to Hold Regular Season Matches in America

The La Liga- Spain’s top flight football league which holds some of the biggest clubs in European football is set for an ambitious project after striking a deal with Relevent Sports to expand the Spanish league’s presence in the United States.

The Relevent Sports and entertainment company and La Liga have signed a 15-year deal which would include La Liga’s plan to stage at least one match every season beginning this winters during January, for the first time ever.

“The big American leagues are playing matches all over the world, so why would La Liga not play a match in the United States?” Javier Tebas, the president of La Liga, said in an interview, according to New York Times.

The US-based company is also known for staging high profile pre-season matches in the International Champions Cup featuring some of Europe’s biggest clubs. This year’s tournament included La Liga’s three biggest clubs- Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.

In order to increase the marketability aspect, the La Liga match in the USA would also feature one of the big names among Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid,  Sevilla and Valencia.

According to Washington Post, Charlie Stillitano, Relevent’s executive chairman, told The Insider, “Our goal, our job, our responsibility is to try to build La Liga, We told them, [Relevent] sees the power of regular season games.”

To properly market the match, he added, one of the participating teams would have to be Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla or Valencia (but preferably one of the first three). “And the league knows that,” Stillitano said.

However, it is not yet disclosed which two teams would feature in the historic fixture, Miami is potentially one of the preferred location pertaining to its large Latino population.

The pre-season friendly tournaments, especially International Champions Cup received great traction in the United States and the competition featured some of the biggest clubs across the world from every league including the likes of Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Juventus, AC Milan, Real Madrid and Barcelona among other popular clubs.

According to Washington Post, The long-term deal between La Liga and Relevent will result in the formation of a business called La Liga North America, which will promote Spanish soccer in the United States and represent the league’s business interests in U.S. and Canadian markets. It also will aim to establish youth academies, marketing agreements and annual friendlies.