File Photo: Barcelona’s Spanish forward #19 Lamine Yamal and Villarreal’s Spanish forward #21 Yeremi Pino vie for the ball during the Spanish league football match between FC Barcelona and Villarreal CF at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys in Barcelona. AFP
The club said Tuesday that those who don’t want to go, or can’t go, will get a 20% discount on their season tickets.
The Spanish soccer federation on Monday approved a request for the match to be played in the United States on Dec. 20. UEFA and FIFA now have to approve the request before it can be made official.
“We would be the first (Spanish) team to play a league match abroad,” Villarreal president Fernando Roig told a news conference. “It would greatly help us expand our brand in a key market like the United States.”
Staging a match abroad has long been part of the league’s goal to promote soccer and its brand in other countries.
It first tried to stage a match in the U.S. in 2018, with a game between Barcelona and Girona, but the idea was dismissed after criticism from players, fans and clubs. Subsequent attempts to play there also failed.
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