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Liverpool chairman Tom Werner has previously been in favour of the idea of the Premier League doing something similar.

The idea of a ‘39th game’ has been kicking around in the Premier League since 2008, but both Premier League CEO, Richard Masters, and the league’s chief football officer, Tony Scholes, have both gone on record to state that there were “no plans” to take games overseas.

That stance comes against the backdrop of major leagues like Spain’s La Liga openly pursuing such a move, with La Liga chiefs openly stating that they wanted to play competitive games in major markets like the United States so that they can grow the brand.



Italy’s top tier, Serie A, also has the same stance, with the Premier League far off into the distance when it comes to revenue generation when compared to all other major European leagues.

Allowing regular season games abroad at a time when the English game is resisting it is seen as a way to claw back some of the ground lost and provide a meaningful way into lucrative markets like the US.

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With the Premier League against the idea, and reports back in May claiming that the UK Government were ready to back plans to put a block on the Premier League and EFL taking competitive regular season games abroad, the path has become clear for Spain to push ahead with plans and try and make gains where the Premier League cannot.

La Liga have received the first approvals to move Villarreal’s home game against Barcelona in December to Miami, with Spain’s Football Federation, (RFEF) giving the green light to La Liga’s request on Monday, with the next hurdle to clear being formal proposals to be submitted to FIFA, UEFA and the US Soccer Federation, all of whom will need to give their approval to the plans.

An RFEF statement read: “At its meeting on 11 August, 2025, the RFEF board of directors received a request from Villarreal CF and FC Barcelona to play their match on matchday 17 of the first division in the United States.

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“The Royal Spanish Football Federation will submit the request to UEFA to begin the process for subsequent authorisation by FIFA for the match to be played at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on 20 December 2025.”

Last year, in an interview with the Financial Times, Werner spoke on his desire to see games played abroad, although his stance was one that was not supported publicly by Fenway Sports Group chief John W.

Henry, who was less than keen on the idea.

“I’m determined one day to have a Premier League game be played in New York City,” Werner told the Financial Times.

“I even have the sort of crazy idea that there would be a day where we play one game in Tokyo, one game a few hours later in Los Angeles, one game a few hours later in Rio, one game a few hours later in Riyadh and make it sort of a day where football, where the Premier League, is celebrated.”

Werner, in a bid to appease fans, suggested that supporters could be compensated with cheap travel and accommodation in order to attend matches taking place overseas.

In the same interview, however, Liverpool’s principal owner, Henry, said the idea was “not something that I advocate or am particularly interested in”.

Premier League clubs have become hyperfocused on growing their fan bases abroad in recent years, and the return of pre-season tours post-COVID have also seen a rise in clubs playing exhibition games during the season or immediately after the end of the season in a bid to ensure they are activating commercial partnerships and connected with both existing and potential fans around the world.

But there has been a growing interest in clubs hosting competitive games abroad in the same way that Major League Baseball, the NFL and the NBA have all embarked on.

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Last year, Jon Miller, a leading executive at America’s Premier League broadcaster NBC Sports and an instrumental figure in negotiating the network’s multi-billion dollar media rights deal with the Premier League, told the Athletic: “At some point in the future, I would love to see a couple of Premier League games open the season here in big stadiums on our opening weekend.

“I know that’s something that we’ll continue to push for because I think that there’s an American audience here that would like to see regular season games but in the meantime, we’ll continue to work with the Premier League to do everything we can to make the games available to as many people as possible.”


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