'It won't go away' - Premier League owners to push for games abroad after Barcelona approved says finance expert
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Ben Palmer
Thu 28 August 2025 16:30, UK
Premier League games may take place abroad in the future but owners will be keenly aware of avoiding a backlash similar to the European Super League.
That is the verdict of football finance expert Dan Plumley, who told Football Insider exclusively that following Barcelona’s plans to take their domestic games abroad, Premier League owners will invariably attempt to do something similar.
The Spanish football federation (RFEF) approved plans to host Villarreal’s home fixture against Hansi Flick’s side in the United States.
The RFEF is now looking to seek permission from FIFA and UEFA to host the match at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on 20 December [The Guardian].
The Spanish Super Cup was hosted in Saudi Arabia last season, and AC Milan are also interested in hosting a Serie A match against Como in Australia.
The Premier League previously toyed with the idea of a 39th league game that would be played abroad, but those plans saw a swift backlash from fans in the mid-2000s.
Major clubs from England and around the world are always looking to expand their global reach, as shown by Man United’s post-season tour of Asia, before they took a break, then began their pre-season campaign in the USA.
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This article contains exclusive comment from Dan Plumley, a football finance expert and senior lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University.
Sources told Football Insider that the Premier League currently have no plans to host games overseas.
And Plumley told Football Insider exclusively that he believes that the backlash caused by the plans for a Super League in 2021 will cause the Premier League and its clubs to move cautiously with something that has previously been lambasted by supporters.
But the finance expert also said that he does not think that it was an open and shut case and that owners of the league’s clubs are likely to be keen on the idea.
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He said: “We’ve seen the backlash with the Super League from a couple of years ago, and that’ll be in the back of the Premier League’s mind, and the independent regulator as well.
I do think we’ll start to see it in the future, and there’ll be more pressure from the owners as well, and as the game grows into other markets, it won’t go away.”
Liverpool netted a windfall of £10million from their pre-season tour of Asia, and United earned a similar amount from their post-season trip to the continent.
Teams in Europe’s top competitions are under increasing pressure to increase revenue and to be financially self-reliant.
UEFA, FIFA, and the Premier League all have financial rules in place to limit the amount of money an owner can pump into a club, making post-season trips abroad worth every penny.
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The European governing body is also tightening its restrictions on how much a club can lose season on season.
With that in mind, it would be no surprise to see the bigger clubs push for overseas games where they can cash in on their global appeal, allowing them to earn more and further the gap between themselves and their competitors.