La Liga chiefs are constructing plans which would see a number of top flight matches played in foreign soil, it has been confirmed.
The controversial plans would see regular fixtures in the division held in nations such as China and the United States, in order to generate greater revenues with the Financial Times believing a deal could be struck as early as the 2018/19 campaign.
The league’s president Javier Tebas is keen to take advantage of the Spanish game’s growing international audience and cash-in on revenue streams as a result.
“La Liga is global entertainment and we want to grow the international appeal of La Liga,” Tebas explained.
“As part of that effort we are discussing the option of playing some of the league matches outside of Spain. These discussions are still in early stages, but as La Liga, we support the idea.”
Similar plans were drawn up in England a decade ago before being scrapped in 2008 due to mass opposition via fans and politicians.
The chairman of Relevent – the group who founded the International Champions Cup (ICC), a series of high-profile summer friendlies abroad – hinted at La Liga’s plans: “The future is for games that are official games to be in the US, China and other places…
“There are already leagues — and I can’t say [which], because they are confidential conversations — that are talking to us about potentially doing something in the future.”
