LaLiga has called off plans to hold a regular-season game between Villarreal and Barcelona in Miami in December, the league announced on Tuesday.
Tickets for the match — which was due to be played at Hard Rock Stadium on Dec. 20 — had been set to go on sale this week.
On Tuesday, LaLiga announced that the sale of those presale tickets would be delayed but attributed said delay to a technical issue.
The move had faced opposition from LaLiga players, who staged a protest last weekend, as well as fans groups and Real Madrid, who had called on FIFA, UEFA and Spain’s Sports Ministry (CSD) to block the plans.
The game between Villarreal and Barcelona was set to be the first regular-season game in one of Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues to be held overseas.
Italy’s Serie A is also planning to play a match between AC Milan and Como in Perth, Australia in February.
On Tuesday, Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois became the latest player to voice his opposition to playing the LaLiga game in Miami, saying doing so would “totally affect the integrity of the competition.”
Earlier this month, Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong said the plan was “not good for the players” citing fatigue from travel and concerns around fairness, while coach Hansi Flick admitted he and his squad were “not happy.”
Last weekend, players paused for 15 seconds at the start of each LaLiga game in protest at what players’ union AFE said was a “lack of transparency, dialogue and coherence” in how the Miami match had been organised.
The plan to play Villarreal vs Barcelona in Miami was made official earlier this month, with LaLiga president Javier Tebas calling it a “historic step” and saying the aim was to bring the league “closer to that global fanbase.”
The league has long worked to hold a regular-season game in the United States, with its first proposal involving a match between Girona and Barcelona in the 2018-19 season.
It initially faced opposition from the Spanish football federation and U.S. Soccer, which has since faded.
This month UEFA said it had “reluctantly” taken the decision to approve the Miami game, stating its “clear opposition to domestic league matches being played outside their home country” but saying FIFA’s current rules on the subject are “not clear and detailed enough.”
Real Madrid had called the Miami game an “unacceptable precedent” and asked the CSD to refuse authorisation for the match “without unanimous consent.”
The CSD had made no official statement on the match, although Spanish government ministers had voiced concerns over the idea.