Premier League clubs could require approval from an independent government-approved regulator if they want to play home matches abroad, due to a clause inserted in the Football Governance Bill which was presented to the British Parliament in March.
The possibility of hosting one-off domestic championship matches abroad has increased after FIFA was dropped in a landmark lawsuit brought by US events promoter Relevent, which in 2018 was thwarted in its attempts to organize a La Liga match between Girona and Barcelona in Miami in 2018. United States.
A five-year legal battle saw Relevent, founded by Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, essentially accuse FIFA of acting like a monopoly and preventing fair competition. FIFA’s directive, issued in 2018, stated that domestic matches should be played in their home territory, but FIFA and Relevent settled their case last week, with FIFA appearing ready to review its policies on the issue.
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The case was settled without prejudice, meaning Relevent reserves the right to reopen its dispute if FIFA fails to satisfactorily review its position. This has led many within the football industry to believe that FIFA is withdrawing from this fight and leaving it to individual leagues, federations and confederations to fight over whether domestic matches can be played outside their territory of origin.
In 2008, the Premier League had already tried unsuccessfully to introduce a 39th round of matches, which would have been played around the world, only to abandon its plan in the face of the reaction of supporters and the media.
Following the fallout from the Super League, where six of the Premier League’s richest clubs sought to break away from their continental rivals and establish a closed European competition, British politicians have pledged to exercise stricter oversight on an ownership group widely seen as having lost the trust of British football fans.
So while FIFA could withdraw its opposition to overseas matches, the Premier League would likely not be among the first to stage overseas matches, with Spain’s La Liga, Italy’s Serie A and France’s Ligue 1 being much more likely to act sooner. UEFA, whose media rights are sold by Relevant in North America, also appears likely to seek to stage one-off matches for some of its competitions outside Europe in coming years.
For example, UEFA considered renaming the Super Cup – contested between the winner of the Europa League and the Champions League – into an opening tournament, in which these two teams would be joined by the two European clubs with the Highest UEFA points coefficient. This is an example of the type of game they would consider bringing outside of Europe, if it were feasible.
The challenge for the Premier League could be even greater, however, as Athleticism can reveal a clause in the Football Governance Bill which states the proposed regulator must be informed first when there is a “reasonable prospect” that a team could “enter into agreements” to play elsewhere than its land.
It would then need to obtain approval from the regulator before entering into an agreement. The regulator’s approval would then depend on two factors. The first is that it would not “damage the financial viability” and the second point, more crucial in this debate, is that “it would not cause significant harm to the club’s assets”, which is a highly subjective criterion which could probably be hotly contested.
Proposals to include this in the Football Governance Bill were encouraged in particular by the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust, who foresaw the potential for matches possibly being hosted abroad in the future and considered it was a key part of the club’s identity and heritage to keep the club’s competitive fixtures accessible to their fans in London.
The bill does not specify whether this approval would only relate to domestic matches, which opens the possibility that English teams could also face major obstacles in playing their home matches abroad if UEFA wishes to organize the one of their competitions outside European borders. A workaround may be found if overseas matches are added to rather than replacing home matches, or if organizers start designating matches on foreign territory first.
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This particular clause of the bill initially focused on the concept of preventing England football teams from being relocated for longer periods to different homes, rather than one-off fixtures, but the clause has been broadened and language made vaguer to encompass the potential for domestic matches abroad, following pressure from supporters groups.
The bill still needs to go through Parliament to come into force.
Speaking ahead of the development between FIFA and Relevent, Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said last summer: “The Premier League is no longer a niche as it was ten years ago years. Now it seems mainstream and we are really here to take advantage of these opportunities and move forward.
“But I don’t think we’re really any closer to a away game. I was here in the Premier League when the idea of the 39th game was floated. I’m very aware of the reaction at that time and I’m not entirely sure people’s opinions have changed.
“What’s interesting in the United States is that there is a much more liberal view of what sport can do. You can move a franchise between cities – you can do all sorts of things. But football in this country has a cultural reference and we must be aware of it and respect it.
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(Matthieu Ashton – AMA/Getty Images)