La Liga may "not get permission from FIFA" to hold a match between Girona and Barcelona in Miami in January, with FIFA President Gianni Infantino "expressing doubt," according to Adriana Garcia of ESPN.com. Infantino "admitted the idea is not appealing to him." He said that he is "keen" for football to develop in the U.S. and is "very supportive" of MLS. He added, "I would prefer to see a great MLS game in the U.S. rather than La Liga being in the U.S. In football, the general principle is that you play a 'home' match at 'home,' and not in a foreign country." FIFA in a statement said that it has "yet to receive a request by La Liga to stage the game" in the U.S. (ESPN.com, 9/17). MUNDO DEPORTIVO reported La Liga President Javier Tebas responded to Infantino. Tebas: "I will remind the president of FIFA that three teams from Canada participate in MLS, and Toronto FC is the current champion. And also, in Canada there is another professional league" (MUNDO DEPORTIVO, 9/18).
WORK TO DO: THE ATHLETIC's Kevin Williams wrote if La Liga "wants to be considered the best league in the world" not only in terms of the football it presents, it will have to "raise its global profile." La Liga is broadcast in the U.S. on beIN Sports after it was "jettisoned from the two biggest U.S. television providers -- Comcast and DirecTV/AT&T -- right before the start of the new season." Potential market penetration was "reduced by about two thirds for the channel, related to a fee and carriage dispute." Unless La Liga is on a "proper North American television supplier with a reach that puts it in homes by accident rather than exclusively by choice, exporting the product is pointless" (THE ATHLETIC, 9/17).
