Italy\u2019s Serie A also decided to stage the encounter between AC Milan and Como on February 8 in Perth, Australia, to avoid a clash with the Winter Olympics opening ceremony at Milan\u2019s San Siro stadium.<\/p>\n
But that sparked protests from European supporters groups who branded the moves \u201cabsurd, unaffordable, and environmentally irresponsible\u201d.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1759535888_361_poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
In its statement, UEFA said that it had \u201creiterated its clear opposition to domestic league matches being played outside their home country\u201d.<\/p>\n
But despite \u201cthe widespread lack of support that had already been raised by fans, other leagues, clubs, players and European institutions\u201d, UEFA said that it had found no clear regulatory framework in FIFA\u2019s statutes that would allow it to oppose the moves.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe UEFA Executive Committee has reluctantly taken the decision to approve, on an exceptional basis, the two requests referred to it,\u201d European football\u2019s governing body said in its statement.<\/p>\n
– NFL, NBA precedent –<\/p>\n
While the idea of relocating European football matches to other continents seems shocking to many, other sports — particularly US ones — have been doing something similar for years, even decades.<\/p>\n
The NFL has held games in London since 2007 while it also expanded to Mexico and Germany.<\/p>\n
Last year it added a game in Sao Paulo and this year there has been one in Dublin for the first time. Another is slated for Madrid in November while Melbourne will play host to a game in 2026.<\/p>\n
The NBA, which has relocated regular-season matches since 1990 to Japan and since 2013 to Europe, has already scheduled six games in Berlin, London, Manchester and Paris over the next three seasons.<\/p>\n
In rugby union, the French Top 14 club competition took its 2016 final to Barcelona\u2019s Camp Nou stadium, while Ireland and New Zealand played an international match in Chicago that same year — with Ireland claiming their first ever victory over the All Blacks.<\/p>\n
Last weekend, Argentina played their final Rugby Championship match at home to South Africa at Twickenham in London.<\/p>\n
It is not unheard of in football to host matches abroad, but until now those had only ever been glorified friendlies.<\/p>\n
The Spanish and Italian Super Cups are already held in Saudi Arabia, after previous editions in China, Morocco, Qatar and Libya, as governing bodies seek to cash in on the global reach of the beautiful game.<\/p>\n
La Liga has been trying for years to host games in the United States, home of its commercial partner Relevent Sports.<\/p>\n
Football\u2019s world governing body FIFA shifted its hitherto opposition to relocating matches, with a \u2018working group\u2019 launched in May to revise their rules.<\/p>\n
That opened the door to UEFA granting La Liga and Serie A the permission to branch out.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Lega Calcio Serie A thanked \u201cUEFA for recognising the exceptional nature of this initiative\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt should also be emphasised that this is only one match out of 380 in the league: an extraordinary event, not a structural change to the schedule,\u201d a Serie A statement said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope that approval from FIFA and the Australian Football Federation will complete the authorisation process,\u201d added Serie A president Ezio Simonelli.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor us, a contingency linked to the unavailability of the San Siro Stadium has been transformed into an opportunity to please the many Italian football fans, who will have the chance to follow the match live in Perth, and also for the two teams and Italian football to increase their international visibility and fan base.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"European football governing body UEFA on Monday said it had \u201creluctantly\u201d approved the staging of a Spanish La…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[6074,2620,122475,2095,1724,64,63,689,122476,122480,122471,79354,2065,2791,5127,512,17057,122472,122483,122478,31403,9239,2057,122482,122469,122466,122473,122474,122470,122477,38334,122468,2755,596,122465,6246,2592,5717,99086,29973,9286,26779,56987,2328,941,84835,122481,14163,2022,2184,5140,19269,24604,9139,1736,67736,2041,68108,2067,3583,677,2591,46,16260,2633,14640,1183,18780,3595,85,6248,122467,3586,2614,12000,3439,2062,122479],"class_list":["post-194051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-africa","tag-agence-france-presse","tag-aleksander-ceferin","tag-america","tag-asia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-federation","tag-authorisation-process","tag-belgian-defender","tag-berlin","tag-canada","tag-central-america","tag-chicago","tag-china","tag-city-of-manchester","tag-club-competition","tag-commercial-partner","tag-domestic-league-matches","tag-dublin","tag-eastern-asia","tag-europe","tag-european-football","tag-european-football-governing","tag-european-football-matches","tag-european-institutions","tag-european-supporters-groups","tag-ezio-simonelli","tag-fan-backlash","tag-fan-base","tag-fan-protests","tag-florida","tag-football","tag-football-governing-body","tag-football-news","tag-france","tag-germany","tag-governing-body","tag-home-country","tag-illinois","tag-ireland","tag-italian-football","tag-italy","tag-japan","tag-laighin","tag-lega-calcio-serie-a","tag-libya","tag-london","tag-mexico","tag-miami","tag-milan","tag-morocco","tag-national-football-league","tag-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand-all-blacks","tag-north-america","tag-northern-africa","tag-northern-america","tag-northern-europe","tag-oceania","tag-paris","tag-perth","tag-qatar","tag-rugby-union","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-south-africa","tag-southern-africa","tag-southern-europe","tag-sports","tag-tony-popovic","tag-uefa-executive-committee","tag-united-kingdom","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-western-asia","tag-western-australia","tag-western-europe","tag-world-governing-body"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}