Adrien Rabiot has criticised Serie A’s plans to play a match in Australia Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images
AC Milan midfielder Adrien Rabiot has described Serie A’s plans to schedule his side’s league game against Como in Perth, Australia as “completely crazy” and “really absurd”.
The Italian top flight is not the only league aiming to move a regular-season match abroad, with Spain’s La Liga hopeful of staging December’s scheduled game between Villarreal and Barcelona in Miami, Florida.
“It’s completely crazy,” Rabiot told Le Figaro when asked of the Serie A’s plan of playing the February match in Australia. “Then there are financial agreements to ensure the league has a certain level of visibility, but all of this is beyond our control.
“It’s crazy to travel so many kilometres to play a match between two Italian teams in Australia. We have to adapt. As always. There’s a lot of talk about schedules and player health, but all of this seems really absurd.”
On Monday, UEFA “reluctantly” approved the requests from the Italian and Spanish domestic leagues to stage matches abroad while reiterating its “clear opposition” to the plans.
European football’s governing body said it had granted the approval “on an exceptional basis amid regulatory gaps at global level” and insisted the decisions would not “set a precedent”.
In August, the Italian league said that its plans to play Serie A games in Australia would “introduce new audiences to the excellence of Italian football” and would lead to “increased visibility and popularity worldwide” for the division.
Serie A said that these benefits would be “in return for a small sacrifice required of the Milan and Como fans”.
No regular-season league matches in European football have previously been staged abroad, with UEFA’s approval now initiating the procedures for FIFA, the body overseeing world football, to grant authorisation for the fixture changes.
The German Football League (DFL) has ruled out moving any Bundesliga matches abroad, while England’s Premier League considered playing a round of fixtures known as the ‘39th game’ outside of the United Kingdom in 2008 but faced huge backlash from supporters and opposition from FIFA.
Oct 8, 2025
Connections: Sports Edition
Spot the pattern. Connect the terms
Find the hidden link between sports terms
Play today’s puzzle