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Spanish football is famed for nothing if not its integrity. Whether it’s Franco using his influence to elevate Real Madrid, in general, but with particular regard to the Di Stéfano affair; the way the government facilitated the sale of Madrid’s training ground for a gazillion euros; Barcelona conjuring then pulling their beloved levers; the way it treats the women’s game, in general but with particular regard to the Luis Rubiales affair; racism more suited to a dissertation or police report than a tea-timely email; to say nothing of the Fuentes blood bags.
But even La Liga has always stayed true to one essential necessity: every team plays every other team twice, once at home and once away … until now, with this season’s Villarreal v Barcelona match, the Yellow Submissives v Mes Que Un Cash Cow, scheduled for Miami. The various suits tried this one a few years ago only for US Soccer to block the move citing a Fifa statute forbidding games from being scheduled outside their home territory. But since then, Relevent Sports – a company that clearly loves the game and, by amazing but unrelated coincidence, recently signed a six-year deal to be Uefa’s global marketing and sales partner for men’s club competitions – and whose owner, by amazing but unrelated coincidence, also owns the Dolphins’ Hard Rock Stadium – sued both official bodies to make more money for themselves. If you’re still reading, the case eventually settled with the understanding that Fifa would revisit the legislation and, shonuff y’all, as of yesterday they’ve been invited to do so.
