With nine of its 20 teams under American ownership, Serie A hopes to be the first major European soccer league to play a game in the United States, Italian league president Ezio Simonelli said Tuesday.
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The possibility of hosting games abroad has become more likely after New York-based company Relevent, a company run by Miami Dolphins’ billionaire owner Stephen Ross, settled in their antitrust lawsuit with FIFA over the ability for leagues to host games in foreign territories. FIFA subsequently said they would reconsider their statute barring such matches, though they have yet to issue any new policies on the matter.
Relevent remain in a legal battle with the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) over that ability, but given the federation had previously used FIFA policy to only allow exhibition matches to take place, it seems probable that there will be games from European leagues played in the U.S. in the near future.
“Holding a game abroad also requires authorization by the local league so we need to make an agreement in that regard. But we are considering timeframes that would work for this. We want to be the first league to set up an event like this in the United States,” Simonelli said at an event in New York.
Simonelli was elected two months ago.
“This is a market that we count on a lot. We have nine clubs under American ownership and one Canadian, so I also need to thank them since they elected me,” Simonelli said. “And we have other prospective buyers lined up.”
The American owned clubs are: Atalanta, Fiorentina, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Parma, Roma, Venezia and Hellas Verona. Bologna is owned by a Canadian — Joey Saputo.
Serie A is also home to several U.S. standouts like Christian Pulisic (Milan), Weston McKennie (Juventus) and Timothy Weah (Juventus).
“All the different leagues are discussing the possibility of playing a regular-season game [abroad],” Serie A’s commercial and marketing director Michele Ciccaresesaid in quotes reported by The Athletic. “If you look at the NFL, they’re playing in Germany, they’re playing in London, they are going to play in Australia. So there are a lot of things happening that make the possibility [more real].”
Asked about a timescale for the games to take place in the U.S., Ciccarese added that several bodies would still need to approve a proposition: “I would say that it’s up to us to put together the piece of the puzzle and present a proper strategy to the authorities. This is what we are doing, and who knows, maybe in a window of one to two years, we will see the league playing if the approvals come.
“For us, we need the approval of the Italian Federation, with the approval of UEFA, then it goes up to FIFA, and then it goes back to the local community.”
Discussions around games taking place in the U.S. have previously focused on Spain’s LaLiga, with the division’s president Javier Tebas repeatedly speaking of his desire to play a regular-season game abroad. When reports emerged last October of a possible Barcelona vs. Atlético Madrid game taking place in Miami , sources told ESPN that the news “would not have come out” if both clubs did not maintain an interest in being involved — though December 2024 proved too soon for the contest to take place in Florida.
Spain’s football federation, however, has staunchly opposed proposals to play LaLiga matches abroad.
However, Ciccarese said Serie A is hoping to beat its Spanish rival to playing a competitive game in the U.S., adding that he is wary of the reaction of fanbases in Italy to games taking place outside the country.
“We would love to do it as the [Serie A] president [Ezio Simonelli has] said. We are working in order to potentially do it but there are barriers that we need to overcome with the right strategy in place and with the support of the clubs, without forgetting that players are players and they have a lot of competition, when they have to play Serie A, Coppa Italia, Champions League and play in international trophies,” Ciccarese said.
“It’s always a race to try to be the trendsetter because then the followers come and the trendsetter is the one who benefits more potentially in terms of revenues of making this thing happen.
“So again, it should be done in a way that makes sense for the club without forgetting the fans because you cannot play a Milan derby in America because the fans in Italy will get very upset as that game has a big meaning in Italy, so we have to play in a way that is respectful of our audience.”
Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.
