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Men’s Football La Liga agree to play a league game in the United States

A REGULAR-SEASON Spanish league game is coming to the United States, possibly as early as this year, but a “clasico” between Real Madrid and Barcelona is pretty much out of the question, the league said today.

The plan is to play a match across the Atlantic as part of a new 15-year partnership with sports and entertainment group Relevent to promote football in North America.

The group operates the International Champions Cup, the world’s largest summer club tournament. Barcelona and Real Madrid faced each other in the tournament in Miami last year.

The league gave few details on the planned regular-season game. League president Javier Tebas, however, dismissed the possibility of taking the “clasico” away from Spain.

The league said it is still making arrangements for the game and there is no timetable for when it will happen, but it could be this season.

The Spanish league has been trying to expand internationally for some time, hoping to grow and keep pace with the powerful Premier League.

Tebas also talked last year about the league possibly playing a regular-season match in China and, a few days ago the Spanish Super Cup was held in Tangier, Morocco, marking the first time it was played outside Spain. The league game in the US would be the first to be played outside of Europe.

“Joining with Relevent to create LaLiga North America is a major milestone in our international expansion strategy,” said the league’s international development director Oscar Mayo.

“This agreement ensures not only a bright future for football in North America but also for LaLiga and our clubs.”

The league said: “The operation will support the league’s growth in the US and Canada through consumer-related activities, including youth academies, development of youth football coaches, marketing agreements, consumer activations, exhibition matches and plans to have an official LaLiga match played in the US”

A decade ago, the Premier League tried to introduce an additional international match, but plans for each team to play a 39th game overseas were abandoned amid opposition from Fifa and fan groups.

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