Villarreal-Barça in the USA: player protest "makes no sense" according to Javier Tebas

"This isn't a protest, it's a revolt. The NFL is coming to play in Europe, and so is the NBA. One game out of 380 has led to this revolt, which extends from the European Commissioner (Glenn Micallef, responsible for sport, among other things) to the players. It makes no sense. It's a very backward-looking view of what professional football should be," said Javier Tebas, president of LALIGA, during his speech at Sportel Monaco on 21/10/2025.

The Spaniard was asked about the players' protest movement, initiated by the AFE, following LALIGA's decision to hold the Villarreal CF - FC Barcelona match (counting towards Matchday 17 of LALIGA EA Sports 2025-26) in Miami (Florida, United States) on 20/12/2025. This protest took the form of the players kicking off 15 seconds after the referee's first whistle during the games on Matchday 9 of 2025-26 LALIGA EA Sports, played from 17 to 20/10/2025 (see "further reading" section).

"I could understand it if we were playing 20 matches (outside Europe), because then we would be ruining the championship. This is just one match, with a goal that is not…