Fan groups across Europe urge UEFA and FIFA to block plans for Barcelona and Milan games abroad

GENEVA (AP) — Soccer fans from more than 400 club-supporter groups in Europe urged FIFA and UEFA on Wednesday to block requests from the Spanish and Italian leagues to play games abroad.

The Spanish football federation has approved plans for Barcelona to play Villarreal in Miami in December, and Serie A wants AC Milan to host Como in February in Perth, Australia.

Ahead of UEFA’s executive committee meeting next week in Albania, its officially recognized fan liaison group Football Supporters Europe aimed to show the scale of opposition to “out-of-territory” games — including from a fan group at Villarreal.

“We call on UEFA, FIFA, and all national associations to stand firm, play their role as regulators of the game,” the FSE group said Wednesday, with support from fan groups in 25 countries, “and ensure that football remains rooted in our communities, where it belongs.”

The German soccer league on Wednesday repeated its long-standing opposition alongside the English Premier League to overseas games, in part to avoid a fierce fan backlash.

“As long as I am in a position of responsibility with the league, there will be no competitive game played abroad. Period,” said Hans-Joachim Watzke, the Borussia Dortmund CEO who is also a vice president of UEFA, in comments reported by German news agency dpa.

While American professional sports leagues like the NFL routinely stage games in Europe and elsewhere to build global brands and fan bases, European soccer has a strong — almost tribal — culture to reject such moves, including the tradition of fans of away teams attending games in big numbers.

Fans who have season tickets to see all their team's home games also do not want to miss out.

“Clubs are neither entertainment companies nor traveling circuses. They exist for the benefit of their communities and provide a sense of belonging, where fans have been attending home games for generations,” said FSE, which is skeptical about the logistics and finances of Villarreal’s offer to pay the flight and hotel costs of about 20,000 fans with season tickets to go to Florida.

Critics of the plans, including the European Commission's top sports official in Brussels, Glenn Micallef, say the sporting integrity of leagues also would be unbalanced and damaged. Micallef last week said planning overseas games “isn’t innovation, it’s betrayal.”

Allowing the Barcelona or AC Milan games to move would “instantly open a Pandora’s box with unpredictable and irreversible consequences,” the fan groups warned.

Fresh proposals to move domestic leagues abroad were inevitable once FIFA withdrew from a court case last year in New York brought by promotions agency Relevent. FIFA later set up an expert working panel to review its rules that previously vetoed

Relevent was co-founded by Stephen Ross, owner of the Miami Dolphins, whose Hard Rock Stadium is set to stage the Villarreal-Barcelona game which the clubs hope will raise revenue for a league that is financially outmuscled by the global popularity of the English Premier League.

Barcelona has been struggling financially for several years and Miami also is where its iconic former star Lionel Messi currently plays, for Inter Miami in Major League Soccer. Barcelona was a driving force behind the divisive club-driven Super League project that collapsed within 48 hours in 2021.

Relevent also is now one of UEFA’s most significant commercial partners, sealing a deal this year to sell broadcast and sponsor rights for six years of the Champions League and other European club competitions starting in 2027.

UEFA’s ruling committee meets Sept. 11 in Tirana, chaired by its president Aleksander Ceferin. He suggested last week UEFA must talk with FIFA and currently has limited legal power to stop overseas games if the national federations involved agree to them.

One UEFA strategy option could be to shape rules that limit future proposals.

Ceferin noted there was a one-off logistical reason for the AC Milan-Como game to be moved — that it was scheduled at San Siro two days after the storied stadium hosts the Feb. 6 opening ceremony of the Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics. It was unclear why the Italian league scheduled AC Milan or Inter Milan to play at San Siro that weekend.

While taking competitive league games abroad is a red line for fans and most soccer officials, there is a recent tradition of France, Italy and Spain taking Super Cup games elsewhere, including Saudi Arabia. These are typically ceremonial games between the winners of the previous season's league and domestic cup.

Even that is of no interest in Germany, league official and Bayern Munich CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen said Wednesday.

“My position is crystal clear. I think it’s nonsense,” Dreesen told dpa.

UEFA has its own Super Cup game each August which rotates between European cities which would not be awarded the final of a Champions League or Europa League. UEFA also has the Nations League finals tournament which has been hosted by one of the four countries that qualify.

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Dortmund fans support their team during the German Bundesliga soccer match between Borussia Dortmund and Union Berlin at the Signal-Iduna Park in Dortmund, Germany, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Barcelona's Lamine Yamal celebrates after scoring the opening goal from the penalty spot during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Rayo Vallecano and FC Barcelona at the Vallecas stadium in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to five years in prison Friday in the first verdict from eight criminal trials over the martial law debacle that forced him out of office and other allegations.

Yoon was impeached, arrested and dismissed as president after his short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024 triggered huge public protests calling for his ouster.

The most significant criminal charge against him alleges that his martial law enforcement amounted to a rebellion, and the independent counsel has requested the death sentence in the case that is to be decided in a ruling next month.

In Friday's case, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Yoon for defying attempts to detain him, fabricating the martial law proclamation and sidestepping a legally mandated full Cabinet meeting.

Yoon has maintained he didn’t intend to place the country under military rule for an extended period, saying his decree was only meant to inform the people about the danger of the liberal-controlled parliament obstructing his agenda. But investigators have viewed Yoon’s decree as an attempt to bolster and prolong his rule, charging him with rebellion, abuse of power and other criminal offenses.

Judge Baek Dae-hyun said in the televised ruling that imposing “a grave punishment” was necessary because Yoon hasn’t shown remorse and has only repeated “hard-to-comprehend excuses.” The judge also restoring legal systems damaged by Yoon’s action was necessary.

Yoon, who can appeal the ruling, hasn’t immediately publicly responded to the ruling. But when the independent counsel demanded a 10-year prison term in the case, Yoon’s defense team accused them of being politically driven and lacking legal grounds to demand such “an excessive” sentence.

Prison sentences in the multiple, smaller trials Yoon faces would matter if he is spared the death penalty or life imprisonment at the rebellion trial.

Park SungBae, a lawyer who specializes in criminal law, said there is little chance the court would decide Yoon should face the death penalty in the rebellion case. He said the court will likely issue a life sentence or a sentence of 30 years or more in prison.

South Korea has maintained a de facto moratorium on executions since 1997 and courts rarely hand down death sentences. Park said the court would take into account that Yoon’s decree didn’t cause casualties and didn’t last long, although Yoon hasn’t shown genuine remorse for his action.

A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shouts slogans outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol waits for a bus carrying former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs as police officers stand guard outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A picture of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is placed on a board as supporters gather outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)