Football fans’ groups across the world have celebrated the cancellation of plans to export a Serie A match between AC Milan and Como overseas just weeks before the fixture.
Milan and Como had been due to fly halfway around the world to play in Perth, Australia, on 8 February, in what would have been a first for a European football league.
But Italian football chiefs and officials from Western Australia pulled the plug yesterday, blaming “onerous” demands from the co-sanctioning Asian Football Federation.
Football Supporters Europe called the news “an early Christmas present – European football will be staying at home in the communities it belongs to.”
“These developments represent a significant victory for common sense, integrity, and local football supporters globally,” said the Football Supporters Association Australia.
“While we welcome these developments, we are disappointed that developments ever got this far.”
The cancellation follows a similar move by Spanish football chiefs, who were last month forced to shelve plans to stage a match between Villarreal and Barcelona in Miami this week.
Nail in the coffin for overseas game moves
It represents a nail in the coffin for overseas games, given that European governing body Uefa has made clear that it does not want to see matches played outside of domestic borders.
World governing body Fifa is yet to reveal its revised position on overseas games, having been forced to settle a lawsuit on the notion brought by promoter Relevent.
Spain’s LaLiga has, however, made clear that it has not given up on exporting regular-season games, despite a domestic backlash from players, fans and some clubs.
Serie A clubs all backed moving the Milan-Como game to Australia, in a move designed to raise the profile of Italian football and its teams worldwide.
But the Asian Football Federation and Football Australia reportedly torpedoed the plan by insisting on the use of local referees and banning any Serie A branding.
“The fixture secured the approval of all 20 Lega Calcio Serie A clubs, Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio (FIGC) and the Union of European Football Associations (Uefa),” the FIGC and WA Government said in a joint statement.
“However, the onerous conditions from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to sanction the fixture could not be implemented without financial risks to the Western Australian Government and Serie A that could not be mitigated.”