The government is ready to support plans to include provisions in the football governance bill that would prohibit the Premier League and EFL from staging competitive matches abroad.
Fans’ groups would welcome the move, as they are concerned that clubs will seek to capitalize on their global popularity by moving games overseas, a radical departure from tradition that Fifa is expected to approve later this year.
Liverpool’s chairman, Tom Werner, told the Financial Times last year that he wanted to see Premier League games played in New York, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Riyadh, and Rio de Janeiro.
The bill establishing the Independent Football Regulator received a second reading in the House of Commons this week, but amendments are expected.
According to The Guardian, some MPs are concerned that an existing clause in the bill requiring clubs to seek the regulator’s permission “to move home games elsewhere” is insufficient, and plans are being made to submit an amendment at the committee stage that explicitly prohibits taking a match abroad.
Although the government does not intend to introduce the amendment, multiple sources have confirmed that it supports the principle and opposes moving English fixtures overseas.
Ministers could support, suggest changes to, or oppose the amendment, depending on the wording.
The Premier League’s chief executive, Richard Masters, stated last summer that there were “no plans” to take games abroad, and that the subject had not been formally discussed since 2008, when plans for a “international round” – the so-called 39th game – were abandoned due to fan backlash and Fifa opposition.
The Premier League’s policy is determined by its members, and if 14 clubs wanted to play overseas, the executive would be powerless to stop them.
Fifa regulations preventing league matches from being played outside of domestic national territories are set to change.
Following a legal dispute with American sports promoter Relevent, which claimed that Fifa’s refusal to sanction overseas games was anti-competitive, the world governing body formed a working group last year to issue new recommendations on the subject.
La Liga and Serie A have expressed a desire to move games abroad as early as next season.
