It has been a common practice for some European leagues to take games from some of their tournaments to other countries, and now, it seems that the next step would be to take league matches to other regions, such as North American leagues have done in the past decade.
The first league to take that approach would be the Italian Serie A, according to their president, Lorenzo Casini. The league's main man has dropped a hint about the league being ready to see their a full matchday being played abroad, more specifically in the United States.
It's something we are evaluating, with pros and cons. The first, obviously, concerns the fans who could miss a day. The place would be to be determined. Furthermore, at the moment it would not be possible without authorisation from Fifa and Uefa. In the future, the United States could be a place where it would make sense to go, thinking about their investments for the 2026 World Cup," Casini stated.
Then, the exec went on about how other countries in Asia could be options to take a full batch of games.
"Then there is India where we will not go to play cricket, but it is a new world and we had a champion like Del Piero there who tried to play in it. We haven't talked about it yet in the assembly, but I wouldn't underestimate Italy as a place to experiment with the final four," the league president added.
The league's relationship with Saudi Arabia also saw the question emerge about taking league games to that country. Casini did not hold back and admitted it would also be an option, given their success with the Italian Super Cup.
"Saudi Arabia has become a country of reference several years ago, and looking what the country is doing in view of Expo 2030 and the 2032 World Cup it was an important moment to be there. As for Serie A, we don't just look to the Arab market," the president said.
FIFA and UEFA have always frowned upon the possibility of watching league games being held away from their home country, but with emerging markets dominating world football, it would not be a surprise to see the Italian top-tier category being the first to do so.
