A new crisis may erupt between Barcelona’s management and Marc-André ter Stegen, this time over the player’s position on the Catalan club’s decision to play its match against Villarreal at the end of this year in Miami, USA, instead of the Estadio de la Cerámica.
La Liga has approved Barça and Villarreal’s request to hold the match in the USA, and the Spanish Football Federation has also agreed and referred the matter to UEFA and FIFA for a final decision.
There is widespread opposition within Spain to this decision, with Real Madrid leading the calls for its reversal after issuing a fiery statement urging the relevant authorities not to take this step, which it considers a threat to integrity.
The latest move within Spain came from the Professional Footballers’ Association, which issued a statement signed by all Spanish team captains against holding the match in the USA.
The statement described this move as a “lack of respect” for the players due to the lack of dialogue and sufficient information. It emphasized that the Spanish Federation and La Liga did not involve the players in this decision, which entails significant sporting and logistical changes, including breaking the hours specified in the pre-match concentration agreements and forcing players to travel outside of Spain to play a domestic league match.
Ter Stegen was one of the signatories to this statement, although Barcelona was the first to call for the match to be held in the United States, and Villarreal captain Gerard Moreno also did the same.
Sport newspaper indicated that Ter Stegen’s position is not due to his previous disputes with the administration, but rather out of solidarity with all La Liga leaders who signed the agreement on the necessity of consulting the players before making such important decisions.
It is worth noting that Ter Stegen reconciled with Barcelona president Joan Laporta after a long dispute. The German signed a medical report stating that he needed five months to recover, allowing the Catalan club to register Joan Garcia in his place. Ter Stegen returned to the role of captain of the Blaugrana after being isolated for no more than two days.
