With torrential rain and thunder rumbling above MetLife Stadium, 82,154 fans braved a midsummer storm to watch Barcelona beat Real Madrid 2-1 in a thrilling preseason friendly between the rivals that has become something of a tradition in the United States.
It didn't matter that some of the Spanish club's biggest stars were away on vacation from the recent European Championships and Copa America, or on Olympic duty with their country in France. Still, this was El Clasico, and the crowd was treated to 90 minutes of pure entertainment, watching young stars such as Barcelona's Pau Victor and Nico Paz and veterans such as Real Madrid's Ballon d'Or winner Luka Modric battle it out on a muddy pitch across the Hudson River from Manhattan.
The crowd sang club chants and stadium staff set off fireworks after every goal, even one that was ruled off for offside. The crowd's reaction was impressive for a game that, on paper, meant very little. But this game, and others like it across the United States last weekend, has come to mean a lot to the world of international soccer.
“This is pre-season, it's totally different to a normal Clasico,” Barcelona coach Hansi Flick told reporters after the match. “I know a lot of players are missing from both teams, but at the end of the day it's really good to have all these players here. The young players… it's great to have them here.”
Given the excitement that was present in New Jersey that night, the players' absence did little to deter fans from flocking to the stadium that's home to New York's two NFL teams, the Giants and the Jets. Enthusiasm for the game was not affected even when the game was halted after just 12 minutes of play and didn't resume for an hour because of inclement weather.
Fans were evacuated to the MetLife Stadium when the Barca vs. Real match was stopped (Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images)
Flick spoke to reporters in a glass-walled conference room as fans gathered around him, peering through a translucent wall into the stadium that will host the men's World Cup final in 2026. Cheering supporters drowned out reporters' questions, and security repeatedly asked reporters to stay quiet. Fans lingered inside and outside the stadium after the game ended.
It was just one example of the high-profile soccer friendlies taking place across the U.S. this summer, as European soccer clubs flew from coast to coast to compete on pitches in MLS, NFL, college football and even MLB stadiums. Teams from the English Premier League, Spain's La Liga, Italy's Serie A and Germany's Bundesliga (plus Wrexham in the English Football League) held glitzy press tours and community events across the country. The meticulous preparations for Wolverhampton Wanderers' three-match tour, estimated to cost a total of £1.05 million ($1.344 million), have been reported in detail. Athletic.
A week before Barça vs. Real, Manchester City and AC Milan played in front of 46,122 spectators at Yankee Stadium. The Italian team won 3-2, with United States men's national team captain Christian Pulisic introduced in the 80th minute. Pulisic was, unsurprisingly, the face of Milan's tour, while City showed off a squad that included Norwegian striker Erling Haaland and England international Jack Grealish at a fan event in New York City in the run up to matchday.
Erling Haaland runs off at Yankee Stadium last month (Stephen Nadler/ISI Photo/Getty Images)
While this was a big football spectacle, the pro team's business ties to baseball's Yankees run deep.
In 2013, Manchester City and the Yankees announced plans to create an MLS expansion team, NYCFC. City Football Group owns both clubs as well as a portfolio of other clubs around the world.
As for Milan, the team also has deep ties to American businesses. The club is owned by New York-based RedBird Capital Partners, and the Yankees bought a minority stake in 2022, the same year the teams announced plans to sell AC Milan merchandise inside Yankee Stadium. “I can confidently say that among Italian clubs, we are the most American club. We are very happy to be here,” Milan CEO Giorgio Furlani told reporters in New Jersey last week.
Barcelona and AC Milan play in Baltimore, Maryland on August 6. (Samuel Corum/AFP via Getty Images)
Wrexham is a Welsh club in the English third division made globally famous by a documentary series, and is co-owned by American actor Rob McElhenney and Canadian star of the Deadpool film series Ryan Reynolds. Wrexham plays another American-owned Premier League club, Chelsea, in the United States every summer. When the two teams met in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in July 2023, the attendance was 50,596. Twelve months later, the attendance for the 2-2 draw at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California was announced as 32,724.
How many times can these teams continue to successfully return to the US?
The rise of American ownership in international soccer is becoming more and more prevalent, with the Kroenke family, owners of Premier League side Arsenal, providing a notable example through Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE). As well as Arsenal, the KSE sports conglomerate also includes the NFL's Los Angeles Rams. The Rams' SoFi Stadium has also become a home of sorts for Arsenal, having played there the past two preseasons. The Arsenal women's team also embarks on a preseason tour of the US this month, albeit on the east coast, to face NWSL side Washington Spirit and Women's Super League rivals Chelsea.
The US is a key market for Arsenal and there is greater synergy between the Kroenke brothers, the twin jewels of multi-sport.
The two sides held a community event called “Football Meets Football” at the Rams' training facility, attended by Rams manager Sean McVay and Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, as well as captains Martin Odegaard and Cooper Kupp. KSE president Stan Kroenke and his son Josh, who is an Arsenal director, were also in attendance. McVay, who is only 38, and Arteta, who is 42 and a relative newcomer to the Premier League management ranks, have a good relationship and speak frequently.
(From left) Josh Kroenke, Kupp, Arteta, McVay, Odegaard and Stan Kroenke on July 26 (Stuart McFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
Going deeper
Inside Arsenal's US tour: The race for Calafiori, 'old vs young' table tennis and Justin Bieber
Two weeks ago, 62,486 people showed up to watch Arsenal play Manchester United at the 70,000-seat SoFi Stadium, slightly less than expected. After the match, Arteta commented on the small size of the pitch. The NFL arena pitch was only recently laid and is due to be replaced in time for the 2026 World Cup, which the US will co-host with Canada and Mexico. The cheapest tickets are more than $100 (£78) a pop, plus a 10% emissions tax.
James T. Butts, mayor of Inglewood, the Los Angeles neighborhood where the stadium is located, wants soccer to return to Los Angeles. “I might be biased, but I think this is the best stadium in the world right now,” he told reporters. “I've found that soccer fans are more enthusiastic than NFL fans, so I'm happy every time there's a soccer game. It adds to the atmosphere in the city and makes the project more feasible. I'm very happy.”
The opportunity to watch two of Europe's top teams play in a local stadium remains a rare experience for Americans.
The University of South Carolina hosted Liverpool's 3-0 win over Manchester United last weekend in front of a record 77,559 fans, and just days earlier in Philadelphia, Liverpool beat Arsenal 2-1 in front of 69,879 fans at Lincoln Financial Field, home of the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles, setting a new record for the venue's biggest soccer attendance ever.
Going deeper
Behind the scenes of the sales pitch that lured Liverpool and Manchester United to America's university town
Liverpool also has a U.S.-based owner in Fenway Sports Group, and when it returned to the U.S. for the first time in five years this summer, it chose to base itself in Pittsburgh (where it beat Spain's Real Betis 1-0 in front of 42,679 fans), Philadelphia and Columbia, S.C. “This is a really important market and we still see significant opportunity for growth,” Liverpool CEO Billy Hogan said. Athletic last month.
Manchester United and Liverpool play in Columbia, South Carolina (Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
Starting next year, clubs from Europe and beyond will be coming to the United States in the summer for games that will mean much more than preseason friendlies.
“It makes it even more special for the fans because they get to see two big teams, two big clubs playing against each other,” said Swedish legend Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who plays in the U.S. for MLS' LA Galaxy and advises AC Milan's U.S. owner. “Especially here in the U.S., normally (a game like this) would be a Champions League game.”
But the market continues to grow, and with the inaugural edition of a revamped and vastly expanded Club World Cup due to be held in the United States next summer, the idea of ​​Champions League-level competition being played here doesn't seem so far-fetched.
In May, lawyers representing soccer's international governing body, FIFA, said in federal court that rule changes allowing domestic league matches to be played abroad could happen “before the end of the year.” This was declared during an in-court status conference in the ongoing antitrust case between New York-based promoter Relevent Sports and soccer's national federation, U.S. Soccer.
At the time, FIFA declined to go into detail about what the lawyers were referring to, but just two weeks later, at its annual general meeting in Thailand, FIFA approved a working group to consider changes to its rules on “the sanctioning of inter-club football matches and competitions” and the criteria that would apply to the recognition of such competitions.
Relevent's lawsuit dates back to the summer of 2018, when the company tried to improve the level of preseason friendlies in the United States.
Promoters had announced plans to stage a La Liga regular season match between Barcelona and Girona in Miami, Florida, but Barcelona backed out of the pledge after FIFA announced a policy banning domestic leagues from playing regular season matches outside the clubs' home stadiums.
A few months later, Relevent tried to invite two Ecuadorian clubs to play in the official league in the United States. The U.S. Soccer Association denied permission, citing FIFA policy. Relevent then sued FIFA and the U.S. Soccer Association for antitrust violations. FIFA is no longer a defendant in the lawsuit, but Relevent and the U.S. Soccer Association are scheduled to hold a settlement conference on the matter next month.
As the antitrust lawsuit slowly made its way through the U.S. legal system, reaching the Supreme Court last year, the business of international friendlies in the U.S. has only grown. But as many coaches noted during preseason tours this summer, preseason friendlies are not the same as the official matches that truly matter.
But that's hard to imagine given football's already packed schedule, with trips from Europe and South America likely to be sporadic affairs in the same way that the NFL only plays a handful of international games each season.
But football insiders believe the current congested schedule is an inevitable part of the game's growth. Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said so when asked about his players' struggles to perform at their best every game because of the schedule.
“The club has to travel around the world to get our brand out there,” Guardiola said in the Yankees' press conference room. It may be the new normal, but it didn't happen overnight. “It's been five, six, seven years,” Guardiola said. “It's the way it is and we have to adapt.”
It seems inevitable that they will have to adapt again soon.
(Top photo: Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images)
