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Barca supremo says European super league is on its way

A European super league and global matches are on their way as Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu hails the relentless march of the globalisation of football. He was talking to Oliver Kay of The Times.

He suggested that as it stood many matches in the domestic leagues and even in the Champions League were boring for fans [or at least for global television audiences who are now the watchers that matter]. 'So why not one day have a new format of the Champions League which could also be a new super league within Europe?'

He admitted that that La Liga didn't want to reduce matches, 'but it's something that will come in time because, in the end, there will be a demand of the fans.' Perhaps those of the top Spanish clubs, but the others?

In my view one of the key markers of the progress of globalisation in football will be whether league matches (not friendlies or special tournaments) are played abroad. La Liga is trying to stage Girona's home fixture against Barca in Miami in January. Bartomeu says, 'La Liga want to promote their brand. The US is a fast-growing football market and La Liga's objective is to have better contracts for TV rights and sponsors.'

However, Oliver Kay asks whether this would be the thin end of the wedge. Does anyone want a future in which every league becomes a roadshow?

Barcelona was once known for having Unicef on its shirts. It remains an association of 145,000 members. But the structural realities and accompanying ideologies that surround it are such that it is now as rampantly commercial as any other club, perhaps even more so.

Barcelona are coming close to their target of €1 billion of revenues: Record revenue

However, this sits alongside an ambition to represent Catalonia and Catalan identity? The upsurge of that (regional identities) has been a clear political response to globalisation.

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