Massive development in plans to play Serie A match in Australia

Many football fans felt like it was a massive step towards the end of football as we know it, when both Serie A and La Liga were given the go ahead to play domestic league matches outside Italy and Spain respectively.

Greed the only motivation and if clubs in La Liga and Serie A did this and made loads of extra money, then that would only mean more and more league matches in Spain and Italy getting moved around the world.

With then for sure the Premier League clubs following suit.

The cracks first appeared in this masterplan when plans to play Villarreal v Barcelona in Miami, USA, in December 2025, were ditched.

Plenty of pressure applied by fans, players and other concerned parties to try and stop that La Liga game going ahead in Miami BUT that cancellation not done for any good reason. Instead it was cancelled amidst claims that it had not turned out to be the moneyspinner that the interested parties had all expected/hoped it would be.

For the overwhelming number of football fans in all countries, the idea of playing any domestic league matches in another country, is simply unacceptable.

Despite La Liga admitting defeat, at least for the time being, focus switched to Serie A and their plans to play AC Milan v Como in February 2026, in Perth, Australia.

Only last week, Serie A president Ezio Maria Simoncelli insisted that this AC Milan v Como was definitely going ahead in Australia in February.

Now today, a massive development AND climbdown from the Serie A President and all the others involved in this shameful attempt to take domestic league matches away from where they should always be played.

Plans to stage this Serie A game between AC Milan and Como in Australia have now been abandoned.

The Serie A President and the government of Western Australia admitting failure in a joint statement today (Monday22 December 2025).

Just as was the case with La Liga, this is not a case of Serie A suddenly realising that this was a shameful move that had to be cancelled for good reasons.

Today’s official statement saw the Serie A President and the Western Australia government admit that they had called it off; ‘…due to financial risks that could not be mitigated, onerous approval conditions, and last-minute complications beyond their control.’

The statement adding; ‘…the fixture could not be implemented without financial risks to the Western Australian Government and Serie A that could not be mitigated.’

Great news today and hopefully this is the last we hear of this kind of nonsense.