On the day after Barcelona and Girona both signed a request for their LaLiga fixture in late January to be played in Miami, the initiative suffered a potential setback, reports SportBusiness.

Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez, Fifa president Gianni Infantino and Spanish federation chief Luis Rubiales met in Madrid to discuss the initiative among other matters and, according to Spanish newspaper Marca, the trio rejected the idea for differing reasons.

There are specific fears from the Spanish government that a match between two Catalan teams could be used as a publicity stunt for the region's independence movement, the Spanish federation feel an overseas league match is not in the fans' best interest while Fifa does not want business to be put ahead of football.

LaLiga, which hopes to stage one game per season in North America as part of a 15-year agreement struck with the media company Relevent Sports, also needs approval from the Spanish sports council, the US Soccer Federation and Concacaf.