Club boss Tom Werner has angered Liverpool FC fans with his desire to play Premier League matches on other continents. But this would also be a logical development for Jürgen Klinsmann.
Liverpool FC chairman Tom Werner has given fresh impetus to a simmering issue. In an interview with the Financial Times, the 74-year-old American spoke out in favor of playing Premier League matches thousands of miles away from England – primarily in the USA.
“I’m determined that one day a Premier League game will be played in New York City,” said Werner. “I even have the crazy idea that there will be a day when we play a game in Tokyo, a few hours later one in Los Angeles, a few hours later one in Rio, a few hours later one in Riyadh – and that it will be a kind of day celebrating soccer, the Premier League.”
TV broadcasters in the USA would be thrilled, soccer fans in England hardly at all. Werner suggested appeasing them with cheap travel and accommodation. Last year, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin also declared a Champions League final in the USA to be “possible.”
The organized Liverpool fans reacted with displeasure to Werner’s statements. “Anyone who is determined to have LFC Premier League games played abroad should bear in mind that we as fans are determined that they don’t,” declared the “Spirit of Shankly”. And the group “Spion Kop 1907” wrote: “One percent price increase one season, a game in New York the next. That’s why we’re protesting. “
Klinsmann understands the fans – but “the business is evolving “
Club owner John Henry, who had to apologize to the fans after Liverpool’s original involvement in the formation of Super League 2021, probably already suspected this when he said in the same interview that Werner’s plans were “not something I support or am particularly interested in”.
At the moment, Premier League games abroad would not even be legally possible, but it doesn’t have to stay that way. Jürgen Klinsmann would not be surprised if this were to happen. “For us traditional fans, that would of course be very difficult to cope with. It would feel like you’re taking the game away from the English fans and I totally understand that,” the former US national team coach and Premier League goalscorer told The Athletic this week. “On the other hand, the business is evolving whether we like it or not. It’s not our decision, it’s the owners’ decision on how they compete with the other major leagues. “
