Madrid, Barca To Boycott Dubai LaLiga Summit

Real Madrid and Barcelona have both announced they will boycott an “urgent” meeting called by LaLiga in Dubai next week.

The Spanish league has summoned its member clubs to the United Arab Emirates on Dec. 7 with the aim of addressing “several important modifications to the statutes and internal regulations of LaLiga.”

Madrid and Barca both responded on Wednesday, however, by saying they would not take part in the meeting as they continue their ongoing battles with LaLiga president Javier Tebas.

Madrid said they believed the forum was “illegal given clubs are being called to travel to a place that is more than 5,000km away from LaLiga’s headquarters.”

A statement from Madrid added: “It is completely unjustifiable to address in such an improvised and urgent manner, in the absence of the appropriate discussion and careful analysis, relevant modifications to LaLiga’s internal regulations.”

LaLiga had promised to provide clubs with transport and accommodation for the meeting, which also drew criticism from Madrid.

“It is completely inappropriate and deeply incoherent for LaLiga to undertake the economic expense of transporting more than 100 people to hold an event of this nature, at this time of year, in the United Arab Emirates, when it could be held at LaLiga’s headquarters without involving excessive costs,” their statement added.

“Clubs are going through very difficult times financially, burdened by the drop in income experienced in recent years, making it incomprehensible that excessive and unnecessary expenses should be incurred, in particular in the current economic climate.”