La Liga slammed by Spanish Football Federation for trying to 'invade' USA

Luis Rubiales and RFEF are fuming at La Liga and their decision to take competitive top-flight fixtures to America

chief Javier Tebas is trying to "invade" the United States and spoke to "everyone except the people he should have" when constructing the plan to play a competitive top-flight match in North America, according to Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) president Luis Rubiales.

Tebas and La Liga announced in mid-August they had struck a groundbreaking deal with multinational media, sports and entertainment company Relevent that will boost the competition in North America.

As part of the agreement, La Liga revealed plans to stage a competitive top-tier match in the United States for the first time, a move which has been met with staunch opposition from RFEF, the Association of Spanish Footballers (AFE), many clubs and some players.

Girona confirmed on Wednesday they had accepted La Liga's proposal to play their designated home match against Barcelona in late January in the USA, but it is yet to be ratified by both clubs or the relevant governing bodies.

One of the concerned parties is RFEF, whose president thinks Tebas has gone about his "adventure" in a terrible fashion.

"I want to be very respectful, unlike La Liga [Tebas] who did not respect RFEF," Rubiales told the Daily Mail.

"He spoke to everyone except the people he should speak to. I found out that there was something signed, but so far LaLiga has not brought it to us.

"It's a total lack of respect and it's incomprehensible from a president who demands a lot from others in terms of behaviour, but whose own behaviour, frankly, leaves a lot to be desired.

"I have not seen the contract, so I can't say much, but I will say that FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, wants to protect the domestic competitions in each country and taking league games somewhere else is to invade that country.

"A friendly is not the same as a game in the domestic competition, and you can't make a decision like this without consulting the Federation or the footballers. He has bypassed everyone.

"He's embarked on the adventure of signing a contract with a private company for fifteen years. I'm sure the intentions were good, but without doubt the way he did it was terrible."