Barcelona’s chief commercial officer Sergi Ricart has revealed plans to stage a women’s El Clásico in the United States.
A men’s El Clásico is taking place at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas tomorrow, with both Real Madrid and Barcelona competing in the Soccer Champions Tour.
It is the second El Clásico to be held in the United States, after the two men’s teams previously met in Miami in July 2017.
Ricart told SportBusiness that fans could expect a women’s match in the coming years.
“Everything is changing rapidly,” he said. “We know how powerful women’s soccer is in the United States.
“What if we expand the Clásico definition and bring both [women’s] teams to the United States and create that Clásico? We will look to explore that in the future.”
Such a match would likely draw a huge crowd due to the popularity of women’s football in the US.
Barcelona have history with attracting record attendances – their Women’s Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid drew 91,553 fans to the Camp Nou.
This world record crowd for a women’s football match was surpassed just a few weeks later, with 91,648 turning up to watch Barcelona play Wolfsburg in the Women’s Champions League semi-final.
Barcelona turned down the opportunity to play at two women’s tournaments in the US this summer – the International Champions Cup and the Women’s Cup – instead choosing to compete at the Amos Women’s French Cup in France.
“You will see the female team coming hopefully soon to the US,” Ricart said.
Barcelona are considered one of the best women’s football teams in the world, although they lost their Champions League title to Lyon last season.
Their squad includes Aitana Bonmatí, Caroline Graham Hansen, Lieke Martens, Mapi León and Ballon d’Or
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