U.S. Soccer and Relevent Sports settled their antitrust lawsuit, ending a legal fight over staging foreign league matches in the United States.
The case was dismissed with prejudice on 9 April 2025, meaning Relevent cannot bring the same claim again. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Dispute began over foreign league games
Relevent filed the case in 2019 after plans to stage official matches involving overseas clubs in the United States ran into opposition.
The promoter argued that U.S. Soccer worked with FIFA to block competition and protect its position in the American market.
U.S. Soccer denied the allegations and maintained that it followed FIFA’s rules governing where domestic league matches could be played.
FIFA had already reached a settlement
FIFA settled its part of the case in April 2024. The governing body later created a working group to review the rules for playing domestic matches outside a league’s home territory.
The separate agreement left U.S. Soccer as the remaining defendant until the 2025 settlement closed the case.
Questions remain over matches in America
The settlement removes a major legal obstacle, but it does not automatically approve La Liga, Premier League or other domestic fixtures in the United States.
Any proposal would still require decisions from the relevant leagues, national associations and international governing bodies.
For Relevent, the conclusion ends six years of litigation. For U.S. Soccer, it closes a dispute that challenged its authority over one of the world’s fastest-growing football markets.
