LaLiga players launched protests against the league’s decision to stage a regular-season game in Miami, but the first protest on Friday was not shown on live television as expected.

The world television feed of the game at Real Oviedo against Espanyol cut to the exterior of the stadium for the first 25 seconds of the game, when players paused for the opening 15 seconds in opposition of plans to take a game to the United States.

The game came just hours after the Spanish soccer players’ union announced that protests would be held straight after kickoff in games in the ninth round from Friday through Monday.

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– LaLiga confirms historic Barça league game in U.S.

The players’ union said in a statement that the “players will protest in a symbolic fashion to denounce the lack of transparency, dialogue and coherence of LaLiga regarding the possibility of playing a game in the United States.”

LaLiga made official last week its plans to hold the Barcelona–Villarreal game in Miami on Dec. 20.

The union said the captains of the 20 topflight sides were in agreement with the protest. But the union added that it had not asked the Barcelona and Villarreal players to participate in the protest even though, the union said, “they share the basic premise of the protest.”

Barcelona host Girona and Villarreal host Real Betis on Saturday.

Earlier Friday, Barcelona coach Hansi Flick and his players were not pleased at having to travel 7,200 kilometers (4,500 miles) to play a regular-season game.

“My players are not happy, I am not happy, but LaLiga decided that we will play this game,” Flick said at a news conference in reply to a question about his position on the game.

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has defended the move by saying it represents an opportunity to further push into the American sports market.

But for Flick and his players, it represents added travel before a short winter break. Barcelona will also travel to Saudi Arabia for the Spanish Super Cup starting on Jan. 7.

Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong also criticized playing the game in the U.S., saying players were already overloaded with travel and a packed playing calendar.

Like Barcelona, Villarreal were also playing in the Champions League.

LaLiga president Javier Tebas has defended the game abroad as a key to boosting “revenues in the mid- to long-term” and increasing the value of his competition’s television rights, which lag behind those of England’s Premier League.

Tebas said the league plans to make an international match an annual event.

The match will be at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, home of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins.

The league has chartered planes to take to Florida what it estimates will be 2,000 to 3,000 fans from Villarreal, which is the home team.

British-Israeli woman Emily Damari, who was released from Hamas captivity in January, spoke out about being barred from an upcoming soccer game in England involving her favorite team, Maccabi Tel Aviv. 

The team’s English opponent, Aston Villa, announced that Maccabi Tel Aviv fans will not be allowed to attend the upcoming Europa League game in Birmingham, England, on Nov. 6 over safety concerns amid frequent pro-Palestinian protests.

So Damari is not able to watch. 

“I was released from Hamas captivity in January and I am a die hard fan of Maccabi Tel Aviv. I am shocked to my core with this outrageous decision to ban me, my family and my friends from attending an Aston Villa game in the UK. Football is a way of bringing people together irrespective of their faith, colour or religion and this disgusting decision does the exact opposite. Shame on you. I hope you come to your senses and reconsider,” Damari wrote on X.

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People walk toward Israeli military helicopters as Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari, three female hostages who have been held in Gaza since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, return to Israel Jan. 19, 2025. (Reuters/Amir Cohen)

“I do wonder what exactly has become of British society, this is like putting a big sign on the outside of a stadium saying ‘No Jews allowed’ What has become of the UK where blatant antisemitism has become the norm? What a sad world we are living in.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the police recommendation to bar the visiting team’s fans from the Nov. 6 game was “the wrong decision” and that “the role of the police is to ensure all football fans can enjoy the game, without fear of violence or intimidation.”

Starmer spokesman Geraint Ellis said Friday that “the prime minister has been angered by the decision” and the government was working urgently to overturn it.

Simon Foster, the elected official in Birmingham responsible for overseeing the local police force and holding it to account, also urged an “immediate review,” while local Mayor Richard Parker called on authorities to find “a workable solution” that may involve the government covering some policing costs.

CRUZ SLAMS UN’S ISRAEL ‘GENOCIDE’ CHARGE, PUSHES FOR CONSEQUENCES

Fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv light flares and chant slogans ahead of a UEFA Europa League soccer match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Nov. 7, 2024.  (Mouneb Taim/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Maccabi Tel Aviv FC supporters were reportedly the target of violence in Amsterdam before and during the soccer team’s match against Ajax last year. More than a dozen people have already been charged in the violence, and several have already been convicted after a series of violent overnight incidents.

Pro-Palestinian protesters have been a common fixture at Maccabi Tel Aviv games in 2025.

Maccabi Tel Aviv’s upcoming match against Aston Villa will be the team’s first away game in the Europa League since pro-Palestinian protests took place at the stadium in Thessaloniki, Greece, against PAOK on Sept. 24. 

About 120 fans of the Israeli club traveled to Greece for that game and were held behind a police cordon before entering the venue.

Aston Villa released a statement addressing the decision. 

“The club are in continuous dialogue with Maccabi Tel Aviv and the local authorities throughout this ongoing process, with the safety of supporters attending the match and the safety of local residents at the forefront of any decision,” the statement read.

Aston Villa’s ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans is just the latest example of restrictions placed on Israel’s sports teams and fans in recent months. 

Supporters with Israeli flags queue outside the Stade de France ahead of a UEFA Nations League soccer match between France and Israel in Saint-Denis, France, Nov. 14, 2024. (Michel Stoupak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The Indonesian government denied the Israelis visas to enter the country for the upcoming 53rd FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Jakarta, which begins Sunday. 

The Israel Premier Tech cycling team has been excluded from an upcoming race in Italy, the Giro dell’Emilia, scheduled for Oct. 4, over potentially disruptive pro-Palestinian protests.

The UEFA Europa League, Europe’s biggest soccer body, was reportedly moving toward a vote to suspend Israel over the war in Gaza in September. 

FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced no action would be taken against the team on Oct. 3. He reportedly later met privately at FIFA headquarters with the leader of the Palestinian soccer federation, Jibril Rajoub, and praised his organization “for their resilience at this time,” per The Associated Press. 

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President Donald Trump oversaw the historic ceasefire between Israel and Hamas last week. 

As part of the ceasefire, Hamas released the remaining 20 living hostages held in Gaza, while Israel released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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HOLLYWOOD – Trans swimmer Lia Thomas has resurfaced after largely disappearing from public view.

On Thursday night in Los Angeles, the former UPenn swimmer, born William Thomas, arrived at the Serra on Vine, wearing a purple dress and stilettos — standing about 6-foot-5 — to accept the “Voice of Inspiration Award” at the 2025 Violet Visionary Awards.

The event, organized by the nonprofit Rainbow Labs, was sponsored in part by Los Angeles sports organizations such as the Dodgers and LA Football Club.

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Leading up to Thomas’ speech, a mention of the Dodgers’ sponsorship drew light applause from the crowd, though no one from the team spoke during the program.

LAFC, Dodgers Among Those Backing Thomas And LGBT Activists

After mingling with the crowd and two drag performances, Lia Thomas took the stage to accept the Voice of Inspiration Award and proceeded to double down on finding purpose in trans activism.

But before that, a video montage played about Thomas, tracing the path from competing on the men’s team as William Thomas, to entering the women’s competition in 2022 as Lia Thomas. 

Thomas was portrayed as an athlete fighting for acceptance while facing backlash.

“Incredible shout out to everybody at Rainbow Labs for bringing me here and everybody and putting this all together,” Thomas started. 

Thomas, 26, accepted the “Voice of Inspiration Award” at the 2025 Violet Visionary Awards in Los Angeles on Thursday night. (Alejandro Avila/OutKick)

“It makes me very emotional because I remember all too well not that long ago being 18 and just realizing that I’m trans.”

Thomas, 26, continued, “And feeling so excited at the prospect of being able to be who I am, but feeling so terrified to take those steps because I didn’t know any other trans people. I didn’t — I barely knew what being trans meant.

“Being open and out in myself felt like this impossible mountain to climb, and I didn’t know if I had the strength to do it.”

Thomas credited having trans mentors who helped the swimmer reconcile a trans identity with athletics.

Thomas said, “It’s only because of so many amazing, amazing trans mentors that I was able to find that strength and that courage to go out and be myself and finally reconcile my ‘transness’ and my swimmer identity and be able to compete as a now trans woman.”

LIA THOMAS SPEAKS FOR FIRST TIME SINCE UPENN AGREED TO TRUMP ADMIN RESOLUTION TO PROTECT WOMEN’S SPORTS

Lia Thomas Calls Trans Platform ‘My Purpose’

After Thomas joined the competition, female athletes, including OutKick’s Riley Gaines, spoke up to denounce men playing in women’s sports.

During the 2024 campaign trail, then-President-elect Donald Trump proved to be a big supporter of Gaines and other women, raising concerns about competing against men.

Their influence led to Trump’s executive order banning biological males from competing in women’s sports.

The president even paused federal funding to the University of Pennsylvania over allowing Thomas to compete with women, though eventually UPenn became the third school to reject the president’s funding conditions.

“And I’m so grateful for them — for those people and those mentors — and I’m so happy that organizations like Rainbow Labs exist,” Thomas added, saying people reached out on social media with “messages of violence.”

Thomas, 26, accepted the “Voice of Inspiration Award” at the 2025 Violet Visionary Awards in Los Angeles on Thursday night. ( Alejandro Avila/OutKick)

“If I had had an organization like that as a kid to give me the knowledge and language to describe my transness, how important that would have been. Because I faced a lot of harassment. I got a lot of messages of violence against me in my Instagram comments and DMs. I didn’t know what to do.”

Speakers throughout the night cast LGBT Americans as living under oppression and celebrated transgender-identifying people as the event’s heroes.

Nearly 70 percent of Americans oppose transgender athletes competing in women’s sports, and Thomas’ inclusion has also sparked controversy over allowing men to share women’s locker rooms.

Thomas remains undeterred, even after all the controversy, calling a platform as an influential trans figure “my purpose.”

EX-UPENN SWIMMER LIA THOMAS TO RECEIVE ‘VOICE OF INSPIRATION’ AWARD AT DODGERS-SPONSORED EVENT

Penn transgender swimmer Lia Thomas speaks to her coach after winning the 500-meter freestyle during an NCAA college swimming meet with Harvard at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Jan. 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

“But I owe so much to those mentors before me that it sort of was clear that I had to be that next beacon in a line of torches going back hundreds of years of trans people. That was my purpose. That was what I was here to do,” Thomas stated.

“And so to be able to be that next light for people is an honor I can’t describe. It means more than anything. And I’m so grateful for the opportunity to do that. And so thank you all so much.”

Since Thomas’ inclusion in collegiate women’s swimming (presided over by the NCAA), women’s rights activists like Riley Gaines — having competed against Thomas — have called out the loss of opportunities and awards for women due to the inclusion of trans athletes, which networks like ESPN have promoted.

Lia Thomas Was Quiet, But Won’t Go Away

As more people spoke up against Thomas and similar cases, like trans volleyball player Blaire Fleming, Thomas started to lose some of the favor awarded by the media.

The tone of the evening reflected an effort to move mainstream American culture toward a fuller embrace of LGBT identity and activism.

Also speaking at the event, on behalf of an LA Football Club group, spokeswoman Daisy Chavez shared a commitment to supporting “queer folks” within the Los Angeles community.

“We are a community of queer fans, local leaders, supporters, and activists of the Los Angeles Football Club. And if you don’t know, we follow sports because we’ve always been here. We’ve been athletes, we’ve been fans, we’ve been lovers of the sports.

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“And so our presence with this club reminds not just the club, the community, but the world that we’ve always been here. And so we cheer, full of joy and love for our local community, but also we represent for our queer folks, and we’re so proud of being there every step of the way.”

Once all the awards were presented — one also went to a gender-nonconforming trans female named “Alok” — the event ended with a stripper show.

For an evening devoted to inspiration, the show’s final acts offered a strikingly different kind of message.

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