Barcelona's regular-season match in Miami has been cancelled by the Spanish league.

Barcelona's players celebrate their team's sixth goal during Tuesday's Champions League opening phase soccer match against Olympiacos in Barcelona, Spain.

Madrid— Following growing domestic opposition to the match, the Spanish soccer league announced on Tuesday that Barcelona's regular-season matchup against Villarreal outside of Miami in December has been cancelled.

The decision was made “after conversations with the promoter of the scheduled Dec. 20 match,” the league said, citing “the uncertainty that has arisen in Spain over recent weeks.”

The game promoter, Relevent, said it had advised La Liga that the match “should be postponed as there are no alternative dates” for the event with “sufficient time to properly plan and execute.”

“It would also be irresponsible to immediately commence selling tickets without at this stage fully understanding the specifics of the arrangements.”

The league had finally won approval from soccer organizations like UEFA and the Spanish federation to hold their first regular-season game overseas. But opposition by players, some clubs and fans had been building recently in Spain.

The Spanish league “laments that this project, which would have represented the greatest transformation in history of world football, will not come to fruition.”

“Holding an official match outside our borders would have been a step in the global growth of the competition, strengthening the internationalization that La Liga has been working on in recent years,” wrote the league, adding that having clubs play internationally “is part of being involved in sports at this level and would bring happiness to our fans outside our country as well as showcasing quality football throughout the world and continuing to promote La Liga’s brand.”

It said "the project fully complied with all federative regulations and did not result in any unfair competition, as confirmed by the competent bodies to enforce such rules who blocked the move for different reasons."

But criticism of the game had been growing in recent times and, during the weekend’s league fixtures, players took to – or rather didn’t take to – it by refusing to contest kickoffs for a few seconds.

Earlier Tuesday, Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois said Spanish league president Javier Tebas was a hypocrite and that the players’ protests were gagged by the league. The games’ television feed had already cut when the scenes were transferred to an outside view of the stadiums, showing only a portion of pitch at a distance.

Madrid has been among the clubs most vocally opposed to the match, arguing that it would change the integrity of the competition because some players — and possibly entire squads — are likely to miss out. Villarreal was the home team in a match scheduled at Hard Rock Stadium.