LaLiga has become the first European football league to sign a deal with a prediction market – in this case Polymarket, the world’s largest.
The first European league, because Major League Soccer (MLS), in the US, has beat out LaLiga by a few months – its commercial arm, Soccer United Marketing (SUM) having signed a deal in January. Polymarket will be an official partner for the US league itself, the MLS All-Star Game, the MLS Cup and the Leagues Cup. It will also be developing “new fan experiences across MLS digital platforms, with a focus on enhancing the live match experience and second-screen engagement for fans.”
And in fact LaLiga’s deal shares the North American perspective. For multiple years Polymarket will be serving as LaLiga’s partner in the US and Canada, providing “premium broadcast visibility, fan-focused digital and social programming, and exclusive fan experiences such as VIP match hospitality and virtual meet-and-greets with LALIGA legends.” It will also receive “exclusive rights” to LaLiga and club intellectual property in connection with the league’s matches.
The Polymarket deal stems from a 20-year joint venture that LaLiga established in 2018 with the US sports and entertainment company Relevent Sports Group, which is itself the point of origin for LaLiga North America, the Polymarket deal’s actual signatory.
A North American pivot
Part of the Relevant deal’s original purpose was to hold one LaLiga match in the US every season. As Sportcal has reported, though, FIFA and the US Soccer Federation (USSF) soon put the kibosh on that idea, citing a FIFA rule: “Official league matches must be played within the territory of the respective member association.” An antitrust dispute ensued for years in US courts, and was headed as high as the US Supreme Court before the parties settled – FIFA in 2024, USSF in 2025. As ESPN has reported, Relevent agreed to dismiss the case with prejudice – i.e., with a bar on further litigation of the same dispute.
In May 2024 FIFA appointed a working group to recommend potential rule changes to the current FIFA Regulations Governing International Matches. It was to issue those recommendations within months, but none have been forthcoming.
Meanwhile LaLiga sought to schedule a match in Miami for Dec. 20, 2025 – which match UEFA’s executive committee “reluctantly” approved as an exception to set no precedents – only to cancel it a couple of months in advance, over player protests and what Relevent called “uncertainty in Spain.”
In short, nobody knows what’s going to happen, and the Polymarket deal could generate some of the revenue that nonexistent matches cannot.
