diff --git a/Makefile.objs b/Makefile.objs
index 3e24c320c3..bfd5a6ceb1 100644
--- a/Makefile.objs
+++ b/Makefile.objs
@@ -122,7 +122,6 @@ trace-events-subdirs += crypto
 trace-events-subdirs += io
 trace-events-subdirs += migration
 trace-events-subdirs += block
-trace-events-subdirs += backends
 trace-events-subdirs += chardev
 trace-events-subdirs += hw/block
 trace-events-subdirs += hw/block/dataplane
diff --git a/backends/trace-events b/backends/trace-events
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29bb2..0000000000