New season of Spanish League to kick off on August 14

MADRID: Spain’s La Liga will kick off the weekend of Aug.14-15 and run to May 22, the Spanish Football Federation (RFE) said on Monday in unveiling the calendar of fixtures.

The Spanish Cup final will be held on April 23 with Jan.12 and 16 pencilled in for Super Cup dates -- the event to be hosted by Saudi Arabia. The format sees league champions Atletico Madrid taking on the Copa del Rey runners-up Athletic Bilbao with the Cup winners, Barcelona, meeting the runners up in La Liga, Real Madrid.

The King Abdullah International Stadium in Jeddah on the shores of the Red Sea will host the final showdown.

Fans will be allowed to return to stadiums for the start of the 2021-22 La Liga season, Spanish health minister Carolina Darias has confirmed.

Supporters were unable to atend La Liga matches for the majority of last season due to social distancing restrictions designed to contain the spread of coronavirus.

However, stadium doors were opened to 5,000 people for the final two rounds of matches, and it has now been revealed that higher capacity crowds will return for the upcoming campaign.

The health minister confirmed that the Government of Spain has agreed to suppress the article that prohibited public access to professional football and basketball sporting events across the country.

DEMBELE TO RETURN IN FOUR MONTHS AFTER SUCCESSFUL SURGERY: Meanwhile, Barcelona midfielder Ousmane Dembele has had successful surgery ater dislocating a knee tendon playing for France at the Euros and will return to action in four months, the Catalan club said on Monday.

“Ousmane Dembele was successfully operated on in Turku (Finland) by Doctor Lasse Lempainen under the supervision of the club’s medical services,” Barca said in a statement, adding he would return to training in four months’ time.

He suffered a dislocated biceps tendon in his right knee ater coming on as a substitute in France’s 1-1 draw with Hungary last week

With 27 caps under his belt, Dembele had been hoping to feature regularly at the Euros ater scoring in a pre-tournament win over Wales but came off the bench in both their opening win over Germany and then against the Hungarians. The winger, who scored 11 goals in 44 appearances for Barcelona last season, had suffered a previous injury in February last year when he tore a hamstring.

Dembele joined Barcelona in September 2017 for 135 million euros ($161 million) from Borussia Dortmund.