La Liga to resume amid concerns
Spanish media rejoiced on Sunday after the government said La Liga could resume, but restarting in June presents challenges including summer heat, empty stadiums and health rules.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced on Saturday that football could return from its coronavirus lockdown in the week of June 8.
After closely observing as Bundesliga players acted as lab rats when their league became the first of the big European competitions to return last weekend, Spain will now take its turn.
La Liga has not yet specified when it will kick off or detailed the health protocols it will adopt, but is expected to do so within the next week.
“La Liga is back,” exclaimed the front page of Spain’s bestselling daily Marca, which adorned its front page with a heart formed by the badges of the 20 Liga clubs.
La Liga president Javier Tebas has been pushing for the league to resume on June 12, with the Seville derby between Real Betis and Sevilla as the curtain-raiser.
Tebas said on Saturday that he was “very happy” with the announcement, but added “we can’t let our guard down”.
The last 11 rounds of the season will be played behind closed doors at a time when most of the country expects scorching heat.
At a meeting with La Liga over the weekend, the Spanish Football Players’ Association (AFE), called for cooling breaks during games when temperatures are 28°C-32°C, and for training and matches to be postponed when temperatures rise above 32°C, which is common in the height of summer in Spain. Temperatures during training in Valencia on Saturday reached 28°C.
La Liga eagerly announced there would be “football every day” of the week, but the AFE has demanded clubs be allowed a compulsory gap of at least 72 hours between matches and the Spanish Football Federation had already started a legal action to prevent that.
The federation went to court at the start of the season and blocked La Liga, which wanted to maximise broadcast revenues, scheduling games on Monday. A final judgment is yet to be handed down.
Tebas estimated at the beginning of April that if La Liga did not resume broadcasting the losses would amount to €1bn compared with €300m if it played without spectators.
Between now and the restart, the players, who switched from individual training to small group sessions on May 18, will have almost three weeks to prepare. The AFE demanded the players were given at least 15-20 days to get match fit.
“We want to return to the competition, but we have to go step by step to get back into shape,” Levante winger and captain Jose Luis Morales told Marca on Saturday. “We won’t have any games to test our fitness, we’ll go straight into the competition.”