Spain’s La Liga Given Green Light To Resume Season

Wisdom K.E Hammond 5 years ago

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has confirmed that La Liga is free to resume beginning June 8. “The time has come to resume many daily activities,” he said in a speech on Saturday. “From June 8, La Liga will return. Spanish football has a huge following.” Sources have said that a specific date will be announced in the coming days, with June 12 remaining the target to restart the 2019-20 season. It is expected the derby match between Sevilla and Real Betis will be the first game to restart the campaign. The 2019-20 La Liga season was suspended on March 12th when a state of emergency was declared in the country.

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Players were forced to train at home until a gradual relaxation of lockdown restrictions began earlier this month. Initially, individual workouts were permitted at training grounds, before Spain’s 42 first- and second-division clubs began group training sessions with up to 10 players interacting the week of May 18th. The next stage will involve full training, in which players will be able to replicate match situations and work on tactics for the first time. La Liga has already sent out a mandate to clubs detailing safety measures for matches, which will be held without fans through the end of the season.

The German Bundesliga’s successful opening has helped pave the way for other European Soccer Leagues to return. Expect a format similar to Spain’s, whenever leagues in England and Italy return – five substitutes per game, closed door matches, face masks and social distancing when possible. All of this will be the norm for the final stages of the ‘19-’20 campaigns.

The league will resume with some intriguing drama around positions in the tables. Barcelona (58 points) leads Real Madrid (56 points) by 2 points with 11 games to be played. There will be a captivating title race in Spain, despite neither team playing each other again this year. The race for the top four also will have its fair share of drama. Sevilla is in third with 47 points, Real Soceidad and Getafe are tied for 4th with 46 points each, Atletico Madrid in 6th place with 45 points, and Valencia in 7th place with 42 points. With all those squads having their eye on Champions League and Europa League births, expect a lot of flip flopping among the 3-7 rankings.