Madrid (AFP) – Spanish media rejoiced on Sunday after the government said La Liga could resume, but restarting in June presents many 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 major European competitions to return last weekend, Spain, hard hit by the pandemic, 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, according to the Spanish press.
“La Liga is back,” exclaimed the front page of Spain’s best-selling daily Marca, which adorned its front page with a heart formed by the badges of the 20 Liga clubs. Madrid rival AS and Catalan newspaper Sport used the same headline.
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 can expect 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 between 28 and 32 degrees Celsius (82 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit), and for training and matches to be postponed when temperatures rise above 32 degrees, which is common in the height of summer in much of Spain.
Temperatures during training in Valencia on Saturday reached 28 degrees.
La Liga has eagerly announced there would be “football every day” of the week, but the AFE has demanded that clubs be allowed a compulsory gap of at least 72 hours between matches and the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) had already started a legal action to prevent that.
RFEF 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 judgement is yet to be handed down.
– ‘Weird times’ –
Tebas estimated at the beginning of April that if La Liga did not resume broadcasting the losses would amount to a billion euros ($1.09 billion), compared with 300 million euros if it played without spectators.
from World Soccer Talk https://ift.tt/2TA0pvJ
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