This archive report was first published on 23 May 2020.
On Saturday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced that La Liga can resume from its coronavirus lockdown on the week of June 8, 2020.
According to Sanchez, the resumption of major professional sporting competitions, particularly La Liga, will be allowed from the week of June 8. This announcement comes after more than two months of the Covid-19 pandemic halting the season in Spain.
Players have begun training in small groups, aiming to be as ready as possible for the planned reboot next month. La Liga president Javier Tebas has stated that the preferred date for games to resume is Friday, June 12, which has now been given the green light from the government.
Clubs have 11 games left to play to finish the season, with the proposed final round to be completed by the end of July 2020. A compressed calendar would mean teams playing matches both in midweek and at weekends, with fixtures held behind closed doors, allowing only 197 people to attend, according to a protocol prepared by La Liga.
Players will undergo tests for coronavirus the day before games and will have their temperatures taken before being allowed to enter stadiums. La Liga's staggered training programme allowed players to begin working individually at training grounds on May 4 and expand into groups of up to 10 players this week.
The top flight was first suspended on March 12 after Real Madrid went into quarantine on the same day following the positive test of one of the club's basketball players. La Liga president Tebas has been adamant that the league must restart, estimating that a cancellation of the season would cost clubs around one billion euros ($1.09 billion).
