LaLiga-RFEF dispute rumbles on with opening games in doubt
LaLiga president Javier Tebas has called member clubs to Madrid for an emergency meeting on August 12th after a judge ruled against staging games on Mondays.
Judge Andrés Sánchez Magro ruled this morning in a Madrid court that LaLiga Santander and second tier LaLiga SmartBank could not stage games on Mondays but deemed that matches could go ahead in Spain for both competitions on Fridays.
The judge also requested that LaLiga deposit a sum of €15 million to the RFEF (Spanish FA) in return for permission to stage Friday games, based on an estimated 30 million euro valuation of Monday and Friday broadcast rights made by the Spanish agency Mediapro, which also holds domestic rights to show live LaLiga games.
Shortly after the verdict, LaLiga issued a statement stating their intention to contest the ruling with LaLiga president Javier Tebas calling his member clubs to an urgent summit meeting at LaLiga HQ next Monday with clubs even threatening "drastic action" which could impact on the season commencing next weekend as planned.
Kick-Off Times for Matchday 1 of #LaLigaSantander and #LaLigaSmartBank 2019/20.
— LaLiga English (@LaLigaEN) August 9, 2019
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Head of the Spanish Football Federation, Luis Rubiales painted a different picture with his jubilation following the outcome clear as he spoke to media about a "historic day" for Spanish football and claimed that the ruling was a "victory for the supporters". He later reinforced this sentiment via his Twitter feed claiming that he had delivered as head of the FA working on behalf of fan interests.
The ongoing dispute is also impacting on players and clubs with Eibar manager Jose Luis Mendilibar criticising LaLiga during his press conference following his team's pre-season outing against Osasuna. The Basque coach stated: "Everything at LaLiga is done in a haphazard manner and no-one complains. We could have the best players and teams but on an organisational level it's ridiculous".