LaLiga suspended indefinitely as Spain set for longer lock down
The government is expected to extend the state of emergency until at least 12 April but LaLiga chief Javier Tebas is confident the season will be concluded.
LaLiga is expected to announce within the next few days that football activity in Spain will be suspended indefinitely in line with government plans to lengthen the state of emergency in the country put in place last weekend to combat the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus.
The Spanish government initially decreed a two-week almost total lock down in Spain, which is one of the worst hit countries globally by the pandemic. It now seems certain that the state of emergency will be extended to include the Easter holidays, which end on Sunday 12 April.
As such, LaLiga will be prevented from getting back underway until the state of emergency is lifted. Given that players will need to be put through their paces by their clubs in what will amount to a mini pre-season, in all likelihood LaLiga will not be in a position to start staging matches again until the end of April or the beginning of May.
Tebas: Time is on LaLiga's side
LaLiga president Javier Tebas spoke to AS on Wednesday to discuss the situation and expressed his optimism that the decision to postpone Euro 2020 by a year will allow all domestic football to be brought to a conclusion.
The Premier League on Thursday took the decision to suspend the competition until 30 April but Tebas told AS that time is on the side of LaLiga: "Until the middle of May we have sufficient time to restart LaLiga and to end the season before 30 June."
The governing body is considering several ponential outcomes, from the most optimistic to worst case scenarios. At the one end of the scale is is restarting the competition on 23 April with a midweek round of fixtures and at the other is a set of measures designed to conclude the season without another ball kicked to decide issues such as promotion and relegation. That would involve UEFA deciding who will play in European competition next season, a situation that Spanish Football Federation chief Luis Rubiales has described as "totally unfair."
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