La Liga could resume as early as 28 May in the best-case scenario as the league discusses its options in the aftermath of Coronavirus Outbreak, says its president Javier Tebas.
The Spanish league had not played a competitive game after 11 March, when Atletico Madrid knocked holders Liverpool out of the Champions League.
Tebas says the training will not return until emergency measures – in place until 26 April – are lifted in Spain.
Considering current Coronavirus situation, it would be challenging to see emergency measures to be lifted by the given date. He estimates clubs could lose 1bn euros if the current campaign is cancelled.
Of all the different scenarios we have been looking at with Uefa to go back to competing, the most probable ones are 28 May, 6 June or 28 June.
We can’t say an exact date. This will be given to us by the authorities in Spain. But we still have time to get back to training before that.
La Liga is not contemplating a failure to complete the domestic campaign, which still has 11 rounds of matches to play.
Javier Tebas, President – La Liga, revealed three start dates are currently being discussed with Uefa
If we are looking at the economic impact, including the money we would get from European competitions, the revenue Spanish clubs would miss out on if we don’t get back playing again is 1bn euros. If we do get playing, but without spectators, it would be 300m.
Even if we get back to playing with spectators, the damage this situation has already caused would be 150m euros.
Javier Tebas, President – La Liga, Consequence of League being scrapped and matches being played closed-door
European Leagues – Two Alternate Plans
Uefa has urged individual leagues not to follow Belgium’s example by scrapping domestic league – and warned they may not be allowed into next season’s European competition.
Tebas says, A working group is working on two strategies. One involves domestic league matches being played at weekends and European competitions in midweek. The second is to play in blocks fixtures, with domestic competitions being finished by July, and European games to be planned by August.
Considering very different ground situation in different European nations, Tebas said it was “logical” some leagues may start before others.
It is much more complicated than just making a decision. Each country is different. In England, you have three competitions. In Spain and Italy, it is two. There are 18 teams in the German league, but all the others have 20.
The leagues who have problems in their calendar should look for internal solutions. If that is impossible, we might need some kind of coordination with Uefa, but at the moment, we are not considering changing formats.
Think about the top leagues. We have sold our broadcasting rights based on certain formats. We have 20 clubs and 380 matches played during a specific period of time.
Uefa has also sold its rights based on a format, including the qualifiers and the group phase. This applies to everyone.
Javier Tebas, President – La Liga on complicated situation why its very difficult to modify formats of different tournaments.
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