Spain football clubs set to return to training this week
Football | May 05, 2020 9:32 ISTThe football clubs in Spain are set to resume training this week, given they follow the norms concerning the health and safety of players.
The football clubs in Spain are set to resume training this week, given they follow the norms concerning the health and safety of players.
Spanish league players are expected to get back on the field later in the week after they are tested for COVID-19 and after the clubs’ training facilities are properly prepared and disinfected.
The football matches in the country has been stopped since March 12 in wake of coronavirus pandemic that has hit the entire world.
European football's governing body has issued guidelines to all 55 associations after an agreement last week that qualification for next season's Champions League and Europa League must be decided on 'sporting merit' this season
Contracts of as many as nine players were getting over at the end of the current campaign and the club, in a statement, has said they were successful in renegotiating the terms beyond the said date.
Spain has been without football since March 12, two days before the nation went into a strict lockdown under a state of emergency to battle its savage coronavirus outbreak that has claimed more than 22,000 lives.
La Liga president Javier Tebas has said that nulling and voiding the La Liga season is 'not an option on the table'.
The two organizations held an 8-hour meeting at the offices of the Spanish government's Superior Sports Committee on Monday and have agreed to return to training "when the sanitary conditions permit, and under strict health protocols."
The sports council brought together the league and the federation for a meeting this weekend and said both parties came to terms on several issues.
A number of La Liga's leading teams have applied pay cuts. Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Sevilla players have all accepted 70 per cent pay cuts per month while Real Madrid players will lose 10 per cent of their annual salary.
The Spanish league is not expecting to resume at least until the end of May. It is working on several scenarios, including playing without fans through the fall.
It would mean that three-time runners up Atletico Madrid would fail to qualify for the Champions League as they are placed sixth on the league table with Barcelona, Real Madrid, Sevilla and Real Sociedad making the top four.
La Liga club Real Sociedad reversed the plan to resume training after consultation with the Spanish government.
The outbreak has strained relationships between the Spanish soccer federation, the Spanish league and the Spanish players' union even more.
From financial donations to the supplying of essential materials or even blood, Spanish football has been decisive in its response.
Tebas says it is very likely the league will restart with games in empty stadiums and that matches in venues with reduced capacity will also eventually be an option.
The league and the players' association have been in talks to try to find ways to mitigate losses that could reach nearly 1 billion euros ($1.08 billion) if the season cannot be restarted because of the pandemic.
Real Madrid are currently second in Spain's La Liga standings, two points behind leaders Barcelona with 11 matches remaining in the season.
Under Spanish law, companies can initiate ERTEs through which employees are handed temporary pay cuts and suspensions with the guarantee that they will retain their positions once they can go back to work.
The Spanish league wants a mini pre-season and testing of players before they reach the decision to resume the league.
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