Sport in Spain is set to resume next month following the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) enforced suspension, with horse racing to return from 3 June, followed by the country’s football leagues on 11 June.
La Liga, Spain’s top division of football, and the second-tier Segunda Division are set to resume on 11 June, after an announcement from Spain’s National Sporting Council (CSD) and the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF).
The first match will be the Seville derby between Sevilla and Real Betis. The season is expected to end on the weekend of July 18th, but the CSD said this is subject to change.
In May, the top two tiers of Spanish football set out a Return to Training Protocol, detailing the plans for training and matches to resume as lockdown measures are eased in Spain. As part of this plan, players will be tested for novel coronavirus (Covid-19) and training facilities and stadia will be disinfected.
La Liga was suspended – initially for two matchdays before the suspension was extended – on 12 March, when the Real Madrid squad went into quarantine after a player of the club’s basketball team tested positive for the virus.
The suspension came with 11 out of 38 games still to play and defending champions Barcelona two points clear of Real Madrid at the top of the table while Mallorca, Leganes and Espanyol sat in the relegation spots.
Horse racing body the Asociación de Hipódromos, meanwhile, said it has received authorisation to resume racing on 3 June at the Basque racecourse San Sebastian, with racing at other tracks throughout the country to follow. Two race meets will be held per week until the end of the year, with all to be broadcast on television and streamed online.
The association thanked state-owned lottery operator Sociedad Estatal Loterías y Apuestas del Estado (SELAE) for its role in helping ensure racing could resume
“We want to take advantage of these lines to thank SELAE for its constant communication during these last months and its unconditional support for horse racing in Spain,” it said.
Germany’s Bundesliga returned to action on 16 May, while the English Premier League is set to resume on 17 June.
