Opening La Liga weekend in chaos as federation moves games

MADRID: The opening weeks of the Spanish football season were in chaos on Friday as the national federation and La Liga announced different schedules after a hearing ruled against non-weekend games.

La Liga had wanted to continue with games on Fridays and Mondays this season for its broadcasters.

After the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) responded that it controlled the football calendar, its in-house adjudicator found in its favour, pending a decision in the civil courts.

La Liga had fixed kickoff times for the first three weekends.

After the decision, the RFEF announced a new schedule of matches while La Liga released a statement saying the games would not be moved.

Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao were scheduled top kick off the season on Friday 16 August. RFEF said they would now be played on the Saturday.

It brought forward two matches scheduled for Monday August 19, saying Mallorca and Eibar will play on Saturday and Betis and Valladolid on Sunday.

La Liga responded that it is "the only organisation competent to fix schedules and dates in the national competition of professional football."

"Therefore, the schedules already indicated by La Liga for the first days of the competition will be those on which the matches will be played."

The adjudicator said in a statement that the court hearing is scheduled to begin on August 7.

La Liga said the decision jeopardises national and international television contracts worth "more than 2 billion euros" ($2.2billion).

The RFEF said it was representing the interests of the fans in objecting to games on Mondays. Spanish media reported that the RFEF was willing to negotiate over Fridays and wanted more money from La Liga.