Start date for La Liga campaign almost set; ATM and Real may have delayed games

As one La Liga campaign reaches a climax, planning is well underway for the 2025-26 season. One of the biggest challenges, once again, is the schedule, as various competitions add more and more games for clubs to contend with.

After UEFA extending the Champions League season by an extra four games (depending on the play-off round), and FIFA introduced a new expanded Club World Cup lasting a month rather than a week for European sides, the space in the calendar becomes increasingly limited. However Diario AS report that a start date for the coming season is on the verge of being agreed, as La Liga, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and the Spanish Player’s Union (AFE) review the calendar. It will in theory be the 15th of August, the same date as last year, with little else in the way of options available.

The Club World Cup in the United States provides something of a headache though. If either or both Atletico Madrid and/or Real Madrid make the semi-finals (8th/9th July) or the final (13th), then there is an agreement in place that they will start the season later. Arrangements will be made for both to play catch-up games, as the gap would be little over a month between the end of the lucrative Club World Cup and start of La Liga. The AFE are currently reviewing the gaps in the calendar to assure there are sufficient rest periods available for both to play those games later in the year.

The AFE regulations require footballers to have 30 days of rest during a year, and a period of at least 21 days uninterrupted at the end of the season of holidays. Should they get to the final, that would mean the three-week gap would have players back on the fourth of August, allowing them just 11 days to prepare for the new season.

There is an acceptance that this is not a sufficient period for the players to prepare, and with clubs normally planning for around three times that length for the preseason. The contrast to international tournaments, is that normally only a few players are affected for any one team, compared to the entire squad. Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid have the chance to add players before the tournament in the United States too, after a ten-day transfer window was declared at the start of June.