Only 16 days before the start of the new season in First and Second, and just in the afternoon in which LaLiga threatened to carry out the calendar draw without waiting for the Federation, The CSD once again confirmed that the Federation and LaLiga do not agree Therefore, given this lack of consensus and as determined by the Coordination Agreement between the two, a resolution to unblock the crisis will be issued in the next few hours, which will be published tomorrow in the BOE. In it, it is specified that the calendar must be drawn immediately in the Ciudad del Fútbol, next Monday afternoon (The organization needs at least three days to have everything ready and it worries that just that day the Selection begins its bubble in Las Rozas) And, he also adds, that there will be 22 teams in the Second Class hype, as it is currently fixed, and not 24, as proposed by the Federation two weeks ago, and not much 26 as it dreamed and recently offered by AFE. In this way, and waiting for what the ordinary justice to which those affected will be accepted in the future after the verdict of the CAS, giving the powers to the LaLiga judge and not to Competition, Fuenlabrada will continue one more year in the silver category of Spanish football while Deportivo and Numancia will compete in 2nd B if the very cautious they will ask to paralyze everything is not avoided.
This afternoon's meeting, organized by the Council urgently given the problems to reach a solution between the parties, was led by the general director of sports, Joaquín de Arístegui, and neither Tebas nor Rubiales attended (he resigned due to the electoral process ). On behalf of the Federation, the general secretary, Andreu Camps, accompanied by Tomás González-Cueto attended. On behalf of LaLiga, the director of LaLiga Competitions, Luis Gil, and the head of LaLiga's Sports Law, Mario Chaparro, appeared. The meeting lasted just over an hour and was marked, once again, by the opposing opinions between LaLiga and the Federation. For this reason, the CSD, faced with this disagreement, cannot study the modification of the competitions as some parties intended and will leave the First with 20 teams and the Second with 22. Of course, sources consulted from the Council assure that they maintain their opinion on what happened with the Fuenlabrada Case, but that they always make decisions without yielding to pressure.
Luis Gil (right), director of LaLiga Competitions, upon his arrival at the CSD this Wednesday accompanied by Mario Chaparro (left), head of the employer's Sports Law area.
Chema Diaz
The key dates of the calendar
LaLiga has delivered this week the conditions that are introduced in the draw of the asymmetric calendar, where the days of the first round do not have to coincide with those of the second (the configuration of the first two days where several European teams rest, the dates of the Classics and the derbies, that two teams from the same city do not coincide, coordination of stadiums for matches and events, that Madrid and Barça do not coincide at the same time except in the unified schedules at the end of the season, coupling of the European matches so that there are enough hours of rest with those of LaLiga …). The season will start on September 12. In First it will end on May 23, so that the teams have enough time to prepare for the Eurocup, and in Second a week later. The European teams that have had to compete in August will gradually join the championship. Real Madrid and Getafe will do it on the second day (September 19). Barça, Atlético and Sevilla will do so in the third, on September 26. The playoff finalists, Girona and Elche (promoted to First along with Cádiz and Huesca) will also start the course on September 26. All dates will be ratified next Monday by the RFEF Management Commission and the only date that could be modified would be one of the days of the Spanish Super Cup.
LaLiga and the RFEF have agreed, at the request of AFE, that it not be played on December 27 despite the fact that in the sketch of the employer's calendar the date was marked, as revealed by AS, as the day to recover possible postponed matches. In the end, the First teams will compete on December 22 and will do it again on the 30th (neither will there be matches on the 31st, as was proposed). In Second, the break lasts until January 3, 2021. In addition, two Cup final will be set on that calendar, the postponed this season between Real and Athletic (it is not official and we will try to put it before April) and the one corresponding to the following campaign (it will be played on April 17, 2021). The qualifiers, in which non-professional teams will participate again, will start on November 11 with the previous qualifying round and the First qualifiers will start on December 16. The Spanish Super Cup, which will be held for the second consecutive year in Saudi Arabia, will be from 13 (semi-finals on 13 and 14) to 17 January 2021.
This is how the conditioned asymmetric calendar is conditioned
LaLiga, for two seasons, has been running an asymmetric calendar. For this, it has the company Barcelogic, a Catalan provider that works hand in hand with the Polytechnic University, which has a 50% Dutch stake and has innovative software that uses FIFA, the Portuguese league, the Eredivisie and the ACB. The system is addressed by introducing a dozen conditions: the most important are for security, for works, to highlight the big games on important dates, for rest (At Christmas the teams play close to home and when there is a League and a Cup, or two League matches in a few days, the trips will be grouped geographically), not to match derbies, for holidays (avoiding or matching dates) …
From there, a software generates 99,999 different calendars for three days (hence you have to wait to do the draw until Monday) and one is chosen by drawing in the Federation (balls from 0 to 9 in five different cups). When the schedule of First is known, the one of Second is conditioned so that, among other things, the most attractive parties will be strategically placed in the international breaks. When the two professional calendars are known (they depend on LaLiga), that of LaLiga Iberdrola (from the RFEF) is also conditioned to duly promote it.
The Federation attacks the TAD and asks for a change
The Spanish Federation delivered a letter to the Superior Sports Council in which it pointed out that the institution chaired by Irene Lozano “should be more directly involved in the 'Fuenlabrada Case'”. As a result of this, the federative entity protests regarding the decisions of the TAD after pointing out yesterday that the Competition Committee did not have powers to decide the relegation or not of Fuenlabrada and the Sole Judge of LaLiga: “It helps us to verify once again that the actions of the CAS in general harm the RFEF.” And he adds to the pressure from LaLiga for the Court to opt in favor of the bosses: “The propaganda and media weapons financed by the LNFP had been mobilized to achieve what the TAD finally gave it.” In the letter delivered by Andreu Camps, he also asks the CSD that the CAS, the body with which it the Federation “does not agree with the design and operation” and urges “that the CSD prepare a short-term normative proposal to replace that body with another or others that can adequately fulfill its function.”
The Federation also requested greater speed in the processing of proposals for statutory or regulatory reform: “They are processed with unusual slowness. LNFP proposals are processed at breakneck speed.”